Collection

There is nothing there (Game for an unlimited number of players) is the documentation of an artistic action – a „community game” inaugurated and „directed” by Czech artist Kateøina Šedá in the small town of Ponìtovice. The residents of this provincial little place in the Moravia region use to complain that There is nothing there…: a frozen reality, everything is predictable, nothing unexpected will ever happen here. The artist thoroughly analysed the local community’s life (using, among other things, detailed questionnaire forms), acquainting herself with the residents’ daily schedules and habits, to one day propose entirely new rules. For twenty four hours the people of Ponìtovice synchronised their daily routines, all performing the same activity at precisely the same time. They did nothing new – only the usual things, but with full awareness, as a kind of public „monument”. The day became a praise of „nothing”, a celebration of the simplest gestures, and of living in a small community. At the same time, there was a disturbing aspect here of susceptibility to manipulation and the controlling function of social norms.