Jiří Černický (born 1 August 1966, Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech visual artist
who is known as an author of experimental intermedia projects. His work often moves
between various media and it is not entirely clear which medium prevails – whether video art,
visual poetry or photography. His work is often characterized by a social and political
commitment associated with the violating of social taboos.
In 1997 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the Departments of Miloš
Šejn and Jiří David. He also studied at the Pedagogical Faculty of the Jan Evangelista
Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem and at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design
in Prague in the Department of Adéla Matasová.
Jiří Černický is a winner of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, the Soros Award and the 48th
October Salon Award (in Belgrade, Serbia). He was a finalist for the Alice Francis Award.
For a long time his presence on the art scene has been very radical and conspicuous. The
common basis of his often very disparate projects can be most aptly described as fictional
scenarios. Černický subsequently concentrates these in various media, which he often
combines within complex exhibition constellations. He confidently alternates between easel
painting and objects, video and photography. He uses strategies based on action art as well as
new media technologies. He does not avoid strong emotions, social criticism and prediction of
the future. Just as he unsettles the sharp dividing line between reality and fiction, he
undermines and liberates unbearable pathos through ironic humor. Černický’s equilibristic
skill at balancing all these components has protected his projects from the risk of an empty
morality, a too obvious wit or a convoluted boredom.
Lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
Education
1993–1997 – Academy of Fine Arts, Prague
1990–1993 – Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague
Awards
2020 – Main Prize of the Graphic Art of the Year, The Vladimír Boudník Award
2012 – Finalist of the Alice Francis Award
2007 – 48th October Salon Award, Beograd, Serbia
1998 – The Jindřich Chalupecký Award, Prague
1996 – The Soros Award, Prague
Solo Exhibitions
| 2024 | Tales of Sleepless Nights, Platforma 15 Gallery, Prague |
| Realization of a monument to the composer Viktor Ullmann in Ústí nad Labem. | |
| 2023 | Krabat’s Apartment, Miroslav Kubík Gallery, Litomyšl |
| Real Visions of the Oracle, NoD, Prague | |
| Weed of the Tartan, Špejchar Gallery, Chomutov | |
| Two Decimal Points in the Middle of a Sentence, Trafačka Gallery, Prague | |
| Born in Fire, Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy | |
| 2022 | Self-Breathing, Josef Sudek Studio, Prague |
| Contemplation of Activists, Michaela and Jiří Černický, Cifra Gallery, Bohemian Switzerland | |
| Magical News (Esotery of the Sloths), Michaela and Jiří Černický, North Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts in Litoměřice | |
| 2021 | Kinetic Architecture, Luxfer Gallery, Česká Skalice |
| Dharmanautica 4300 A.D., with Pavel Pepperstein, DSC Gallery, Prague | |
| 2020 | The Future of Snow, Via Art Gallery, Prague |
| 2019 | Iconoclast, Ján Koniarek Gallery in Trnava, Slovakia |
| Nobody Readable, Kunsthale CCC Beijing, China | |
| Other Kind of Painting, New Gallery, Prague | |
| Jiří Černický, Masna Gallery, Slavonice | |
| 2018 | With a Kite at One’s Back, Futura Gallery, Prague |
| Trump versus Godzilla, DSC Gallery, Prague | |
| Spiritualist Science, Arsenał Gallery, Białystok, Poland | |
| Aviary for Aircraft, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia | |
| 2017 | New Energy of Stars, video installation, New Stage of the National Theater, Prague |
| Total Global, Čermák Eisenkraft Gallery, Prague (with Milan Kunc) | |
| War Zone, Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic (with Pavel Kopřiva) | |
| Spiritualist Science, Chapel Gallery, Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic | |
| 2016 | Wild Dreams, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague |
| Methodical Dreams, Kunsthalle Košice, Slovakia | |
| 2015 | Dangerous Paintings on Paper, Kavka Book Gallery, Prague |
| Real Minimalism, Josef Sudek Gallery, Prague | |
| Steel Head, Plató Gallery, Ostrava, Czech Republic | |
| Dolby Painting – Conquest of Dante’s Hell by Thor Heyerdahl, Adam Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| 2014 | The Day Snow Fell on a Burning Field, SPZ Gallery, Prague |
| The Image that Looks like a Painting, Fokus Café, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| 2013 | Dolby Painting, Dvorak Sec Contemporary Gallery, Prague |
| 2010 | Kefir Path, Woxart Gallery, Prague |
| The Gagarin Thing, Václav Špála Gallery, Prague | |
| Minimally Intensive, Town Gallery, Blansko, Czech Republic | |
| ABS, Muzeum Jed(y)nygo obiektu Toruń, Poland | |
| 2009 | Things I am not Sorry for, V. Löffler Museum, Košice, Slovakia |
| IFO Archive, Josef Sudek Studio, Prague | |
| 2008 | ABS Video, Space Gallery, Cleveland, USA |
| Well, one never does the most important things anyway…, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| 2007 | ABS Video, Futura Gallery, Prague |
| You, Artsdepot Gallery, London, UK (with Tereza Severová) | |
| ABS Video, Galleria Traghetto, Venezia, Italy | |
| ABS Video, The Brno House of Art, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| 2006 | Bindings, Die Aktualität des Schönen Gallery, Liberec, Czech Republic |
| Pincushions, Steinek Gallery, Vienna, Austria | |
| 2005 | ABS Story, Jiří Švestka Gallery, Prague |
| The Gagarin Thing, Vivid Centre for Media Arts, Birmingham, UK | |
| 2003 | Spirit of the East in the West, Sokolská Gallery, Ostrava, Czech Republic |
| 2002 | Brand New Rubbish, Jiří Švestka Gallery, Prague |
| Bin Laden’s Lamp, Noname Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | |
| Au-Pair Medusa’s Room, Lara Vincy Gallery, Paris, France | |
| 2001 | META Pop, Miroslav Kraljević Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia |
| Hard Pop Expo, MAMA Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | |
| 2000 | Czech Front Gallery, Los Angeles, USA |
| The Luxury of Grief, Post Gallery, Los Angeles, USA | |
| Bin Laden’s Lamp, Václav Špála Gallery, Prague | |
| 1999 | Barock, Allergic, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic |
| 1998 | Gentleman’s Room, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsko, Poland; Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany |
| 1996 | St. Game, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic |
| The Art, Pecka Gallery, Prague | |
| 1991 | Apartment Border, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic (with Pavel Kopřiva) |
| Exhibition, Little Gallery, Liberec, Czech Republic (with Pavel Kopřiva) |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2024 | Ride, Center for Contemporary Art EPO1 in Turnov |
| 2023 | The Principle of Heraclitus, Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem |
| Fear, Laughter and Death, Čáslav Rubber Plant, Čáslav | |
| Kunsthalle CCC Peking, Czech Cubism, curator, Beijing, China | |
| 2022 | Heroin Crystal, Nineties Generation, Prague City Gallery |
| Wuhan Biennale, Art as Transport Communication, China | |
| Czechoslovenia, Ptuj City Gallery, Slovenia | |
| Gardening of Soul, House of Arts in Ústí nad Labem | |
| 4 + 4 Days in Motion, international festival of contemporary art, Esprit Smíchov Sports Center, Prague | |
| 2021 | Nicht-Museum zeitgemäßer Kunst Dresden, Neumarkt Dresden, Dresden, Germany |
| Nova Forma 1, industrial area of the Čáslav Rubber Plant, Čáslav | |
| Artrooms Moravany – The Future of the Wheel, Moravany nad Váhom Château, Slovakia | |
| Mikulov Art Symposium – Diopters of Medusa, Mikulov | |
| Signal Festival – Archaic Topicalities, The Karlín Barracks, Prague | |
| Disturbed Balance Revisited, House of Arts in Ústí nad Labem | |
| 2020 | Exhibition of Czech Glass, 8smička Gallery, Humpolec |
| Graphic Art of the Year, Vladimír Boudník Award, Imperial Stables of Prague Castle, Prague | |
| Distant Nature, Knoll Gallery, Vienna | |
| 2019 | Boudník, Moravian Gallery, Brno |
| Orient V, Prague City Gallery, Prague | |
| Retina, Possibilities of Painting, 8smička Gallery, Humpolec | |
| Velvet Exhibition, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem | |
| The Power of the Powerless, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia | |
| 2018 | Conditions of Impossibility VI/VII: Technical Detail, Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art Prague + Cursor Gallery, Prague |
| Salm Modern #1: Dimensions of Dialogue, National Gallery in Prague – Salm Palace, Prague | |
| OBJEKTívne, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Slovakia | |
| Utopus ČSR + Time for New Utopias, Spiš Artists’ Gallery, Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia | |
| Energy of the Initial Line – Gesture, Rhythm, Movement in Contemporary Czech Art, The Gallery of Modern Art, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic | |
| Textile Tribute – Textile within the Context of Art, 8mička Gallery, Humpolec, Czech Republic | |
| Paneland – Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Alienation in the Dictionary Definition – Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| View from V4, Art Thema Gallery, Brussels, Belgium | |
| 2017 | The Black, New Gallery, Prague |
| Panel Apartment House, Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Soulful Interiors, West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen, Masné krámy exhibition hall, Pilsen, Czech Republic | |
| Tribes, Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Recycling Ideologies, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| Extended Painting – contemporary painting from Prague, Bačva Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia | |
| 2016 | Writing the City, Prague 4 + 4 Days in Motion, Prague |
| Komercionál; performance “Nobody Readable”, Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| Irreversible Shift, The Brno House of Art, Czech Republic | |
| 2015 | From the Floor, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic |
| Performance – Diverting the Danube from Hungary, presentation of the project to transform the existing filter in the area of Dolní Vítkovice, National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic | |
| 2014 | 7th New Zlín Salon 2014, Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín, Czech Republic |
| The Day Snow Fell on a Burning Field, Gallery of Fine Art in Cheb (Eger), Czech Republic | |
| Charlie’s Proun, Tutti Frutti Festival of Contemporary Art and Culture, Bratislava, Slovakia | |
| Works on Paper, Fanatics of Paper, Dvorak Sec Contemporary Gallery, Prague | |
| Real Minimalism, About the Chair, 2014 Biennial of Photography and Visual Art in Liege, Belgium | |
| 2013 | Arts under Influences, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France |
| 2012 | Islands of Resistance, National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic |
| The Beginning of the Century, West Bohemian Gallery in Pilsen, Czech Republic | |
| AVIFF Cannes, France | |
| AVIFF Marrakesh Film Festival, Morocco | |
| AVIFF South Africa – Grahamstown – National Arts Festival, South Africa | |
| 2011 | Images of the Mind, German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, Germany |
| Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Inter-View 2, Nitra Gallery, Nitra, Slovakia | |
| Mutating Medium, Photography in Czech Art 1990–2010, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague | |
| Recycling, Nod Roxy, Prague | |
| 2010 | Planet Eden, The Brno House of Art, Brno, Czech Republic; DOX Center for Contemporary Art, Prague |
| Economy of Unwanted Amity, Karlín Studios, Prague | |
| Prize-Winners of 20 years – Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2010, DOX Center for Contemporary Art, Prague | |
| What’s Missing, GUM Studio, Carrara, Italy | |
| Minimal Difference, White Box Gallery, New York, USA | |
| Format of Transformations, House of the Lords of Kunštát, Brno, Czech Republic | |
| Format of Transformations 89–09, MUSA Museum auf Abruf, Vienna, Austria | |
| A Part of No-Part, Parallelisms between Then and Now, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA | |
| City Dreamer, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic | |
| Absurd? Grotesque? Irony?, Nod Roxy, Prague | |
| 2009 | Czech Photography of the 20th Century, Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany |
| Fourteen S, DOX Center for Contemporary Art, Prague | |
| Hell of Things, Kronika Gallery, Bytom, Poland | |
| 2008 | Reflecting Words, Museum of Czech Literature, Prague |
| Ultra, Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery, Prague | |
| Performance – “Nobody Readable”, Zen Buddhist Temple in Changchun, China | |
| Social Dialogue, Motorenhalle, Dresden, Germany | |
| Place in the Heart, Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland | |
| What do you do for a living?, <rotor>, Graz, Austria | |
| Rebus sic stantibus, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum, Turku, Finland | |
| Central Europe Revisited, Esterhazy Castle, Eisenstadt, Austria | |
| Loophole to the Universe, Divus Unit 30, London, UK | |
| 2007 | Art & Criticism, ICA, Dunaujvaros, Hungary |
| Demolition, The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel | |
| Micro-Narratives, 48th October Salon, Beograd, Serbia | |
| Fragment.cz, Castello Di Rivara, Italy | |
| Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Urania National Movie Theatre, Budapest, Hungary | |
| Gross Domestic Product, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic | |
| Form Follows Risk, Futura Gallery, Prague | |
| National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia | |
| 2006 | Frisbee, Sokolská Gallery, Ostrava, Czech Republic |
| Hotel Chalupecký, Motorenhalle, Dresden, Germany | |
| Après Dada?, Lara Vincy Gallery, Paris, France | |
| Shadows of Humor, Bielska Gallery, Bielsko Biala, Poland | |
| Places for Small Stories, Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli, Naples, Italy | |
| Hot / Cold? — Summer Loving, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland | |
| Shadows of Humor, Avantgarde Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland | |
| 2005 | Cultural Domestication / Instinctual Desire, Center for the Visual Arts Gallery, Toledo, USA |
| Czech Photography of the 20th Century, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic | |
| Prague Biennale 2: Expanded Painting, Karlín Hall, Prague | |
| Nature’s Mirror, Otowa, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Domicile, Musee d’Art Moderne, Saint Etienne, France | |
| The Giving Person, Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples, Italy | |
| 2004 | I Grandi Magazzini dell’Arte, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy |
| E.U. Positive, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany | |
| Dialogue Los Angeles / Prague, Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA | |
| Turning the Page, Kogart, Budapest, Hungary | |
| Passage d’Europe, Musee d’Art Moderne, Saint Etienne, France | |
| Suit Yourself!, Museum for Communication, The Hague, The Netherlands | |
| 2003 | Balkan Konsulat, <rotor>, Graz, Austria |
| Aus Liebe, Die Generation der neuziger Jahre aus Prag, Landesmuseum Bonn, Germany | |
| Prague Biennale 1, National Gallery – Trade Fair Palace, Prague | |
| Elektrobot, Home Gallery, Prague | |
| Exhibition on the Body of Nehad Bogdanović, Man Gallery, Serbia | |
| 2002 | Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
| Corps et traces, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, France | |
| 40 years: Fluxus and the Consequences (40 Jahre: Fluxus und die Folgen), Kunstsommer Wiesbaden, Karstadt, Wiesbaden, Germany | |
| Art Dans la Ville, Hotel Colcombet, Saint-Etienne, France | |
| Werkstatt Junge Akademie, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Germany | |
| 2001 | A Sense of Well-Being, Palace of the Imperial Thermal Baths, Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czech Republic |
| Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture, Fellbach, Germany | |
| Youth Salon, Zagreb Fair Building, Zagreb, Croatia | |
| 2000 | East of Eden, Wyspa Gallery, Gdansk, Poland |
| Actual Infinity, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic | |
| Bohemian Birds – Positions of Czech Contemporary Art, Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany | |
| Story, Rock Club Roxy, Prague | |
| The End of the World, National Gallery – Trade Fair Palace, Prague | |
| Place and Between, Bergen, Norway | |
| All You Need is Love, Laznia Center of Polish Art, Gdansk, Poland | |
| 1999 | After the Wall, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany |
| Against All – The Chalupecký Award Winners, Central Exhibition Hall ‘Manege’, Moscow, Russia | |
| Czech Landscape, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany | |
| Flirting with the Foreigners, Czech Centre, London, UK | |
| Fauna, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland | |
| Rondo, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Hungary | |
| 1998 | Developed, Czech Center, Berlin, Germany |
| Czech Landscape, Museum of Contemporary Art, Altkirch, France | |
| 1997 | Born ’68, Czech Center, Berlin, Germany |
| 1996 | Dawn of the Magicians, National Gallery – Trade Fair Palace, Prague |
| Respect, Villa Richter, Prague | |
| 1995 | Crossing of Meridians, Monastery in Plasy, Czech Republic |
| Test Run, Mánes Gallery, Prague | |
| 1993 | Landscape, Prague City Gallery, Czech Republic |