Jiří Kovanda

Jiří Kovanda was born in 1953 in Prague, he lives and works in Prague.

Jiří Kovanda (1953) has been one of the outstanding conceptual artists of the Czech art scene. He organised his first performances in public environments in Prague in the mid-1970’s. His minimal actions, all based on a detailed scenario, were all recorded through photography in black and white and instruction leaflets.
In the eye of the artist, the work of art is made up of these documents, these performances having no other aim than the traces that are recorded. In his performances, those mundane actions appear slightly off-key, allowing us, through this combination of apparent simplicity and unbalance, to grasp at the individual and what remains real and human in a society under surveillance. After 1978, Kovanda staged minimalist and poetical interventions still recorded through a photograph and a text while the artist vanished completely from his interventions which deal with the very notion of traces. In the 1980’s, Kovanda turned to painting before abandoning all artistic practices. His work was rediscovered only recently and Kovanda has been active again creating installations, paintings and performances as discrete still and poetical in which he strives to find beauty in everyday life and to map out a space where the individual can actually exist.

Art Basel, 2021

Art Fair
Messe Basel, Basel
September 21 - 26, 2021

Jiri Kovanda and Zhanna Kadyrova: (Almost) involuntary sculptures and material situations

Duo show with works by Jiri Kovanda
Grössling Bathhouse, Bratislava
Until April 29, 2021

Jiří Kovanda: On Paper/ On Air

Solo show
Czech Centre, Tokyo
Until February 12, 2021

Jiří Kovanda, Ten Minutes Earlier

Solo show
Fait Gallery, Brno
Until April 17, 2021

Pierre Bal-Blanc, Collective Exhibition for a Single Body

Collective Exhibition
gb agency, Paris
Exhibition from Oct 12 to Nov 5, 2019

Jiri Kovanda, Somebody sitting there...

A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From May 11 to July 20, 2019

Paper stories

Group Exhibition
Level One, gb agency
From December 3rd, 2016 to January 14th, 2017

Jiri Kovanda: Fresh Breeze

A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
from April 2 to May 14, 2016

Jiří Kovanda Versus the Rest of the World

Solo exhibition
Galerie TZB, Czech Center, Berlin
March 11 - May 8, 2015

New Ways of Doing nothing at Kunsthalle Wien with Robert Breer, Ryan Gander and Jirí Kovanda

Group exhibition
Kunsthalle Wien.
27 June - 12 October 2014.

Art 45 Basel

Art Fair
Art Basel
June 19 - 22, 2014.

Frieze, New York, 2014

Frieze Art Fair
New York
May 9-12 2014

Jiří Kovanda at Rhubaba Gallery and Studios

Group exhibition
Rhubaba Gallery and Studios at Edinburgh
March 28 - until Aril 20, 2014

Ryan Gander, Mark Geffriaud, Jiri kovanda, Yann Sérandour - La Panacée, Montpellier

Group exhibition
La Panacée, Montpellier
February 7 - September 14, 2014

Jiří Kovanda, I havent been here before, 1973 -2013

Retrospective
Dum Umeni, The Brno House of Arts
Feb 7 - April 6, 2014

Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Tamás St. Turba. New Museum, New York

Group exhibition
New Museum, New York
January 24 – April 13 2014

Parallel Forms

Group exhibition
gb agency
January 11 - February 22, 2014

Performance by Jiri Kovanda

Performance
Centre d’art contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec
13th November, from 6pm to 8pm 2013

Inventing a Future

Inventing a Future, group exhibition
gb agency
January 26 - March 13, 2013

Jiří Kovanda: In front of the Museum at Four ?

Solo exhibition by Jiří Kovanda
gb agency
From November 8, 2012 to January 12, 2013

A common feeling

Group exhibition
gb agency
from April 21 to May 26 2012

Jirí Kovanda: Wait, please, she will come

A solo show by Jiří Kovanda
gb agency
From January 22th to February 26th, 2011

Both before and after

Group show
gb agency
7 May to 3 July 2010

Nord, Nord-Ouest

Group show
gb agency
From June 25 to July 25, 2009

Jiri Kovanda: Two Cushions

A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From March 15 to May 17, 2008

Jiri Kovanda: Jiri Kovanda Versus Rest Of The World

A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From September 9 to October 14, 2006

Publications (selection)

2010: JIŘÍ KOVANDA - White Blanket - Secession, text and Interview with Jiří Kovanda: Edith Jeřábková, German/English, published by Secession 2010; Monographie: Jiri Kovanda. Editor: Edith Jerabkova, Redactor: Micheala Thelenova, Catalogue Conception: Edith Jerabkova and Jiří Kovanda; Texts by Richard Adam, Nina Beier & Marie Lund, Vjera Borozan, Karel Cisai, Jan Cerny, Jiri David, Guillaume Désanges, Nathalie Boutin & Solène Guillier, gb agency, Paris, Frantiska and tim Gilman-Sevcikovi, Vit Havranek, Edith Jerabkova, Zdena Koleckova & Michal Kolecek, Galerie Krobath Wimmer, Zofia Kulik, Dominik Lang, Lenka Lindaurova, Petr Lysacek, Ivan Mecl, Josephine Michau, Jan Mlcoch, Pavlina Morganova, Boris Ondreicka, Michal Pechoucek, Marek Pokorny, Tomas Pospiszyl, Rafani, Noemi Smolik, Jana Sevcikova a Jiri Sevcik, Jiri Valoch, Catherine Wood; Published by Fakulta umeni a designu Univerzita JanEvangelisty Purkyne v Usti nad Labem spolecne s Galerii Klatovy/Klenova, 288 pages; Livre d’artiste: Jiri Kovanda, Composition with Butterfly, Text by Edith Jerabkova, Jiří Kovanda, Jana and Jiří Sevcik, François Piron; Published by Dominik Art Projects Foundation, Krakow.
2007: Tranzit, catalogue d’exposition, entretien avec Han-Ulrich Obrist, conversation entre Jiri Sevcik et Georg Schölhammer, texte de Vit Havranek, Pawel Polit et Igor Zabel, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Steinernes Haus am Römerberg, Frankfurt, (anglais).
2006: Performances and Installations — 1976-2005, texts by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Jiri Sevcik, Georg Scholhammer, Vit Havranek, Pawel Polit, Igor Zabel, published by tranzit & jrp ringier, 2006
2004: 1985, Galerie Na bidylku, Brno; East Art Map, New Moment nr. 20, Ljubljana, Slovinsko,p. 43.
2002: Galerie Na bidylku, Brno (with J. Mancuska)
1999: Kresby 1970-1999 (“Drawings 1970-1999”), Galerie Na bidylku, Brno; Pavlína Morganova: Art of Action, pp. 123—126, 203, 227—228, Votobia
1996: Galerie Na bidylku, Brno; Galerie Caesar, Olomouc
1982: Petr Rezek, Body, Thing and Reality in Contemporary Art, p. 156, published by Jazzova sekce, Prague.

Jiří Kovanda
Composition with Butterfly, 2010

Catalogue

Texts by Edith Jerabkova, Jiří Kovanda, Jana and Jiří Sevcik, François Piron
Published by Dominik Art Projects Foundation, Krakow.

Jiří Kovanda
Jiří Kovanda, 2010

Publication

Editor: Edith Jerabkova, Redactor: Micheala Thelenova, Catalogue Conception: Edith Jerabkova and Jiří Kovanda
Texts by Richard Adam, Nina Beier & Marie Lund, Vjera Borozan, Karel Cisai, Jan Cerny, Jiri David, Guillaume Désanges, Nathalie Boutin & Solène Guillier, gb agency, Paris, Frantiska and tim Gilman-Sevcikovi, Vit Havranek, Edith Jerabkova, Zdena Koleckova & Michal Kolecek, Galerie Krobath Wimmer, Zofia Kulik, Dominik Lang, Lenka Lindaurova, Petr Lysacek, Ivan Mecl, Josephine Michau, Jan Mlcoch, Pavlina Morganova, Boris Ondreicka, Michal Pechoucek, Marek Pokorny, Tomas Pospiszyl, Rafani, Noemi Smolik, Jana Sevcikova a Jiri Sevcik, Jiri Valoch, Catherine Wood
Published by Fakulta umeni a designu Univerzita JanEvangelisty Purkyne v Usti nad Labem spolecne s Galerii Klatovy/Klenova
288 pages
22 x 24 cm
ISBN 978-80-7414-278-9 & 978-80-87013-18-2

Jiří Kovanda
White Blanket, 2010

Publication

96 pages, dimension: 23 x 31 cm, about 130 color illustrations
Text and Interview with Jiří Kovanda: Edith Jeřábková
German/English
Published by Secession 2010
Distribution: Revolver Verlag
ISBN 978-3-902592-30-9

Jiří Kovanda
Actions & Installations, 2006

Publication

Texts by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pawel Polit, Georg Schollhammer, Jiri Sevcik, Igor Zabel, Jiri Kovanda, Vit Havranek (Editor)
Publisher: JRP|Ringier/Tranzit series
ISBN: 390570174X
ISBN13: 9783905701746
DDC: 709

Exhibition view, Jiří Kovanda: Two golden rings, Palacio de cristal, Parque del retiro, Madrid. Commissioned by the Museo Reina Sofía, 2014

“Cheap and simple things can sometimes turn out to be important and extraordinary, while expensive objects can be invisible. […] It just depends on the situation” Jiří Kovanda