Introduction
#5 min Pavel Vančát
8. 10. 2019
Although the term “contemporary history” is actually a contradiction, it refers mostly to the period of history that we lived in and that still directly affects us and our present. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent events leading to the collapse of the Eastern bloc are still a subject of speculation and re-interpretations that often lack a broader context. Such a context has a lot of parallel dimensions: a historical, geopolitical, social and media one, or a personal, family and local one (if we talk about the “history of the present”).
Although the term “contemporary history” is actually a contradiction, it refers mostly to the period of history that we lived in and that still directly affects us and our present. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent events leading to the collapse of the Eastern bloc are still a subject of speculation and re-interpretations that often lack a broader context. Such a context has a lot of parallel dimensions: a historical, geopolitical, social and media one, or a personal, family and local one (if we talk about the “history of the present”).
#1 min Pavel Vančát
Infection
Václav Jirásek. Infection 2001-2021. UMPRUM: Eastern Front, Prague / London, 2021
#1 min Pavel Vančát
PHOTO COLLAR
PHOTO COLLAR. Viktor Kolar. Brno: Stará pošta Gallery and Publishing House, 2022
#1 min Pavel Vančát
Polaroid
Witold Kanicki, Wacław Nowak. Polaroid. Lusowo:Wolno, 2022
#1 min Pavel Vančát
IKONAR: Archival Constellations
Josef Koudelka. IKONAR: Archival Constellations. Lausanne: Photo Elysée, / Leipzig: Spector Books, 2022
#1 min Pavel Vančát
The Artist's Books
Francesca Woodman. The Artist's Books. London: MACK, 2023
#10 min Pavel Vančát
Łukasz Gorczyca - collecting imperfections
Łukasz Gorczyca is not only an art historian, curator and gallerist, but also an avid collector of Polish socialist postcards. Pavel Vančát discussed his view of “socmodern” architecture, leisure and tourism through the prism of postcards and the changes in socialist elan and ethos.
#5 min Pavel Vančát
Filip Láb
Filip Láb, who died unexpectedly and prematurely in May 2021, was not only a prominent theorist and teacher of photography, but was also one of a generation of artists that dealt with the shift in political polarities and radical changes in the photographic paradigm. His relatively short but very significant creative period, tied to his collaboration with Bára Mrázková, still surprises with its innovation and precision.
#2 min Pavel Vančát