Speed Date / ONDŘEJ VICENA, artist, eyewear designer
Photo: Vladimír Kotra.
Where are you from?
From Prague, Radotín.
Where did you study?
At the AVU, UMPRUM, UUD, UAP, UDK.
Who was your best teacher?
Hard to say, probably nightlife and sometimes daylife.
Who were/ are your parents?
They are my inspiration.
What don’t you enjoy in design?
Thoughtlessness and boredom.
And on the contrary, what do you?
Respect for history, zeitgeist of the present, not boring.
What do you listen to?
Labello, Domo, Yung Hurn, Yung Lean, Caroline Polachek, Planningtorock, Anohni, Keluar, Visage, Eurythmics.
Your favourite film or cartoon?
Jurassic Park.
Who do you respect as an authority in and out of your field?
I like Andy Warhol as much as Mark Ther, who likes him. Warhol amuses me because he hit fashion with art and was still cool even as an older person.
What thing did you last buy?
80s Karl Lagerfeld glasses.
Do you buy professional literature? What was the latest book?
I buy a lot of books about eyewear and eyewear design now.
Do you vote?
If it’s a big deal, I do.
Who throws the best parties?
My brain. Why does this question follow the election?
Your favourite dome?
The Hagia Sophia Mosque.
Party dress. Made by…?
Textile House.
Your hero from the past?
Milada Horáková.
Best/nicest house?
I like the villas from the 1930s. Villa Tugendhat of course, I like the story.
Do you have any stereotypes when you work? How do they show?
I always have to listen to something.
What’s on your desktop?
Rubbish.
Best exhibition, work of art?
I quite like Simon Denny and I also like Camille Henrot or Pakui Hardware, but those are artists. Duchamp’s Large glass is nice.
What do you respect both from the local and foreign design scene? And why?
When somebody from the local scene crosses its borders to abroad and goes for it.
Ethics or money?
Ethics is essential, even when money is involved. Money is good praise and motivation, but I understand the goal of art is that it should hold up a mirror to the world and maybe even change it, for that matter.
Extraordinary book?
Guy Debord – The Society of the Spectacle.
Optimist, pessimist, nihilist?
Optician.
Do you have any hobby?
I don’t have much time for hobbies, quite often something starts as a hobby but turns into a profession.
Solo or in a collective?
At first I had individualistic ambitions, but you just can’t do it without a collective and you can’t move on unless you’re going to make at least a small hole in the globe.
Slovakia as the Promised Land?
In terms of the presidency, yes.