The Propaganda Project

In the so-­called “normalisation” period, only a few have the privilege to be freelance artists; everyone is obliged to have a day job. In a big fabric factory in Brno, a couple of painters and graphic designers work in a kind of ad-­agency: they sometimes design advertising for the factory’s products – absurdly enough, in a regime where competition doesn’t exist. More often though, they work on political assignments such as billboards commemorating Lenin’s death, the end of the sixth Five-­year plan, or celebrating International Women’s Day. Each of the designers have their own reason to be there and to try to keep this job – whether they need it to finish art school or they just don’t want to clean windows somewhere instead. Of course they all try to make their own art as well, using spare time at work and stealing the material. (excerpt)