Jiří Thýn

1977
Praha
Praha

In his work Jiří Thýn explores the possibilities of photography and tests the boundaries between the photographed and the seen. Though he classifies his photographs into cycles, he does not create large series of pictures on one theme. He uses a cycle as the framework for examining a certain problematic, which he shows from various perspectives. At his exhibitions he combines photographs of various formats with three-dimensional objects and creates a rhythmicised whole, where the interstices intensify the communication. He uncovers photography in order to show what predetermines all work in this medium. In his work the photographic tradition is unobtrusively linked to contemporary post-conceptualism.

In the photographs from the cycle Best Before (2004-5), which address the themes of time, space and intimacy, the captured reality becomes partly a fiction, when a person is transferred into a headless body and installations are created from everyday items. The author’s intervention clears away redundant information, configures reality and transforms the meaning of the visible.

In the photographic cycle All the Best (2005-6) the author reveals the transitory nature of our existence through an examination of age, fading beauty and transience.

Jiří Thýn builds the photographic image. He does not enrich reality through a simple selection of perspective, but creates a targeted new reality. In Still Lives from 2007 he systematically searched for the ideal composition, spending fourteen days photographing items on a desk, in order finally to select two pictures (Composition No. 17 and Composition No. 27, 2007).

He continued to work with space in the collection 4 Corners of the Hilton Hotel (2008), which he created for an exhibition in the Etc. Gallery. Taking pictures of all four corners of the building meant photography of the otherwise elusive three-dimensionality of the building, which paradoxically is totally flattened out in individual pictures and is only present in them thanks to our experience with space.

In 2009 at the Hunt Kastner Gallery Thýn exhibited a large object reminiscent of a billboard with the words “Downfall of the West, Lost Contact with the East”, in which the gallery is mirrored. In these photographs (inter alia from the cycle So Sad in These Luxurious Times, 2008-9) he develops the theme of the mirroring of reality and continued his research into the (im)possibility of capturing reality in photography.

In the cycle 50% Grey he subjects photography to a wide variety of tests and arrives at works which no longer offer information as to what is displayed in them but instead recount by what means they reveal the medium of photography. The black and white photograms presented at exhibitions along with the original coloured glass matrix (Positive Negative, 2009) and striped trials blown up on baryte paper are dealt with using principles analogous to photography.

Jiří Thýn also worked with the symmetrical relationship of positive and negative in a project for Gask Art Fest, as part of which he organised a concert at which a Bach organ concerto was played using a mirrored rewritten score (Reversed Harmony, 2009).

2010
Solo Exhibitions

2024
Embrace of the Serpent, Trafó Gallery, Budapest, HU
Ugly now, Galerie NOD, Praha

2023
Love Life, Fait Gallery, Brno
Morphology, City Museum and Galerie Plastik in Hořice

2022
Less: Silence, Torso, the Present, Galerie Caesar, Olomouc
Less: Silence, Torso, the Present, FOG, Bratislava, SK

2021
Silence, Torso, the Present, GHMP

2020
Truth, Berlinskej model, Praha
Truth from Searching for a Monument series, Phoinix, Bratislava, SK

2019
Quodlibet, hunt kastner, Praha
Tvar, práce a dvě tlustá břicha | Shape, Work and Two Fat Bellies, hunt kastner, Praha

2017
In Search of a Monument II, Dům umění v Brně

2015
Two Ends of the Distance / Images that never happened, Fait Gallery, Brno

2014
Consciousness as a Fundamental Attribute I, II, CEAAC, Strasbourg, FR
Dva konce vzdálenosti / Two Ends of the Distance, Gallery at the French Institute, Prague
Consciousness as a Fundamental Attribute I, II, hunt kastner, Prague
Basic Studies, Non-narrative Photography, Josef Sudek Atelier Gallery, Prague

2013
Jiří Thýn, Galerie Luxfer, Česká Skalice
Petra Heřmanová and Jiří Thýn: Reversed Mirror, Studio Kostelní, Praha

2012
Jiří Thýn: Základní studie 2, Nenarativní fotografie, Pražská botanická zahrada, Praha
Jiří Thýn: Základní studie 3, Dům umění – Výstavní síň města České Budějovice, České Budějovice

2011
Jiří Thýn: In other words, Galerie G99, Brno
Jiří Thýn: Basic Studies, Open Gallery, Bratislava
Archetypy, prostor, abstrakce, GHMP, Staroměstská radnice, Praha

2010
Jiří Thýn, amt_project, Bratislava, SK Between Circles, BKC, Gallery of Young Artists, Galerie u dobrého Pastýře, Brno, CZ Photography, Moravian Gallery, Atrium, Brno, CZ
G207, Praha
Fotografie, Moravská galerie v Brně

2009
Bez názvu, Galerie NF, Ústí nad Labem
Less, hunt kastner, Praha
50% Šedá, Galerie 35m2, Praha
Nic z toho co víme nezůstane bez odplaty, M.odla, Praha

2008
4 rohy hotelu Hilton, Etc. galerie, Praha

2006
All the best, Ateliér Josefa Sudka, Praha
THIS POINT…, Preproduction Gallery, Berlin-Wedding, Berlín

2003
Local Territory/Místní území, Galerie CO14, Praha

2002
Místa ticha pro moji sestru, Galerie Francouzského Institutu, Praha

Group Exhibitions

2024
Jiří Thýn, Václav Kopecký: A Little bit of Joy from the Ashes (II), Kulturní centrum SCHULE, Kounov
Jiří Thýn, Stripe Test, Exhibition of a single work, GVUO – Ostava House of Art, Ostrava

2023
Někdy si všimneš, curated by Sráč Sam, galerie sam84, Česká Bříza
Vincenc Makovský. Content and Form, 1900–1966, Horácká galerie v Novém Městě na Moravě

2022
Our Heritage, Selection from the Balász-Dénes Collection, curated by Monika Mónika Zsikla, Q Contemporary, Budapest, HU
Skrze tebe, vidím sebe / Through you, I see myself, curated by Anežka Kořínková & Kateřina Sýsová, 8smička, Humpolec
Divination from a Night Sky Partially Obscured by Clouds: The Role of Photography in the Post-Media Age, curated by Jitka Hlaváčková, Prague City Gallery at the Prague House of Photography
Prepictures: Jan Svoboda & fellows, curated by Pavel Vančát, SVIT, Prague
Co-exist, SUMO exhibition, Pražský dům v Bruselu
4+4 Days in Motion: To Be Someone Else, Somewhere Else, Sometime Else, curated by Gabriela Kotiková and Denisa Václavová, former sports center Erpet, Smíchov, Prague

2021
No Art Today? New work from the Prague City Gallery Collection, GHMP at the Municipal Library exhibition hall, Prague
Jaromír Novotný & Jiří Thýn, Galerie Ferdinand Baumann, Prague
Private and Public Spaces – A Photo-based Selection from the Balázs–Dénes Collection, FUGA – Budapest Center of Architecture, Budapest, HU

2020
Lovelies from the Files. Sudek and Sculpture, curated by Hana Buddeus & Katarína Mašterová, Prague City Gallery at the House of Photography, Prague Light Underground, curated by Sandra Baborovská, Prague City Gallery at the House of the Stone Bell, Prague

2019
Orient 2, curated by Michal Novotný, Kunsthalle Bratislava, SK
Tender, curated by Michal Nanoru, Czech Center in New York, USA
The Audience Has Award, curated by the Jindrich Chalupecky society, Galerie TIC, Brno
Inner Gardening, curated by Eulalie Polne & Jiří Procházka, CAMP, Prague
Quodlibet, curated by Karel Císař, hunt kastner, Prague

2018
Tribute to the Broadcloth / Pocta suknu, curated by Emma Hanzlíková and Markéta Vinglerová, 8smička, Humpolec
hunt kastner | Bořivojova 85 | Prague 3 | Czech Republic | www.huntkastner.com | galerie@huntkastner.com
Line, part of a friend of friend cooperative gallery project, BWA Warszawa, PL Apparatus 2.0: The Unreliable Library / Nespolehlivá knihovna, Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague Conditions of impossibility III/VII: The work of Indolence, curated by Václav Magid, Galerie Kurzor in Prague

2017
New Acquisitions from the Collections of Prague City Gallery, Prague City Gallery at the Municipal Library, Prague, 2017-8 Podmínky nemožnosti III/VII | Conditions of Impossibility III/IV, curated by Václav Magid, galerie Kurzor, Center and Foundation for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2017-8
Forms of Contemporary Sculpture – A Figurative Medium | Podoby současné plastiky – Médium figura, curated by Sandra Baborovská, Prague City Gallery, Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace, Prague
Don’t Worry Boy, curated by Karina Kottová and Tereza Jindrová, Forum Box, Helsinki, FI
Absolute Beginners, curated by Jaromír Novotný & Pavel Švec SVIT, Prague
AMIWHATIAMTHINKINGABOUT?, curated by Tomáš Svoboda and Ondřej Chrobák, 4+4 Days in Motion, kasárna Karlín, Prague

2016
Allegory or Perils of the Present Tense, Poetry Passage 2, curated by Adam Budak, Prague National Gallery at the Trade Fair Palace, Prague
MOCP at 40, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Ill, USA
Double Take: Drawing and Photography, Photography Gallery, London, UK
Reflex – Jam Session with Pavel Banka and Guests, Dům umění Ústí nad Labem
Apparatus for a Utopian Image, curated by Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Zahoranský, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, N.Y., USA
What People Do For Money, Manifesta11, curated by Christian Jankowski, Zurich, CH
On an Egg, curated by Pavel Vančat, 251 Cooper Street, Ottawa, Canada

2015
The Hidden Language of Plants, Prague National Gallery at the Kinsky Palace, Prague
50 Years of Roudnice Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice and Labem
The Best Tailor in Town, curated by Edith Jeřábková and Jiří Kovanda, hunt kastner, Prague
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously, curated by Markéta Stará, SYNTAX, Lisboa, PT

2014
Poetic materialism, curated by Boris Ondreička, SODA gallery, Bratislava, SK
The Golden Age, Reminiscence of Cubism in the visual arts, curated by Petr Veselý, Dům umění, GJK, Brno
The Hand, curated by Jiří Ptáček, Galerie U Dobrého pastýře, Brno
Past, Present, Past, curated by Edith Jeřábková, Futura, Prague
Magic Still-life, work from the PPF collection, Josef Sudek Atelier, Prague
An Homage to Otto Gutfreund, Galerie Otto Gutfreund, Dvůr Králové nad Labem
VII New Zlin Salon, Zlin Regional Art Gallery, Zlín
Boogie-Woogie, curated by Áron Fenyvesi, Tráfo Gallery, Budapest, HU
Literacy / Illiteracy, curated by Maria Kjær Themsen, 16th Tallinn Print Triennial, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
Crystalization, curated by Radek Čák and Martin Fišr, Blansko City Gallery
9th International Biennale of Photography and Visual Arts, curated by Jan Kratochvíl, Hynek Alt and Aleksandra Vajd, Liege, BE
Wondering Paths, curated by Markéta Stará, Platforma Revólver, Lisbon, PT
The Beginning of the Century, curated by Pavlína Morganová, Ostrava Regional Gallery, Ostrava

2013
Začátek století / The Beginning of the Century, Dům umění, Ostrava
Prague Biennale Photo 3: Photography, Reconstructed / Rekonstrukce fotografie (Prague Biennale 6), Nákladové nádraží Žižkov, Praha
Pavel Baňka: Jejich fotografie, Galerie 1. patro, Praha
Země se otáčí a vše z ní sklouzává / The Earth Turns And All Things Slip Away, hunt kastner artworks, Praha

2012
Cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého 2012, Dům pánů z Kunštátu, Brno
Katie Holten / Jiří Thýn, Centrum pro současné umění FUTURA, Praha 5
Začátek století / The Beginning of the Century, Výstavní síň Masné krámy, Plzeň
Ostrovy odporu: Mezi první a druhou moderností 1985 -2012, Veletržní palác, Praha

2011–2012
Uchronie aneb Příběhy ze sbírky, Francouzský institut v Praze (Institut francais de Prague), Praha
Cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého 2011, DOX, Centrum současného umění / Centre for Contemporary Art, Praha 7

2011
Sculpture in the Street III, curated by Karel Císář, organized by DUMB: Brno House of Art, streets and public spaces in Brno, CZ (Jun 4- Aug 28)
6th New Zlín Salon, Zlín Regional Gallery, Zlin, CZ
Skutr III, 3rd Biennale of Young Artists, curated by Vladimír Beskid, Kopplova Villa GJK, Trnava, SK
Turned Down, Wannieck Gallery, Brno, CZ
Mutating Medium, Photography in Czech Art 1990-2010, curated by Pavel Vančat, Galerie Rudofinum, Prague, CZ
The Waste Land, tranzitdisplay, Praha
Po Skú3, Východoslovenská galéria, Košice

2010
And Don’t Forget the Flowers, curated by Yvona Ferencová, Moravian Gallery, Brno, CZ ParisPhoto, hunt kastner, Paris, FR
Ears Like Loops, curated by Edita Jeřabková, Zona sztuki aktualnej, Lodz, PL 7th Biennale of Young Artists, curated by Tomas Pospiszyl, Prague City Gallery, House of the Stone Bell, Prague, CZ
Ego / Portrait x Photography, curated by Robert Novák & Pavel Turek, Langhans Gallery, Prague, CZ
The Collectors, The Czechoslovak Pavilion, curated by Lucia Drdová & Martin Mazánec, Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, AU HotLine, curated by Jan Zalesák, Vaclav Špála Gallery, Prague, CZ
Dividing Line, curated by Jiří Machalicky, NoD Experimental Space, Prague, CZ
50% Grey: Contemporary Czech Photography Reconsidered, MoCP – Museum of Contemporary Photography, curated by Karel Císář & Karen Irvine, Chicago, IL, USA
Everyday(s), curated by Fabienne Bernadini and An Schlitz, Casino Luxembourg, forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg
Art To Date, curated by Zuzana Štefková, NoD Experimental Space, Prague, CZ
After Velvet, curated by Sandra Baborovská & Karel Srp, Prague City Gallery at the House of the Golden Ring, Prague, CZ

2009
Po sametu, GHMP, Praha
Something of Myself: 23 autoportrétů, Hunt Kastner Artworks, Praha
Reversed Harmony, GASK Art Fest, Kutná Hora
Historická práce, Galerie Václava Špály, Praha
White Paper Black Bride, PRAGUE BIENALE 4, Praha
Psychologie budoucnosti, Galerie AM 180, Praha
Cargo, Moskva

2008
Gallery by Night, Studio of Young Artist, Budapešť
Tichá dohoda, Galerie Šternberk, Šterberk
Obrazy slov, letohrádek Hvězda, Praha
Současný český kubismus, GHMP, Staroměstská radnice, Praha

2007
Vylepšený model, kulhavý efekt, Roxy/NoD, Praha
Glocal Outsiders, PRAGUE BIENALE 3, Praha
Šestka/Šest českých fotografických škol, PHP, Praha
I Don’t Wanna Talk, České centrum, Moskva

2006
ÚČEL, galerie AVU, (se skupinou Ládví), Praha
INDIKACE,4+4 dny v pohybu, Praha
THIS POINT…, Preproduction Gallery Berlin-Weding, Berlín
Land Locked, Well Gallery, London College of Communication, Londýn
Věcné stavy, Karlin Studios, Praha

2005
Udělali jsme téměř všechno, Entrance Gallery (s D. Langem), Praha
Zahrada, 6. ročník fotografického festivalu Funkeho Kolín
Enviromental, Galerie AM 180 (s D. Skalou)
VOYEUR (Iniciativa pro fotografii, vizuální kulturu a životní styl), VŠUP

2004
NO.7 Design blok botel Neptun, ve spolupráci s organizací Tranzit , Praha
1+1, Galerie Jelení (s A. Svobodovou), Praha
PRIVATE EVOLUTION, galerie VŠUP, Praha

2003
COMPRESSION, Berlin-Wedding, ve spolupráci s Galerií Display
IN/OUT, Festival Digitálního obrazu, Praha
BROUMOVSKé DVORKY (umění ve veřejném prostoru)

2003
VěříME, Galerie 1 VŠUP, Praha

2002
Konfrontace, PHP/ Pražský dům fotografie, Praha
A sakra!, Galerie VŠUP, Praha

1999
STUDIO EMOTION, Praha

Collections

UMPRUM

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA

PPF

Galerie Klatovy / Klenová

soukromé sbírky

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