SILVER LINING – 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JINDŘICH CHALUPECKÝ AWARD This anniversary exhibition is not the traditional group review

Dates of the event: 30th September 2015 – 17th January 2016

“A sable cloud turns forth its silver lining on the night,“ with such a motto by 17th century British poet John Milton the National Gallery in Prague celebrates the 25th anniversary of the famed Jindřich Chalupecký Award. The Silver Lining exhibition is not a typical group show, but rather an exhibition in close-up, an assemblage of fragments, composed of newly conceived or revisited, or site-specifically applied works. The exhibition of the laureates of the Czech Republic’s most distinguished art prize poses a number of questions that critically approach the prize’s mechanism of judgment and investigate its sustainability, as well as its role in the process of writing a recent history of (Czech) contemporary art.

This award, praised by Václav Havel as a “good and virtuous deed”, which was established in honour of one of the most outstanding minds in Czech art theory and history, Jindřich Chalupecký, has proudly taken the lead in shaping the identity of the young Czech art scene over the period of the past twenty-five years. It has become an invaluable platform confronting the historical perspective (which has crossed the threshold towards mature practice), diagnosing the present (which has a finger on the pulse of today), and formulating the expectations and demands of the future by constantly redefining the criteria of aesthetic choice and the legitimising of critical evaluation.

The Silver Lining exhibition is neither a memory box nor a hall of fame. It offers a moment of self-reflection, an anatomical cut through an institutional phenomenon. It oscillates between success and failure, heroism and weakness. Each work of art is a performative gesture – a particle that contributes to the microcosm of the continuity and ruptures in art history. Works lost in the galaxy of the exhibition strive for their own autonomy and make heard an exceptional subjective voice,“ states the curator of this exhibition, Adam Budak. Accompanied by the brief narratives of the main figures of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award – founders, jury members, supporters and sponsors –, the exhibition becomes a polemic space, a polyphonic collection of hybrid objects, investigating, “the importance of having a prize (price)”. Apart from the trauma of unfulfilled ambitions it thus also brings “moments of clarity” and as such it is, or desperately tries to be, an expression of hope and optimism. “Every cloud has a silver lining”.

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Silver Lining – 25th anniversary of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award

Artists: Vladimir Kokolia, František Skála, Michal Nesázal, Martin Mainer, Petr Nikl, Kateřina Vincourová, Jiří Příhoda, Jiří Černický, Lukáš Rittstein, David Černý, Tomáš Vaněk, Markéta Othová, Michal Pěchouček, Ján Mančuška, Kateřina Šedá, Barbora Klímová, Eva Koťátková, Radim Labuda, Jiří Skála, Marek Ther, Vladimíř Houdek, Dominik Lang, Roman Štětina Curator: Adam Budak Cooperation: Jen Kratochvil Architect: Dominik Lang Venue: Veletržní palác, Dukelských hrdinů 47, Praha 7 Dates: 30. 9. 2015 – 17. 1. 2016 Entry free

General partner of the exhibition: J&T Banka Co-organisers: Moravian Gallery in Brno, National Gallery in Prague, Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Foundation for a Civil Society With the financial support of: the Czech Ministry of Culture, the Capital City of Prague, the City of Brno, the Czech State Cultural Fund, the US Embassy, Czech Centres, Stuchlíková advokátní kancelář, Fair Art Chief media partner: Česká televize Media partners: RESPEKT, Art+Antiques, Artalk, ArtMap, Flash Art, Rádio Krokodýl Special partners: Přítomnost společenská revue, MCAE, www.audioguide.cz, vše na stolní tenis cz, joinmusic, the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, HELLMA, the Czech Geological Service, Jobs.cz

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