Finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2018
Finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2018
“His works have latent gender content, making a humorous commentary on the existence of man who, just like a woman, is limited by conventions in his relationship to his body; man as an artist; manliness as a self-destructive gesture; and, in a more abstracted form, in connection with nationalism and anarchism.” (jury statement)
Tomáš Kajánek (*1989) studies at the Studio Without a Master. In 2016, he attended the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria; in 2015, he received the VIG Special Invitation within the Essl Art Award CEE and participated in a residency program in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Kajánek works primarily in the medium of photography, video and performance. In his work, he enters the gaps he finds on the edges of social phenomena. By his actions, he accentuates particular issues of contemporary society – for instance the relation of the majority society to minorities or the usefulness and risks of publicly accessible new technologies. His frequent inspiration sources include YouTube and other platforms for creative content sharing. His performances often include an element of exposing his own body to a difficult physical act or even physical endangerment. He also thematizes the medium of performance as such and addresses the question of human and artistic involvement. The artist has presented his work at collective and solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad, including ones at the National Gallery in Prague, Vienna Biennale in Austria, Nitra Gallery in Slovakia, and Croxhapox in Gent, Belgium.
Video: Jan Vidlička