vvp.avu.cz/idatum/search/autori-22

He is an important personality of his generation. In 2001 he founded the Display Gallery and has several times been among the finalists for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award. In 2004 he was nominated as the Czech Republic’s representative to Manifest.

He already gained notice during his studies at the Prague School of Art (Akademie výtvarných umění), when he put together the work, Kaktusy (1999). Kaktusy (Cactuses) is made up of toilet brushes, plastic labels, pipes and various randomly-found objects that Baladrán installed into a wood frame, such as those often seen in the windows of cactus-growing enthusiasts. He continued to work with cheap materials and he poked fun at his own approach to a degree in the work, Hobby (2001). This work consists of a panel on wooden sawhorses with primitively placed letters spelling HOBBY. The piece is part of series of works, for which there is an undeniable influence from the non-spectacular art of Jiří Kovanda.

Baladrán developed this approach by creating detailed instructions for the works‘ production. Following sets of instructions similar to those used by IKEA, he first shows what all is needed to build the work of art and then provides step-by-step guidance. The result is a simple wooden construction such as Screen <3> (2001), which is as seldom used as it is beautiful. The works’ impracticality and abstractness stand in direct contrast to their precise, specific instructions: guides that would satisfy the most demanding of do-it-yourselfers.

Since 2002 Baladrán has expressed himself mainly through video. Since his first attempts such as Limita (2002), Technical Compression (2002) or Shower (2002) he quickly moved on to create short films made up of film archive materials. He began to collect old film reels and to play with the re-interpretation using the point of view of today’s media-focused society. He created complicated video installations such as Projection (2003). These works allow the viewer to change channels from one to another and watch the videos in different constellations.

Since 2004 written commentaries have come to play an increasingly larger role in the author’s films. The author has visibly edited the texts and so parts of them remain hidden from the viewer. Baladrán thus plays with the mechanisms of our memory and visual history. In the films Working Process (2004) and 1985 (2005) he more or less didactically shows off his working method for film materials, many of which at the time he gathered from both professional archives as well as from amateurs.

In recent years he is increasingly interested in the modern era and he addresses, for example, the architectural icons of the avant-garde in his films, i.e. Koldom 156,71m2 (1:50 Model - 2006) or Tower of Constructivism (2006). Baladrán consciously works with the fact that art today is no longer the creation of perfect artefacts, but rather reflection on our relationship to reality. It transfers the sense of art and provides impulses for its continuous re-definition.

1992-1997 The Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague
1997-2003 Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, atelier of Jiří David, Vladimír Skrepl a Veronika Bromová

Stipends, residencies:
2008 artist in residence, Zacheta, Warsaw
2007 artist in residence, PROGR, Bern
2006 artist in residence, MQ, Vienna
2004 developmental grant of tranzit

2011
The Nervous System, spolu s Jiřím Kovandou, Milano Kunstverein, Milano
Co nevidím, tranzit dielne, Bratislava

2009
Cognitive maps, Hunt Kastner Artworks, Praha

2008 Castillo/Coralles, Paris
What History do they represent?, along with Vangelis Vlahos, Blow de la Barra, London
Instruments of uncertainty, House of Art, Č.Budějovice

2007
Glossary, Secession Vitrine, Vienna
Vocabulary, Old City Hall Gallery, Praha
Table, M.toT. Fragment #3, Moravian Gallery, Brno

2004
zazděný vchod, Moravian Gallery, Brno
theory/praxis/exposition, DPzK, Brno

2002
Warianta C, with Erik Binder, Open gallery, Bratislava
Target Group, performance with Tomas Svoboda, part of presentation of Umelec, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

2001
8, Galerie Eskort, Brno
10, Galerie Eingang, Ostrava
019, Galerie Jeleni, Praha

2000
Diorama, BJ Case, Komunardu Street, Praha

2012
Aire de Lyon, Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires
The Islands of Resistance, National Gallery, Praha
Pokus-omyl-oprava, City Surfer, Praha
How to look at everything, The Common Guild, Glasgow
From the closed world to the infinite universe, Le Qartier, Quimper
State of Affairs, AMT Project, Bratislava

2011
a terrible beauty is born, 11th biennale de Lyon, Lyon
Unchronie, Galerie u Bílého jednorožce, Klatovy
Sharjah biennial film program, (WHW), Sharjah
Gallery by Night, Studio Gallery, Budapest
Mutující médium, Rudolfinum, Prague

2010
No Ifs, no buts, Depo, Istambul
U dUbU tU bUdU, Školská 28, Praha
Collected reflection, Entrance, Praha
Raising Dust - Encounters in Relational Geography, Calvert 22, London
Step by step, Gandy Gallery, Bratislava
Uberblendungen, Shedhalle, Zurich
Velkoměstská periferie, KGVU, Zlín
Why do we resist?, Pori Taidemuseo / Pori Art Museum, Pori
Watchmen, Liars, Dreamers (Erudition concrete 3), FRAC Ile-de-France Le Plateau, Paris
Epilogue 1, Maisterravalbuena, Madrid
Akce Zet, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem
Dust, asches and residua, Open Space, Wien
EGO, Langhanz Gallery, Prague
Formate der Transformation 89-09, Museum auf Abruf, Vienna
Comrades of time, Pavilion Unicredit, Bucharest
Romantika mojej mladosti, buducnost mojej nostalgie, Stredoslovenska galeria, Banska Bystrica

2009
Blind Spots, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna
7a bienal do mercosul, Mercosul
The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, The Situation, Moscow
Bertha von Suttner Revisited, Harmannsdorf
Any Instant Whatever, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow
Expanded City, 13th Media Art Biennale, Wroclaw
Farimani at Starr Space, Starr Space, New York
Le Troisième Lieu / Der Dritte Ort / The Third Place, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
Blind Spots, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna

2008
Atomized, De Veemvloer, Amsterdam
Finalists of J. Chalupecký Award, DU Brno
Gyumri Biennial, Gyumri
Try again, fail again, fail better, Műcsarnok, Budapest
Rendezvous nowhere, Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz
The Provocation of the Real, National Center for the Arts, Mexico
Where the East ends, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
Triennial of young Artists, City gallery Praha
Be a Happy Worker: Work-to-Rule, G-MK, Zagreb
Another City, Zacheta, Warszawa
The Archive, Prometeo gallery, Milano
Same Democracy, Neon>Campobase, Bologna
videoart.cz, projectSPACE, Bratislava
Fussion Confussion, Museum Folkwang, Essen

2007
PASSAGES,PASSAGEN,PASAZE,Gandy Gallery, Bratislava
October, Exit, Memory and Desire, Artra gallery, Milano
Finalists of J. Chalupecký Award, Roxy, Prague
Why do you Resist?, Forum Stadtpark, Graz
Simple Living, Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu
Stalking With Stories, Apexart, New York
Sklerotische Nachtbar/i/n, 2 Gallery, Schloss Wolkersdorf
invisible things, trafo gallery, Budapest
Synonyma, MtT 1989-1968-2009", Index, Stockholm
Prague biennale 3 - der prozess, Praha
Punctum, Futura, Praha

2006
The Other City, screening program, Trafo, Budapest
F/acts/igures, exhibition artwalk, Amsterdam
Auditorium, Stage, Backstage, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
Pozvao sam par prijatelja da bace pogled, nova gallery, Zagreb
Closely Observed Plans, tranzit workshops, Bratislava
Zbynek Baladran - Carlos Casas - Alice Guareschi, neon>fdv, Milano
archeology of today?, Kosova Art Gallery-Museum in Prishtina
Indikace, Jungmanova 21, Praha
Donaumonarchie, Billboard project, Bratislava
Věcné stavy, Karlín Studios, Praha
Vangelis Vlahos project, Els Hanappe Underground, Athens
811197604122005, Galeria Plan B, Cluj
Turbulence, Museum Kampa, Praha
Finalists of J. Chalupecký Award, City Gallery Prague
Praguebiennale2 - definition of everyday, Prague

2005
Fifth Biennial of young Artists, City gallery Praha
The Need to Document, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz
Insiders, Futura, Praha

2004
Insiders, DpK, Brno, curated by P. Morganová
Finalists of J. Chalupecký Award, Brno House of Art, Brno
Spacecamp, Kolowratský palác, Praha
Prague and Dresden,Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie,Regensburg
Manifesta 5, Donostia-San Sebastián
Breakthrough, Grote Kerk, Den Haag
Interkosmos 2004, Raster, Warszawa

2003
Kompression, Wedding, Berlin
Paradies, with Tomas Svoboda, Bunker, Alexanderplatz, Berlin
Survey 03, Futura, Praha
Ceskoslovensko, Bratislava

2002
Artchitektura, GJF, Praha
Premiere vue, Passage de Retz, Paris
Uhlopricka, Galerie Eskort, Brno
Wechselstube, der-ausstellunsgraum, Stuttgart
Forum of Independent Galleries, U Prstenu, City Gallery, Praha

2001
Fotok, MEO, Budapest
Prvni a posledni, Galerie V. Spaly, Praha
Criss-Cross, Broumov

2000
Vystava AVU, Manes, Praha
Kazda kapka..., Galerie AVU, Praha

1999
Vidiny, Roxy, Galerie NOD, Praha
Rickyho gang, klub Depo, Olomouc

1998
Zelena, Galerie AVU, Praha

Monument transformace, společný projekt s Vítem Havránkem:

2010
Monument to Transfomation invited as part of "Watchmen, Liars, Dreamers (Erudition concrete 3)", FRAC Ile-de-France Le Plateau, Paris
Monument to Transformation, Montehernoso, Vitoria
Monument to Transformation, GMK, Zagreb

2009
Monument to Transformation, CIV, Bucharest
Monument to Transformation, Municipal library, City Gallery, Prague

2008
Installation model, fragment # 7, Communism Never Happened / Vocabulary, tranzit, Bratislava
Installation model, fragment # 6, Labour Day, Labor, Budapest

2007
Installation model, fragment # 5, Prague Biennale 3, Prague

2007-2009
Permanent installation of Monument to Transformation“, tranzitdisplay, Prague

2010
Atlas of Transformation, Prague, EN
Emil Filla, archiv umělce, GASK, CZ
trouble, paris, FR
Sešity pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny, 6-7, magazine, interview, CZ
Comrades of time, catalogue, Pavilion, Bucharest, EN

2009
Monument transformace interview, Profil 3-4 CZ/SK
Atlas Transformace, Praha, CZ
The End Magazine, spring summer, Milano, IT, EN
Labyrint revue, 23-24, magazine, interview, text, documentation, CZ

2008
Stavba, 5/2008, magazine, interview, CZ
Fussion/Confussion, catalogue, Museum Folkwang, Essen, DE

2007
Flash Art, Czechoslowakia, interview, CZ
Table, Monument to transformation, Fragment #3, catalogue, Moravian Gallery Brno, CZ
Prag Biennal, catalogue, Prague, CZ
Lindaurová, Lenka: Umění - návod k použití: Zbyněk Baladrán a jeho Slovník, A2 kulturní týdeník, 18/ 2007, s. 10

2006
Archeology of today?, catalogue, D. Zefkili, KAG, Prishtina, Kosova
Cinepur 44, interview, Martin Mareček, Praha, CZ

2005
Fotograf 6/05, Zbyněk Baladrán, Mariana Serrano, Praha, CZ
The Need to Document, / Ruins, Archaeology and the Gap between Images, Muttenz, CH
Contemporary, 71, Moving Images at the Edge of the Real, Katerina Gregos, GB

2004
Manifesta 5, ...with all due intent, catalogue, M. Gioni, Barcelona, ES
Daemon, Ritorno al futuro, A. Grulli, Bologna, IT
Metropolis M, Interview, I. Commandeur, Utrecht, NL
Umělec, 3, Theory, praxis, exposition, D. Kulhánek, Praha, CZ