Ezra Šimek

Holder of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2022

" Ezra Šimek engages in the urgent topics of the non-binary, gender fluidity and related identity, political and social issues with a dose of humor and irony and through a visually striking language. Their work questions the stereotypes of the traditional gender roles, often referring to popular Western culture, particularly the Hollywood tradition.” (jury statement)

Ezra Šimek (*1997, Munich) graduated in Photography (Studio of New Aesthetic) from Prague’s Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and now continues with their MA in TransArts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Digital Media and Moving Image Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna as well as an MA in contemporary art theory at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia. In their work, Ezra primarily deals with queer identity politics and sensitivity around language, presented through various time-based media (film, performative lecture, computer game) or site-responsive installations, sound works and writing. They explore gender as a societal construct comparable to mythology that attempts to create more fictional narratives and to boost synergy between different shattered realities of our times and fantasy and thus create a new inclusive and speculative reality.

Their work has been presented within the Czech art scene at Prague exhibition venues Ankali (2021), City Surfer Office (2020), or GAMU (2019, 2020) and abroad, for example at Haus Wien, Vienna (2021).