Milan Knížák

Milan Knížák was born on 19 April 1940 in Plzeň. His father, Karel Knížák (1907 - 1986), was a teacher, painter, and amateur musician from Doubravka near Plzeň; his mother was Emilie, née Jedličková. Karel's earlier marriage to Julie Hegnerová produced a half-brother, Jiří. After 1945 the family moved to Mariánské Lázně in the borderlands, where Karel played violin in a spa orchestra. Milan attended primary school there, studied music (piano, trumpet, guitar) from 1948 to 1956, and graduated from the gymnasium in Mariánské Lázně in 1957. He began painting at fourteen and held a first exhibition in Mariánské Lázně in 1958. Visits to the studio of painter Vladimír Modrý left a lasting impression he later recorded in diaries.

Between 1957 and the early 1960s Knížák tried several paths without completing a conventional degree. He enrolled at the Pedagogical University in Prague in art education and Russian (studying under Cyril Bouda and Martin Salcman), left that programme, worked as an assistant at Prague exhibition grounds, passed exams for the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and abandoned it, then spent a year on mathematical analysis at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University. He also attended preparatory classes at the Secondary School of Graphic Arts. Only after 1989 did he complete doctoral study at AVU (1997 - 1998). The incomplete formal training became part of his outsider stance: he treated streets, courtyards, and records as classrooms.

From the early 1960s Knížák staged happenings, ceremonies, and environments in Prague, especially in Nový Svět. With friends he founded Actual Art (Aktuální umění), later shortened to Aktual. In 1965 he joined the Union of Czechoslovak Visual Artists; the same year Jindřich Chalupecký connected him to Fluxus, and George Maciunas made him Director of Fluxus East. The first Czechoslovak Fluxus concert took place in Prague in October 1966. After lecturing in the United States (1968 - 1970) and realising ceremonies there, he returned to Czechoslovakia and continued underground music with Aktual, whose songs influenced The Plastic People of the Universe. His Broken Music, begun mid-1960s by destroying and replaying vinyl, was issued on LP in Italy (1979) and is cited among pioneering turntable works. A 1979 DAAD stay in West Berlin and later lectures in Hamburg and Salzburg kept international ties. After 1989 he served as AVU rector (1990 - 1997), professor of intermedia, and National Gallery director (1999 - 2011). He exhibited widely (Venice Biennale 1990, São Paulo 1996, MoMA Fluxus shows) and published dozens of books, catalogues, and recordings. His puppet collection and two-volume encyclopaedia of puppet-theatre artists (2006) documented another lifelong passion.

Knížák's first marriage was to Sonia Švecová. In 1975 he married Marie Saudková (Marie Knížáková); together they raised her sons from her earlier marriage to photographer Jan Saudek, Samuel and David. During Normalization, when official work was closed to him, Marie partly supported the household while he sold paintings and restored puppets. He was a close friend of Václav Klaus; Klaus spoke at his funeral and later described holding his hand in hospital. Knížák lived and worked mainly in Prague after the war-era years in Mariánské Lázně. He died in Prague on 26 July 2026 after roughly three weeks in hospital. The public farewell with state honours took place on 7 August 2026 at Strašnice crematorium.

Knížák treated art as a way of changing everyday life, not only of making objects. Aktual, he later said, became a social movement of young people the authorities feared because of its influence. He defended creative freedom through the Normalization years at personal cost, yet after 1989 he often stood apart from liberal cultural consensus: he was close to Václav Klaus, repeatedly criticised Václav Havel, and voiced polarising opinions on social and political questions. As National Gallery director he insisted the institution was a museum that collects and researches, not a Kunsthalle of short exhibitions, and he tightened loans of major works so visitors would come to Prague. He never sought to blend into the crowd; admirers called that integrity, critics called it authoritarian stubbornness.

Knížák's street actions of the 1960s are now textbook cases in histories of participatory art (including Claire Bishop's Artificial Hells). Broken Music is recognised as an early landmark of noise and turntablism, influencing artists such as Christian Marclay. As AVU rector and intermedia professor he shaped a generation of Czech artists. As National Gallery director he modernised spaces, cleared debts after the 2002 floods, and secured restituted masterpieces, while leaving a contested managerial reputation. His works sit in MoMA, Tate, Centre Pompidou, the Whitney, Sprengel Museum Hanover, and Prague's National Gallery. After his death, AVU opened a memorial site, galleries planned retrospectives, and in August 2026 a court posthumously rehabilitated him for 1970s custody. Culture minister Oto Klempíř called him a figure who shaped modern Czech art and society for decades.

Among honours reported for Knížák are the Jiří Kolář Prize (1977); Grand Prix at the Fifth International Drawing Triennial, Wrocław (1992); First-class Medal of the Ministry of Education for pedagogical work (1997); Historical Seal of the City of Plzeň (1997); ARTeon lifetime award, Poznań (2002); an award from Nadace Universitas Masarykiana (2006); Design Centre of the Czech Republic recognition for a New Generation handle collection (2006); and the Medal of Merit, First Class, of the Czech Republic (2010), presented during Václav Klaus's presidency. After his death the Czech government approved a funeral with state honours (flag, anthem, ceremonial volleys), held on 7 August 2026.

Knížák published poetry, travelogues, catalogues, and music releases including Broken Music (1979), Obřad hořící mysli (1991), Děti bolševismu (2005), and Broken Tracks (2008). Aktual material entered underground lore and Plastic People repertoire. He appeared in Czech television debates and, in 2008, as a presenter on the news channel Z1. International coverage of his death came from Radio Prague International, ARTnews, České Noviny/ČTK, and major Czech dailies. His website milanknizak.com documents biography, music, and visual work. Interviews late in life, including a widely shared 'last personal interview' on YouTube, revisited Fluxus, Broken Music, and his institutional years.

Under Normalization Knížák was repeatedly detained and imprisoned as an 'enemy of the state,' including custody from October 1974 to February 1975 linked to materials sent abroad; a Prague court rehabilitated him posthumously in August 2026. As National Gallery director (1999 - 2011) he drew sustained criticism for an authoritarian style, dismissals and disputes with curators (notably Katarína Rusnáková and Jiří Fajt, the latter involving court cases), the Kafka bookshop eviction in the Kinský Palace (2000), contested purchases (including a Beuys installation), refused loans such as a Kupka work sought for a French exhibition, and clashes with artists David Černý, the Rafani group, and Guma guar. Initiatives such as 'Čas na změnu' sought his removal. Supporters argued he rescued finances, expanded permanent displays, and bought restituted masterpieces; detractors spoke of 'Knížák's Normalization' inside the museum. His public political remarks, including comments on Roma housing policy, also drew protest.

Milan Knížák died on the morning of 26 July 2026 in Prague, aged 86, after about three weeks in hospital. The precise cause of death was not made public in major obituaries. Culture minister Oto Klempíř announced the death on X, praising his defence of creative and human freedom. Foreign minister Petr Macinka and former president Václav Klaus were among those who paid tribute; National Gallery director Olga Kotková highlighted acquisitions secured during his tenure. On 27 July 2026 the government approved a funeral with state honours (with family consent). The ceremony took place on 7 August 2026 at Strašnice crematorium in Prague, with Klaus and Klempíř speaking. AVU established a memorial site; galleries prepared commemorative exhibitions.