< Back

STANO FILKO

  1. 2016 Gregorova Stach, Lucia – Hrabušický, Aurel: Poézia o priestore – kozme / Poetry on Space – Cosms. Bratislava: SNG, 2016. Eckhart Gillen, Peter Weibel (eds.): Art in Europe 1945-1968, ZKM Karlsruhe, 2016.

2011 Verwoert, Jan: World as Medium: On the Work of Stano Filko, e-flux journal #28, Oct 2011

2006 Georg Schöllhammer, Life in the 5.4.3. Dimension. A retrospective in Bratislava rediscovers the work of Stano Filko, Die Springerin, Feb 2006 Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Portrait Stano Filko. 1945 I had my first post-modern thought, Spike, July 2006

2005 Grzonka, Patricia: Stano Filko. Arbor vitae, 2005

2002 Hoptman, Laura – Pospiszyl Tomás (ed.): Primary Documents. A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art since the 1950s, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 2002

2000 Badovinac, zdenka – Weibel, Peter: Arteast 2000+. The Art of Eastern Europe. A Selection of Works for the International and National Collections of Moderna galerija Ljubljana, Folio Verlag, Bolzano – Vienna 2000

1999 Havránek, Vít (ed.): Akce Slovo Pohyb Prostor. Experimenty v umě ní sedesátýcj let/ Action Word Movement Space. Experimental Art of the Sixties, Prague 1999

1971 Filko, Stano: Stano Filko II. 1965/69, vlastním nákladem/self-published, Bratislava 1971

1968 Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, New York, 1968

Slovak National Gallery (SK)
LINEA Collection Bratislava (SK)
Folkwang Museum (D
Kröller-Muller Museum (N)
Generali Foundation (A)
Guggenheim Collection (USA)
Kontakt. Art Collection (A)
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (LIE)
Pomeranz Collection (A)
National Gallery Prague (CZ)
Kunstmuseum Basel (CH)
Tate Modern London (UK)

Arlinghton, New Jersey (USA)

1980 Stanislaw Filko. Transcendencja I.-II. 1978-1979, Mala Galeria PSP- zPAF, Plac zamkowy, Warsaw (PL)

1979 Transcendencja. 1978. Stano Filko, Galeria GN ZPAF, Gdansk (PL) 1978 Stanislav Filko. Emotion –

1977, Galeria LDK Labirynt, Lublin (PL)

1974 Biely priestor v bielom priestore. Stano Filk- Miloš Laky- Ján Zavarský, D m umění, Brno (Cz)

1969 Stanislav Filko. Environnement Universel 1966-1967 und Grafik, Galerie Ursula Wendtorf – Kunstverein Oldenburg – Düsseldorf (DE)

1967 Grafika, Galeria Václava Špály, Prague (Cz) Stano Filko. Obydli soucasnosti a skutecnosti, Galeria na Karlove namesti, Prague (Cz) Externé prostredie – komunikácia, Galéria Cypriána Majerníka, Bratislava (SK)

1962 Obrazy, Reduta, Bratislava (SK)

1958 Obrazy – Grafiky, Kultúrny dom, Bánovce nad Bebravou (SK)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019 Frieze with Galerie Emanuel Layr, London (UK) Going to the Moon, Eres Stiftung, Munich (DE) Collective Exhibition for a singel body – the private score – Vienna 2019, curated by Pierre Bal-Blanc, Haus Wittgenstein, Vienna (AT) Signal – The Story of (Post)Conceptual Art in Slovakia, Ludwig Museum, Budapest (HU) Material Art Fair with Galerie Emanuel Layr, Mexico City (MX) Where do we go from here?, curated by Anna Goetz, Salón Acme, Mexico City

2018 Who was 1968?, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz (AT)

2017 MASMEDIÁLNE OBRAZY ŽENY, Bratislava City Gallery (SK)

2016 Kunst in Europa 1945-1968, ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (DE)

2015 Ludwig Goes Pop + The East Side Story, Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest (HU) Die Schule von Kyiv, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (DE) LISTE Basel 20 – Stano Filko, Benjamin Hirte, Lili Reynaud-Dewar and Ramaya Tegegne, Basel (CH) The Soft Codes, Conceptual Tendencies in Slovak Art, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw (PL) Shifters: Signaling in Latin America and Eastern Europe, GB Agency, Paris (FR) Conceptual art and Communism 1965 – 1989, Gallery BBLA, New York (US)

2014 Lotte Sonnenstein: Bildbaumeister extended, curated by Angela Stief, Casa Roja Temporäre Kunsthalle Linz (AT) Lotte Sonnenstein: Bildbaumeister, Parallel II Art Fair, Vienna (AT) Personal Hi-Stories, curated by Elena Yaichnikova and Nicolas Audureau, Garage Project Space, Moscow (RU) Cosmos Calling! Art And Science In The Long Sixties, zacheta, National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (PL) Strom zivota / Tree of Life, Galéria mesta Bratislavy, Bratislava (SK) Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (US)

2013 The Earth Turns And All Things Slip Away, Hunt Kastner Artworks, Prague (Cz) Collection 1 2 3 / The Tracks of History in Acquisitions – Part 3, GASK, Galerie Stř edoceského kraje, Kutná Hora (Cz)

2012 Blood, Esterházy Palace, Bratislava (SK) Fremde Überall – Foreigners Everywhere, zeitgenössische Kunst aus der Pomeranz Collection, Jüdisches Museum Wien, Vienna (AT) zero Years – Slovak Visual Art between

1999 and 2011 from Four Curatorial Perspectives, MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen (HU) Delete – Art and Wiping Out, Esterházy Palace, Bratislava (SK)

Strata, Sammlung Lenikus, curated by Francesco Stocchi, Bauernmarkt 9, Vienna (AT)

as a poem might celebrate these, Stano Filko, Marjorie Keller, Rita Vitorelli, curated by Christian Kobald, Pleasantpleasant, Copenhagen (DK) Mit sofortiger Wirkung: künstlerische Eingriffe in den Alltag (with immediate effect: artistic interventions in the everyday), Kunsthalle project space karlsplatz, Vienna (AT)

Papier Kole, Czech and Slovak koláz /Collage of 20th and 21th centuries, East-Slovakian Gallery Kosice, Kosice (SK)

2011 The Present and Presence, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana (SL) Eyes Looking for the Head to Inhabit, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz (PL)
11th Biennale de Lyon “A Terrible Beauty Is Born”, Lyon (FR)
Ostalgia, New Museum, New York (US) curated by_vienna 2011: East by South West,… sein Dasein verlässt und seine Gestalt der Erinnerung übergibt (curated by Severin Dünser, Christian Kobald) Galerie Emanuel Layr, Vienna (AT) Museum of Parallel Narratives. MACBA, Barcelona (SP)

2010 Porträt einer Sammlung, Kunstsammlung Chemnitz (CH) Les promesses du passé, Centre Pompidou, Paris (F
R) Star City – The Future Under Communism, Nottingham Contemporary (UK)

2008 BETWEEN CONCEPT AND ACTION, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Turin (IT)

2007 Arta Slovaca 1960 – 2000, Nationals Museum of Contemporary Art, Bukarest (RO) Prague Biennale 3, Prague (Cz) tranzit, Kunstverein Frankfurt (DE) OUT OF THE CITY Landart, City Gallery of Bratislava, Bratislava (SK) Stage, Backstage, Auditorium, Kunstverein Frankfurt (DE)

2006 Kontakt… aus der Sammlung der Erste Bank Group, Mumok, Vienna (A) I(ICH), Wiener Secession, Vienna (A) Living Art – On the Edge of Europe, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (NL)

2005 51st Venice Biennial, Venice (IT)

2004 Collected Views from East to West, Generali Foundation, Vienna (AT)

2003 FIYLKONTEMPLACIAKCIEQ, SONDA 1950 -1969, SONDA 1971 – 1984, státna galéria (State Gallery), Banská Bystrica (SK) Slovak Contemporary Art, Gallery Art Factory, Prague (Cz)

2001 Umenie akcie 1965 – 1980, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava (SK) Slowakische Träume, Museum moderner Kunst, Passau (DE)

2000 Samizdat. Alternative Kultur in zentral- und Osteuropa. Die 60er bis 80er Jahre, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (DE) Global Conceptualism – Points of Origin, 1950s-1980s, MIT/List Visual Art Center, Cambridge (USA) Aspect / Positions. 50 Years of Art in Central Europe 1949 – 1999, Ludwig Museum, Budapest (HU) and John Hansard Gallery, City Gallery Southampton (UK)

1999 Aspekte / Positionen. 50 Jahre Kunst aus Mitteleuropa 1949 – 1999, MMKSLW. Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Palais Liechtenstein, 20er Haus, Vienna (AT) Global Conceptualism – Points of Origin, 1950s-1980s, QMA – Queens Museum of Art, New York (US) Slovak Art for Free, Biennale de Venezia, Venice (IT) Akce Slovo Pohyb Prostor. Experimenty v umě ní šedesátých let. Galerie hlavního mě sta Prahy, Prague (CZ)

1996 Sculpture in Time / Socha v č ase. Centrum Rzeź by Polskiej w Oroń sku (PL)

1995 Šesť desiate roky v slovenskom výtvarnom umení, Slovenská národná galéria, Bratislava (SK)

1994 Torso – Slovak Photography. Design Works, Durham, New Castle (IR) Enter for Computer. Kunsthaus, Vienna (AT)

1992 Zwischen Objekt und Installation. Slowakische Kunst der Gegenwart, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund (DE) Arte Contemporanea ceca e slovacca 1950 – 1992. Palazzo del Broletto,

Novara (IT)

1991 Sen o múzeu? Považská galéria umenia, Žilina (SK)

1987 Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, New York (USA)

1986 Off the wall, Kamikadze Gallery, New York (US) Undercurrents in the Visual Arts, Wiesner Gallery, New York (US)

1985 Eastern Europeans in New York, La Galerie en El Bohio, New York (USA)

1984 Mysterious Figurative, Annual Exhibition, Staten Island Museum, NYC (US)

1982 Documenta 7, Kassel (DE) Bilder Aus der Slowakei 1965-1980, Galerie Pragxis, Essen – Kettwig (DE)

1979 Time, Gallery Kitano Circus, Kobe (JPN)

1975 9. Biennale de Paris. Manifestation internationale des jeunes artistes. Musée d’Art Moderne / Musée Galliera, Paris (F)

1971 Arte de sistemas, Centro de Arte y Communicatión en al Museu de Arte Moderno de la Ciudad, Buenos Aires (ARG) Junge Tschechoslowakische Künstler, Informationszentrale für Ereignisse, Bielefeld (DE)

1970 Happening&Fluxus, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (DE) Contemporary trends (Le dyamisme du présent), EXPO Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka (JPN) International Festival of Contemporary Art, Municipal Art Museum, Yokohama (JPN) Art Concepts from Europe, Binino Gallery, New York (USA) Graveurs tchécoslovaques contemporains. Cabinet des Estampes (Cabinet d’Arts graphiques), Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva (CH) Polymúzický priestor I., II., III., Kúpeľ ný ostrov, Piešť any (SK) Slovenské výtvarné umenie 1965 – 1970, Valdštejnská jízdárna, Palác Kinských, Mánes, Prague (CZ) Art Concepts from Europe, Bonino Gallery, NYC, US, Buenos Aires (ARG)

1969 Biennale de Paris 1969, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (FR) Environnement lumino-cině tique. La Place de Chalet, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Paris (FR) Pläne und Projekte als Kunst, Kunsthalle Bern, Aktionsraum Munich (DE) Vier Aspekte der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunstverein Oldenburg (DE) Arte Contemporanea in Cecoslovacchia. Galleria Nazionale d´Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM), Rome (IT) Ars Popularis. Bilder – Objekte – Grafik vo 18 Künstler aus Belgien, Deutschland und der CSSR. CENTRUM Galerie im Siemers Hochhaus, Hamburg (DE) III. Rassegna Internazionale d´Arte Contemporanea. Acirea le Turistico Termale, Catania, Sicilia (IT)

1968 Nová citlivost, Brno, Karlovy Vary, Praha (Cz) Cinétisme – Spectacle – Environment, Maison de la culture, Grenoble (FR) Danuvius 1968, Dom umenia, Bratislava (SK) Izložba savremene č ehoslovač ke grafike. Muzej savremene umetnosti, Belgrade (SRB) Contemporary Prints of Czechoslovakia. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (CAN)

1967 Tschechoslowakische Graphik, Sonninhalle des Kieler Schlosses, Kiel (DE)

1966 Výstava mladých. AICA (pri príležitosti medzinárodného kongresu AICA), Moravská galerie, Brno (CZ) Malarstwo. Rzézba. Grafika Bratislawy, Pawilon wystawovy, Krakov (PL)

1965 Celoslovenská výstava. Dom umenia, Bratislava (SK) 5 Cecoslovacchi, Galeria Numero, Florencia, Rím, Milan (IT)

1964 Výstava mladých, Moravská galéria, Dů m pánů z Kunštátu, Brno(CZ)

1963 S.Filko – L. Gajdoš – A. Mlynárč ik – I. Vychlopen, foyer of the editorial office of the daily paper Smena, Bratislava (SK) Výstava mladých, Moravská galerie, Brno (Cz)

1961 Výstava Grafiky, Reduta, Bratislava, SK

1959 Výstava grafiky a obrazov, Osvetový dom, Trenč ín (SK)

The late Stano Filko’s belongs to the founders of conceptual art in Slovakia as one of the most fundamental artists involved in the anti-establishment art scene of the 60s and 70s throughout the period of political suppression.


His conceptual practice, consisting of (anti)happenings, ambient, installations, land art multiples, text art projects, objects and all kinds of diagram drawings, escapes any comprehensive understanding of his wide-ranging oeuvre. His two clinical deaths are also fundamental for his artwork, as a kind of catalyst for his inventiveness, which was emerging along with his exploration in and influences of philosophy, cosmology, religion and technological advancement.


While many works that he made in Slovakia at the time of heavy censorship bring about questions about the cultural, social but also private conditions, they are frequently profoundly immersed in the concept of cosmic exploration, today’s internationally prevalent transhumanist ideas, as well as in German Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s and Moravian Edmund Husserl’s theories of phenomenology, foremost the phenomena of Transcendence, as well as other metaphysical principles.


Filko created his system of 5 dimensions and 12 chakras, individually uniformly treated as a colour of spectrum: RED as the biological sphere, GREEN as the socio-political space, WHITE as the ontological space, BLUE as the cosmic space, or INDIGO/BLACK as space of subject. This system is also the main code for understanding his works. This exhibition draws on works from 1968-2015 to deeper explore the chakras’; Transparent, White and Gold.


This white colour or hollowness signifies the white dimension, a stage on a path to Transcendence, to the “pure, nonphysical, eternal, and absolute art”. However, these artworks are the most commanding response to and criticism of the cultural and political regime’s ideology in Slovakia in the 60s and 70s.