The work of Czech artist Jiří Kovanda involves a continuous struggle to overcome boundaries. This is apparent not only in his well-known performances of the 1970s, but also in his later paintings, assemblages, and installations from the mid-’80s to the present. Performances such as Attempted Acquaintance or Contact, both 1977, dramatize the artist’s very personal fear of embarrassment and apprehension in communicating with the outside world and can thus be understood as a form of personal therapy that aspires to break down borders between the self and the other.

A similar strategy is also evident