This or that
The exhibition project THIS OR THAT presents a cross-section of Michal Kalhous’ 30 years of photographic activity, in the contemporary and artistic context of the work of the artists who inspired and stimulated him to his own work. The project is a synthesis of new and older images from 1995 to 2020, which the author donated to the Olomouc Museum of Art in 2021 in connection with the preparation of his monographic publication (Edition Olomouc Photographers, Olomouc 2022). From dozens of photographs, many of which are diary-like, a body of work was assebled, that brings togehter Kalhous’ reflections on transience, on partner relationships and family, on humility and gratitude for the opportunity to live a simple everyday life. The exhibition collection will be partially complemented by photographs by other artists, such as Jiří Kovanda, Marie Kratochvílová, Markéta Othová, Josef Sudek, Jan Svoboda, Miroslav Tichý, Václav Stratil, Jiří Toman, Milena Valušková, or the artist duo Lukáš Jasanský – Martin Polák, with whom Kalhous shares a similar view of the world, as well as of photography and its content and formal possibilities. The special guest of the project is Martin Horák, who will enrich the exhibition with an authorial intervention.
The exhibition project THIS OR THAT presents a cross-section of Michal Kalhous’ 30 years of photographic activity, in the contemporary and artistic context of the work of the artists who inspired and stimulated him to his own work. The project is a synthesis of new and older images from 1995 to 2020, which the author donated to the Olomouc Museum of Art in 2021 in connection with the preparation of his monographic publication (Edition Olomouc Photographers, Olomouc 2022). From dozens of photographs, many of which are diary-like, a body of work was assebled, that brings togehter Kalhous’ reflections on transience, on partner relationships and family, on humility and gratitude for the opportunity to live a simple everyday life. The exhibition collection will be partially complemented by photographs by other artists, such as Jiří Kovanda, Marie Kratochvílová, Markéta Othová, Josef Sudek, Jan Svoboda, Miroslav Tichý, Václav Stratil, Jiří Toman, Milena Valušková, or the artist duo Lukáš Jasanský – Martin Polák, with whom Kalhous shares a similar view of the world, as well as of photography and its content and formal possibilities. The special guest of the project is Martin Horák, who will enrich the exhibition with an authorial intervention.
TICKETS
THIS OR THAT
A CENTURY OF RELATIVITY
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART + ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM
TICKETS
THIS OR THAT
A CENTURY OF RELATIVITY
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART + ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM
During the advent of postmodernism, the term “non-photography” gradually infiltrated Czech photography; it was mostly a matter of banal non-photogenic photographs, often underlined by a dismal and deliberately inartistic form that evoked amateur photography. Michal Kalhous (*1967) is one of the most important Czech representatives of this neo-conceptual movement, besides Markéta Othová (*1968), Alena Kotzmannová (*1974), and the artistic duo Lukáš Jasanský (*1965) and Martin Polák (*1966). His work, which includes large-format black-and-white analogue photographs, freely develops the aforementioned non-photographic methods and, most importantly, builds on one of the branches of Czech photography which reflected the possibilities of minimalism in the black-and-white medium from the 1960s onwards in a very free and unorthodox way. Kalhous also makes no secret of his inspiration by the earlier quiet and simple compositions of Josef Sudek (1896–1976) and his inward inclination towards the pictorial depiction of the intimate relationship with simple things in the works of Jan Svoboda (1934–1990). Kalhous’ search for, and recording of, themes within the circle of his loved ones is perfectly in line with the documentary approach of Dagmar Hochová (1926–2012). With a deliberately added pinch of awkwardness, he pays tribute to the voyeuristic and bizarre photographs of Miroslav Tichý (1926–2011).
MICHAL KALHOUS
(1967), photographer and teacher, lives in Šternberk, works in Ostrava. He graduated from the Faculty of Science at Palacký University in Olomouc, majoring in mathematics-physics, and completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Economics in Ústí nad Labem, majoring in visual communication. Since 2006, he has been teaching at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava, where he is currently the dean. He has been exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions since 1994. He is represented in state and private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad.
THIS OR THAT
CURATOR: Štěpánka Bieleszová
TEXTS: Štěpánka Bieleszová
PROOFREADING: Zuzana Henešová
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Vladimír Vaca
INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář
COOPERATION: Markéta Othová, Lukáš Jasanský – Martin Polák
OPENING: 14 03 2024 06:30 PM
The exhibition This or That. Michal Kalhous is part of the project Michal Kalhous. A Guest in the House
THIS OR THAT
CURATOR: Štěpánka Bieleszová
TEXTS: Štěpánka Bieleszová
PROOFREADING: Zuzana Henešová
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Vladimír Vaca
INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář
COOPERATION: Markéta Othová, Lukáš Jasanský – Martin Polák
OPENING: 14 03 2024 06:30 PM
The exhibition This or That. Michal Kalhous is part of the project Michal Kalhous. A Guest in the House
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