"I was once taken behind Čapkárna (a swimming pool at Komenského sady in Ostrava). Apparently, they had a workplace there, where they broke people into a cooperation. Two guys brought me there. It was quite a decent environment. One of the STB officers gave me a document, through which I should have committed to a cooperation with them. They promised that they would comply with my wishes in everything, that I would have more art work, I would travel. The guy really asked me if I would sign it. I told them, 'No. Take it and see you. ' Many people have signed it, believing that the communist regime will be here forever and no one will know. The people who have been broken like this are among us and there are quite a lot of them."
"Our famous writer Kundera, who now lives in Paris, was also coming here. And since Ostrava was small, we met. He was looking for some material for his book Žert (The Joke), which he was writing at that time. He was interested in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions. I told him about Ruda Valenta, who worked for them. At that time, I had a studio in the second district of Poruba, and I invited them both. Valenta told Kundera about the experience from the mines. He may have included some of that atmosphere into his book. In fact, Kundera was coming here mainly for girls."
"Coincidentally, I experienced the twists and turns in Berlin and Prague. I got to East Berlin when it started to hum. I thought I would try to cross the border into West Berlin, where my friend Ruda Valenta and other acquaintances lived at that time. To my surprise, the borders were already open. The Germans from the eastern part ran away with suitcases and backpacks to the West. I joined them and went by the railway to West Berlin. I looked for Ruda Valenta and together we watched what was happening around the wall. I remember the day the wall started to be taken down. Hundreds of journalists came from the western side, almost none from the eastern bloc, of course. I was standing there in the crowd when the wall began to break down. In the following days, I registered that protests had also begun in Prague. I got on a train and went home. I arrived at the Central Station in the evening and I could already hear the hum. I went to Wenceslas Square, where the first big demonstration meeting was. Then it continued every day. I was lucky to experience revolutionary euphoria in Berlin and then in Prague."
"We protested against the entry of the occupying armies. Various signing events and other things were done. I see no credit in that. They returned it to us when a new association of fine artists was founded. I was not admitted to this union, neither were many other people. I was only registered there. I could have been a freelancer, but I had no right to interfere in the activities of the union, I did not have to get any work."
"We guys were still running outside somewhere at that time. I was 12 years old. I remember how a soldier of the Red army walked down the Slezská Street once. He was probably a little bit drunk. He was not afraid at all. He walked like a hero in the middle of the road. It should be added that before the end of the war, various pro-German groups were activated and they were armed. Their members hid in the area and waited for what would happen. We were surprised that the Russian man is going in the middle of the road and is not afraid at all. Nothing happened to him. The Germans may have already escaped or been shot. That is my first impression of liberation."
Eduard Ovčáček was born on March 5, 1933 in Třinec. After the occupation of Těšín Silesia by Poland in October 1938, the family had to ran away to Moravia. He experienced the German occupation in Přerov and Frýdek-Místek. After the war, he returned to Třinec with his parents. He graduated from high school in Ostrava, where he began attending an art course. In 1957 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. While still at school, he co-founded the art group Konfrontace, which promoted Informel stream in Slovakia. He also established contacts with the key figures of contemporary art in Prague. In 1967 he was at the establishment of the Club of Concrete Artists. After the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968, he refused to admit that it was a fraternal aid. He was not admitted to the newly formed association of visual artists, he was not allowed to exhibit officially. He was repeatedly questioned by the State Security for his activities on the unofficial art scene. He signed Charter 77 in 1988. In November 1989, he witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, taking part in a demonstration against the communist regime in Prague. He participated in the activities of the Civic Forum in Ostrava. He was one of the initiators of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava, where he taught for many years. In his work, he devoted himself to graphics, painting, visual poetry, sculptures and collages since his youth. He is one of the important representatives of lettrism. His work is represented in many collections in the Czech Republic and abroad. In 2019 he lived in Ostrava. Eduard Ovčáček died on December 5th, 2022.
