Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2021 exhibition

The international jury has selected five visual artists under the age of 35 for the 2021 Jindřich Chalupecký Award, its 32nd year. They are Robert Gabris, Jakub Jansa, Valentýna Janů, Anna Ročňová and the artistic non-collective Björnsonova. The five artists decided to follow the model established by last year's artists and to refrain from competing for the laureate title, which has been awarded to all of them. The joint exhibition of this year's laureates’ work, and the exhibition of the international guest artists, the artistic duo Cooking Sections, will take place at the Moravian Gallery in Brno.

The international jury, consisting of representatives of leading international art institutions, including Ivet Ćurlin (Kunsthalle Wien), Anna Daučíková (artist and teacher), Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), João Laia (Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki) and Jan Zálešák (curator and educator), selected from almost 90 portfolios submitted by artists presenting their work on the contemporary Czech art scene. “We appreciated the quality and diversity of the submitted portfolios and their broad range of geography, gender and identity. We welcomed the convergence of artistic and activist positions. We also noted a strong inclination towards diverse forms of collaboration within the arts scene. The artists tended to thematize highly relevant issues, such as rethinking gender and national identities, feminist and queer positions, or challenging the late capitalist status quo. The artworks also touched on ecological themes with sensitivity and demonstrated an appreciation of the need to find balance in unstable ecosystems, viewed from a holistic perspective which transcends the dichotomy of living and non-living, human and non-human,” the jury concluded.

The artists will create new works specifically for the exhibition, which will be held in the traditional location on the ground floor of the Pražák Palace. The exhibition will be curated for the first time by the entire JCHS curatorial team (Barbora Ciprová, Veronika Čechová, Tereza Jindrová and Karina Kottová) in close cooperation with the JCHS production team (Sára Davidová, Jakub Lerch). The exhibition architecture will be prepared by Studio Objektor and the graphic design by Studio 20YY Designers. The exhibition will be complemented by a publication authored by sisters Linda Dostálková and Daniela Dostálková, and accompanying programs for a wide range of target groups.