Tomáš Pospěch is a Czech photographer, theorist, lecturer and curator, whose miscellaneous activities in the sphere of photography and fine art extend into journalism and publishing (the PositiF publishing house). In his documentary photo projects he has long been researching socio-cultural issues relating to the theme of Czechness, with an overlap into conceptual and subjectively meditative domains.
A key role is played in this research by his comprehensive visual study of the essence of the Czech nation entitled simply Češství / Czechness (2004–2014). Uncomplicated photographs capture the core of that which we are familiar with and which surrounds us every day, though such features are slowly disappearing from large cities. And so we see a Turkish coffee served in a glass on a plastic tablecloth (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2014), cutlets in a napkin, doughnuts and cocoa, a šumperák [a single-family detached house designed in the “Brussels style”], rural footballers (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2008), cottages, fire-fighters (…). On show too are well known styles of clothing and decor that, though they often look as though they are from the last century (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2014), Pospěch does not subject to critical evaluation. At the same time, this project, which lasted ten years, embraces the essence of all of Pospěch’s other cycles, whether created in parallel with Češství, before or after.
In his early work his fascination with the Czech environment is displayed from a classic documentary perspective. In black and white cycles featuring geometric compositions, Pospěch charts the everyday life of the population of Hlučín (Pomezí, 1994–1997; the cycle was an offshoot of the group documentary project Lidé Hlučínska 90. let 20. Století / People of Hlučín of the 1990s), or the photographic transformations of the republic after 1989 in closed communities of villages, small cities, monasteries and prisons (Ostrovy / Islands, 1996–2002). The images act as symbols of everyday life it is easy to relate to: an elderly couple talking amongst ploughshares in a field (Bez názvu / Untitled, 1994–1997), wrinkled hands holding the reins of horses passing a couple of pensioners (Bez názvu / Untitled, 1994–1997). The first colour cycle Look at the Future (2001–2006) follows the arrival of the global corporate culture of multinational companies onto the Czech market.
Pospěch’s orientation on more conceptual approaches, already evident in the cycle from the 1990s Domácí práce / Domestic Work (1994–1999), is fully formed in the cycle Krajinky.jpg (2002–2005), in which he uses traditional methods (a large format camera) to take screenshots of his computer with landscape scenes from computer games that in the resulting contact prints make reference to the Czech landscape tradition of Josef Sudek and Jan Reich. References to Czech photographers are common in Pospěch’s work. Domácí práce (1994–1999) reinterprets the work of Jan Svoboda, while Bezúčelná procházka / Aimless Walk (2004–2008) borrows its title from the experimental filmmaker and photographer Alexandr Hackenschmied.
These projects, with the exception of those created in parallel, are also part of a series of several cycles playing with contextual references to the visual strategy of landscape photography. Bezúčelná procházka and Taken Off (2005–2010) deal with the typically Czech theme of football. Though the context involves a sport, Pospěch disrupts the concept. Instead of sweaty bodies running around, he captures almost meditative, timeless landscapes of village football pitches (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2010), solitary little groups of players waiting on the sidelines (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2008), or team members trying to drag a ball out of some water into which it has been inadvertently kicked… scenes we will otherwise never see (Bez názvu / Untitled, 2008).
The collection Majitelé hradů / Castle Owners (2004–2005) responds similarly to stereotypical depiction, interrogating the conventional ways that monuments and architecture are captured in photography. This large cycle focuses on a very Czech phenomenon, namely, the creation of garden miniatures of real and imaginary castles and chateaux. Pospěch portrays the owner proudly introducing his creations (Jevišovice, 2004) and observes the relationship of these buildings to both their owners and the original prototypes as we see them in ethnographic publications. The result seems grotesque, a blend of patriotism and a peculiarly Czech domestic DIY (Bouzov, 2004). The photographic study Mizení plánu (Šumperák) / Plans Went Astray (Šumperák) (2013–2016) takes folk ideas of modern architecture in order to examine what is called the “šumperák”, the most widespread type of building in this country, in an effort to find its original through laboratory standardised images of its numerous variations (Bez názvu, 2013–2016).
With his last collection Zemědělské práce (Agrokombinát Slušovice) / Agricultural Work (Slušovice Agrocombine) (2009–2017) Pospěch returns to the start of his career, when he reinterpreted the work of Jan Svoboda. This time round he appropriates archived material of the former cooperative farm and draws on procedures common in agriculture. The images are removed from their original context, graphically modified, and grafted onto the artist’s pictures taken with the archived pictures in mind (Agronom, 2009–2017). The project seeks to reconstruct the ideals and typical activities of socialist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, though by means of this new context it highlights the visual strategies of promotional photography.
Pospěch’s photographic work inevitably reflects his experience of art history and theory. Whether it follows the conventions of photographing architecture and monuments as applied to garden miniature castles and chateaux, or plays with stereotypes of sports photography by means of rural football, it also touches on themes inextricably linked with typically Czech phenomena. However, his photographs do not judge or comment, but only observe. After all, the line between the positive and the less flattering is often thin, and typically Czech thrift and DIY can easily turn into what we can only call, to be euphemistic, pettiness.
