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Sculptor David Černý is - contrary to most contemporary artists - a Czech cultural figure with high media visibility. He most often creates figurative sculptures made for display in public spaces. Much more than sorting out isolated aesthetic problems he is drawn to intervening in societal relationships and enlivening (animating) media space.

David Černý studied design and later sculpture at the Art-Industrial College (Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová). However the independent cultural scene of the late 1980s/early 1990s had a more decisive impact on him than his studies. He took part in activities relating to Bullshitfilm. With his friends he created short-term installation and performances that bordered between parties and works of art. He displayed his works at shows under the former monument to Stalin. He created flying dollars for the Andy Warhol Museum in Medzilaborce. His first larger public reaction came from his sculpture of a dying trabant placed on Prague’s Old Town Square (1990).

His Pink Tank(1991), or army tank painted pink and meant to serve as a monument to the Soviet Army, provoked nation-wide discussion and debate. At the time it was a unique, politically-motivated artistic event that earned broad media coverage. Mr. Černý also attempted to break down public opinion with his mystifying events, Killing Days in Madrid and London, prepared for the Edge 92 Festival. A show at the Špala Gallery in Prague in 1993 marked the climax of David Černý’s first creative period. At the event he exhibited, among other things, his Kit series, an over-sized pistol first used in the Killing Days (Dni zabíjení) and the Malost (Smallness) installation from 1991.

Between 1994 – 1996 David Černý lived in New York, first as a resident at the P.S. 1 programme and later at the Whitney Studio Programme. He exhibited in the Ronald Feldman Gallery and also took part in the travelling exhibit Beyond Belief. His encounters with the American art scene however had a rather negative impact on him. Upon returning to Prague he began to work on films and simultaneously started to develop the motif of gigantic babies placed on the facades of various building structures. These came from his American period. In 2001 he succeeded in getting his work, Deset Miminek (Ten Babies), placed on the Žižkov TV tower. Since the end of the 1990s, David Černý has realised a number of large projects for public spaces. These include his permanently-displayed Viselec (Hanging Man - 1996) in Prague’s Jilská Street, as well as his series of bronze models from Czech historical periods: Český betlém (Czech Nativity Scene), a work on permanent display in the Škoda Pavillion at the Wolfsburg Automotive Museum. David Černý’s chosen artistic method often focuses on public provocation and testing aesthetic and societal limits. This fact has led to a number of his more financially-demanding projects not having been completed. The list of his works of this type accomplished after 2000 include the interactive fountain at the Herget Brick Mill (Hergetova cihelna), a bus stop in Liberec and a sculpture of a head, entered from the rear, outside the Futura Gallery.

Studies and stipends:
1995-96 Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York, USA
1994-95 P.S.I. artists residence, New York, USA
1991 Sculptor's residency grant Swiss government in Boswil, Switzerland
1988-94 Academy of Applied Arts, Prof. Kurt Gebauer, Prague

Grants and awards:
2000 Chalupecky Prize, National prize for young artist, Czech Republic
1996 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, USA
1990 Special Prize in the Biennale of Kortrijk, Belgium

2011
"Freedom" Meetfactory, Prague

2010
Mona Lisa gallery Olomouc
Gallery Arsenal, Poznan

2009
dvorak sec contemporary
CO2 gallery, Roma
"Entropa", European commity, Bruxels

2007
chicago viselec Czech centrum

2002
"Cirkus Cerny", MAMA gallery / Netherlands Architecture Institute / TENT / Politiegalerie /
various outdoor installations and performances, Rotterdam,
"Political Pop", chromosome Berlin, Germany
Galerie V kapli, Bruntal, Czech Republic

2000
NYU, Prague

1999
Czech Embassy London, Great Britain

1993
“Artificial”, Spalova Gallery, Prague

1992
“Fertility”, Rubin Club, Center of Performing Arts, with Marketa Bankova, Prague

1991
“Draft”, Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art, Medzilaborce, Slovakia
“Smallness” State Gallery, Znojmo, Czech Republic

1990
“Exhibition for The Meanest Instincts”, Club Delta, with Tomas Pospiszyl, Prague

2011
"Twente Biennale", Hengelo, The Netherlands
"Inspiracje", Szczecin, Poland
"ArtBoom", Krakow, Poland
"Cenzurovano" Zlin, CR
"mapy" GMB, Bratislava,
"groteska", NOD, praha
MojA, Praha
Regensburg

2010
"Twente Biennale" Amsterdam
"AntiBeeld" , Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
"Homo Erotica" National Museum Warsaw
"Colours" Dresden motorhalle
"Art Pricze" DOX Prague
"Dekadence now" Umprum, Prague
Danubiana, Bratislava

2009
Chalupecky Prize, Seoul, Korea
Monument ghmp, Prague
"Po Sametu" U zlateho Prstenu , Prague
Center for Contemporary Art - Plovdiv
Pecsgallery, Hungary
Irokez Gallery, Budapest
"Katowice biennial" Poland

2008
interferencia Barcelona Madrid

2006
“Project 2006 Beaufort”, Oostende,Belgium
“Shadows of Humor”, Wroclaw BWA Gallery,Poland
“Waste of humor” Cieszyn, Poland

2005
“Prague Biennale” Prague
“pink”, Tokyo nat. univ. of art , Tokyo
“Living Together”, Odapark Venray, Holland
“happy materials” NTM, Prague
“Beautyfreeshop” , Prague

2003
„SURVEY ’03“, Futura Gallery, Prague
„Aus Liebe“, Galerie der Stadt Remscheid, Remscheid, Germany

2002
“Politikum”, Prague Castle, Prague
“Between Dresden and Prague”, Italian Embassy, Prague

2001
"to flow to", chromosome Berlin, Germany
“A Sense of Wellbeing”, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

2000
"Czech History", SKODA Pavillion, Autostadt Volkswagen, Wolfsburg, Germany
„Maso / Meet“, Chalupeckého Prize, National Gallery, Prague
"Bohemian Birds", Kunsthalle Dresden, Germany
"The End of the World", National Gallery, Prague

1999-2000
"After the Wall. Art and Culture in post-Communist Europe"
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden;
Ludwig Museum Budapest – Museum of Contemporary Art, Hungary;
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany

1999
99 CZ, Prague

1998
Atelier of all Sculpturing, Prague
“Nad Možnosti” City Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic

1997
Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague
SCCA Kyjev, Ukraine
Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Veletržní palác, Art in public space, Prague
Czech Cultural Center, Berlin, Germany

1996
Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York, USA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA
Technische Sammlung Dresden, Dresden, Germany
"Object: Video", Landesgalerie Linz, Austria
"Beyond Belief" Allen Memorial Arts Museum, Oberlin, USA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA

1995
"Orbis Fictus", New Media in Contemporary Arts, National Gallery, Prague
"Artcircolo 95", Castle Melnik by Prague
P.S.1 94-95 Studio artists, The clocktower, New York, USA
"Beyond Belief", Museum of Contemporary Arts, Chicago, USA

1994
600 SIAF, Seoul International Art Festival, Seoul, Korea
The 22nd Sao Paolo International Biennial, Sao Paolo, Brasil
"Impermanent Places, Seven Installations from Prague",
The World Financial Center, New York, USA
"You Must Remember This", Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, USA
"Young Artist from Prague", Duesseldorf - Kunstmuseum, Germany

1993
"Europe without Walls", City Galleries, Manchester, Great Britain

1992
"Edge 92", Madrid - London, International Biennial of Visual and Performance Art, Spain

1991
Light Festival of avant-garde Art under the former Stalin monument, Prague
Sargfabrik, International Exhibition of Young Artists, Vienna, Austria

1990
"Czech Alternative", Galerie ULUV, Prague
Old Town Yards, open-air exhibition of Contemporary Art, Prague

1989
"Smile, Joke and Grim", Palace of Culture, State Gallery, Prague
"November 89", Manes, State Gallery, Prague
The Neostunners, Prague - underground exhibition of Art group

Performances and Group Actions:
2002 "Policeman for Rent", Prague
1991 "The Pink Tank", Prague - painting The Soviet War Memorial pink, Prague
1989 "Unreleased Secret Action", Prague
1988 "The Pose", Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France
1987 "Bridge", Prague
1986 "Sounds", Ostrava, Czech Republic

cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%C4%8Cern%C3%BD
cz.altermedia.info/strun/urka-eskho-nroda-nen-trestn-in_221.html
www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/world/europe/05cerny.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=david%20cerny&st=cse