Jan Ságl: Images of Czechoslovak Underground

A concert by the Plastic People and Aktual at the Music F Club on 26 February 1971 – usually called one of the key events of the Czech underground. The film captures pre-concert preparations and the concert itself, including the industrial elements of Milan Knížák’s Aktual (the use of power drill, metal percussion, various objects, and throwing rice into the audience)...

In this recording of a July concert by the Plastic People in the village of Skála near Humpolec, Ságl captures the almost apocalyptic dimension of the Plastics’ performances. He shoots expressive close-ups of the dancers using a hand-held spotlight, complemented by calmer footage of the musicians immersed in playing their instruments – all of it “edited” directly in the camera...

Preparations for a concert by the Plastic People and Aktual in the village of Suchá by Nejdek. The film records the arrival of the band members, moving the equipment, and setting up the stage, but not the concert itself, which took place in absolute darkness and is seen on the film only as a brief shot of someone breathing fire...

The ‘Dumpling Feast’ was a private event held by Dana and Jiří Němec on Prague’s Ječná Street. The idea for the event came from Ivan M. Jirous, who looked after the family’s secret dumpling recipe...

The wedding film of the Plastic People’s singer, Paul Wilson, shows the scene before and after the ceremony at the town hall in Prague 5, including the gathered friends and the final departure of the newlyweds.

An opening reception for an exhibition of jugs by ceramic artist František Maxera is slowly transformed into a wild alcohol-fueled party with an acoustic concert by the members of the Plastic People. Recorded at the U Lojzy pub in Prague’s Vinohrady district.

A private concert by the Plastic People at their practice space in the now-demolished house (no. 1) on the corner of Dělnická and Argentinská Streets in Prague. Because of the cramped conditions, Ságl recorded the events in extreme close-up using his characteristic hand-held lighting...

In honour of Arnošt and Jaroslava Hanibal’s wedding in September 1974, Ivan M. Jirous held the ‘First Festival of Other Culture’ in Postupice, with the passive presence of the police...

A reading by Egon Bondy at the local pub in Klukovice in November 1974. Bondy reads Invalid Siblings as Ságl’s camera focuses primarily on the faces in the audience. About halfway through the film, there is an improvised acoustic concert by the members of the Plastic People, which transforms the event into a wild party, including Bondy’s own creative dancing.

A record of one of Zorka Ságlová’s last land-art actions in October 1972. In the abandoned Vřísek Castle in the village of Zahrádky near Česká Lípa, a group of invited participants released hundreds of inflated condoms...

One of Ságl’s few non-documentary films captures the underground scene in one static shot showing a never-ending mass of people emerging from the escalator in the Prague metro. Although it is clearly a structural film – a fixed composition with several layers of motion – Ságl also uses it to explore social issues...

While on a trip with Ivan M. Jirous, Jan Ságl came across several dozen metal printers’ plates hanging out in the open landscape. A much-needed product in samizdat circles, the plates were being used to scare away birds. The film shows a sun-drenched landscape with scattered silver points arranged in random constellations like some kind of land-art...