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 Fair
Art Basel, Messe Basel
June 14 - 19, 2022
Activation of a performance by Jirí Kovanda
Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou
May 15, 2022, 5 pm
Collective show with the works of Mark Geffriaud, Apostolos Georgiou, Tirdad Hashemi, Paul Heintz, David Horvitz, Július Koller, Jirí Kovanda, Roman Ondak, Pak Sheung Chuen, and Yann Sérandour
gb agency, Paris
May 14 - July 23, 2022
A collective exhibition by Yann Sérandour
gb agency, Paris
March 26 - May 7, 2021
Group show with works by Jiří Kovanda
Centre of Contemporary Art DOX, Prague
October 1, 2021 - January 30, 2022
Art Fair
Messe Basel, Basel
September 21 - 26, 2021
Duo show with works by Jiri Kovanda
Grössling Bathhouse, Bratislava
Until April 29, 2021
Solo show
Czech Centre, Tokyo
Until February 12, 2021
Solo show
Fait Gallery, Brno
Until April 17, 2021
Collective Exhibition
gb agency, Paris
Exhibition from Oct 12 to Nov 5, 2019
A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From May 11 to July 20, 2019
Group Exhibition
Level One, gb agency
From December 3rd, 2016 to January 14th, 2017
A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
from April 2 to May 14, 2016
Solo exhibition
Galerie TZB, Czech Center, Berlin
March 11 - May 8, 2015
Group exhibition
Kunsthalle Wien.
27 June - 12 October 2014.
Art Fair
Art Basel
June 19 - 22, 2014.
Frieze Art Fair
New York
May 9-12 2014
Group exhibition
Rhubaba Gallery and Studios at Edinburgh
March 28 - until Aril 20, 2014
Group exhibition
La Panacée, Montpellier
February 7 - September 14, 2014
Retrospective
Dum Umeni, The Brno House of Arts
Feb 7 - April 6, 2014
Group exhibition
New Museum, New York
January 24 – April 13 2014
Group exhibition
gb agency
January 11 - February 22, 2014
Performance
Centre d’art contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec
13th November, from 6pm to 8pm 2013
Inventing a Future, group exhibition
gb agency
January 26 - March 13, 2013
Solo exhibition by Jiří Kovanda
gb agency
From November 8, 2012 to January 12, 2013
Group exhibition
gb agency
from April 21 to May 26 2012
A solo show by Jiří Kovanda
gb agency
From January 22th to February 26th, 2011
Group show
gb agency
7 May to 3 July 2010
Group show
gb agency
From June 25 to July 25, 2009
A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From March 15 to May 17, 2008
A solo show by Jiri Kovanda
gb agency
From September 9 to October 14, 2006
Monographie: Jiri Kovanda. Editor: Edith Jerabkova, Redactor: Micheala Thelenova, Catalogue Conception: Edith Jerabkova and Jiří Kovanda
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