THIRTY-FIVE. 35 YEARS OF INSTITUTE OF CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

Curators: Vladimír Birgus and Ondřej Durczak
In collaboration with: Jakub Hayne, Lukáš Horký, Lukáš Lamla, David Macháč, Josef Moucha, Václav Podestát, Tomáš Pospěch, Michał Szalast, Martin Vimr

The exhibition ‘Thirty-Five’ at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague is the final instalment in a series of exhibitions organised by the Institute of Creative Photography at the Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Sciences, Silesian University in Opava, to mark the 35th anniversary of its foundation. All previous exhibitions have featured a selection of works created over the past five years as part of final-year, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses of this second-oldest – and, in terms of student and teaching staff numbers, the largest – of the Czech higher education institutes offering a photography programme.

The exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, which features not only Czech artists but also many international students from Slovakia, Poland and other countries, showcases a broad spectrum of contemporary trends in photography – ranging from subjective documentary work reflecting everyday reality, through inventive portraits, staged photographs and experiments in intermedia and conceptual art, to personal projects exploring questions of identity, family relationships and coming to terms with the difficult life circumstances of loved ones. The exhibition also features works that offer the artists’ own interpretations of broader social themes, such as climate change, migration, the war in Ukraine and the transformation of urban spaces.  In addition to printed photographs, several projections are also on display. A significant part of the exhibition comprises selected books by teachers and students, as well as bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses, which represent important contributions to the historiography of, in particular, Czech, Slovak and Polish photography, and are accessible to all interested parties, together with practical coursework and final projects, on the website www.itf.cz.

The exhibition was supported by the Silesian University in Opava (grant SGS/1/2024).