Charging Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2016

Charging Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2016

Jindřich Chalupecký Award is an annual award presented during a ceremony which has seen various forms in the past quarter of a century, ranging from a presentation by President Václav Havel at the Prague Castle through much more intimate and alternative events to dramatic forms and live broadcasts on Czech Television and Czech Radio. Based on the incentive of the 2015 award finalists Vojtěch Fröhlich, Lukáš Karbous, Barbora Kleinhamplová, Pavla Sceranková and Pavel Sterec, we decided to entrust the idea and concept of the award ceremony to them and thus establish a certain continuity between the individual editions.

The Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2016 ceremony hosted by Tomáš Pospiszyl focused on the presentation of the finalists through short documentary films, speeches of the jury members and short performances by the finalists and their guests. However, prior to that, the physical award designed by Maxim Velčovský embarked on a journey through the art scene in the manner of a “baton”. It went through the hands of artists and art groups who would hold various events documented by a short video. Thus the award was symbolically charged with real “award value”.

We present a series of interventions across the contemporary Czech art scene as well as the journey of the physical award to rather remote geographical regions. Enriched with experiences from artists’ studios, art schools and special trips, it finally made it (perhaps in a transformed form) to the hands of Jindřich Chalupecký Award Holder 2016 Matyáš Chochola.