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Filko, Knížák, Nitsch and Ruller, Etcetera Art, Prague, 2023
Milan Knížák is a publicly active and artistically significant personality. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, he studied at the Faculty of Education of Charles University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and later in the 1970s at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, which was related to his interest in mathematics, which was also reflected in his work at the time. He did not graduate from any of these schools. Already in the mid-1960s he became a prominent figure in Czechoslovak action and conceptual art or happening. In 1965 he was admitted to the Union of Czechoslovak Artists. His credo was to bring art closer to life. For this reason, many of his events and "short-lived exhibitions" took place in public spaces. Knížák's artistic activities were soon noticed by leading Czech art theorists, including Jindřich Chalupecký and Jiří Kolář, who publicly praised his work. In 1977, for example, Knížák became a laureate of the Jiří Kolář Prize. He was the only Czechoslovak artist to be a member of the Fluxus movement, for which he is still world famous today. As a result, in 1968, after obstruction by the authorities, who for a long time refused to issue him a passport, he was sent to the United States of America for an internship, where he was appointed director of Fluxus East. Knížák continued to work in the art of action and happening until the 1980s, when his work began to show an inclination towards classical, but in his conception innovative, techniques of painting and sculpture, or the object. In the preceding years, however, the hyper-productive Knížák had also devoted himself to other areas, including design, fashion, music, photography, architecture and literary work. In Czechoslovakia, however, it was probably after 1989 that he made his greatest impact. In 1990, he became the head of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague as its rector, a position he held for seven years. This was followed by a long period of controversy, when he was the Director General of the National Gallery in Prague (1999-2011). Although his specific actions as director were often criticised, he was nevertheless one of the longest-serving directors of this leading Czech institution. As a rector and professor at the Academy and later as director of the National Gallery in Prague, he had a long-lasting influence on the Czech art scene. Currently, Knížák is devoted to social criticism and his attitudes are accurately described by the motto with which he welcomes visitors to his website: "I'm probably a fool or a Martian".
- Martin Vaněk

Milan Knížák, narozený 19. dubna 1940 v Plzni, je uznávaný český výtvarník, hudebník a performer, známý svou příslušností k mezinárodnímu hnutí Fluxus. 

Jeho kariéra zahrnuje pozice rektora Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze mezi lety 1990 a 1997 a ředitele Národní galerie v Praze od roku 1999 do května 2011. Vedl také Ateliér intermediální tvorby na AVU od roku 1989 do roku 2015. 

Knížákova tvorba je rozmanitá a zahrnuje akce, výtvarné umění, architekturu, design, módu, poezii, fotografii a hudbu. Jeho otec, Karel Knížák, byl malířem a řídicím učitelem, což ovlivnilo Milanovu cestu k umění.

 Přestože začal studovat na Vysoké škole pedagogické v Praze a později na Akademii výtvarných umění v Praze, obě školy opustil, aby se plně věnoval své umělecké kariéře. 

Knížákovo dílo je charakteristické svou inovativností a multidisciplinárním přístupem, který překračuje tradiční hranice umění.