MgA. Jiří Žák
Associate Lecturer
Jiří is a lecturer in the MA Fine Art programme and is an active artist and researcher. He works primarily in the media of the moving image and video installation, merging research based practice with the narrative form. Through his work he addresses the identity of post-communist countries and its deconstruction through non-western perspectives.
He has exhibited his work at a number of independent galleries and institutions nationally and internationally, such as the Kiev Biennale, the Warsaw Biennial, the Modern and Contemporary Art Centre in Debrecen in Hungary and The Biennale Matter of Art in Prague. His work is included in the collection of the Prague City Gallery.
Jiří graduated with an MA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and was a co-laureate of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award in 2020. In 2015, he became a holder of of the EXIT Award. Žák has also completed art residencies at the Spring Sessions in Amman, Jordan, at the hablarenarte in Madrid, Spain and at the State Silk Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia.
You can see more of Jiří's work at jirizak.com
Education
Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, CZ — Master of Arts (MgA.)
Professional Activities
2022-2024 — Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Lecturer, Seminar of moving Image
2018-2019 — National Film Archive Prague, Digital Operator
Research & Creative Practice
Selected Exhibitions:
2024: Artyčok TV - Regeneration, online exhibition.
2023: Escaped, Found a Hideout, Still on the Run (Animal News), PLATO Gallery, Ostrava.
2022: Fotograf Festival #12, National Gallery Prague.
2022: Borderline Case 2.0, Budapest Gallery
2021: No Art Today?, Prague City Gallery.
2021: Allied – Kyiv Biennial, Ukraine
Awards:
2024: Main Award for Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
2024: Berlinale Talents
2023: Screen Audiovisual Essay Film Award Shortlist Distant Journey through the Desktop (with Jiří Anger), Screen (Oxford University Press, Web of Science, Scopus).
2020: Jindřich Chalupecký AWARD
2015: EXIT AWARD
Selected Publishing:
Žák, Jiří. Zamést si před vlastním prahem. Artyčok TV [online] Zamést si před vlastním prahem, Artyčok TV, 2022.
Žák, Jiří & Anger, Jiří , Distant Journey through the Desktop, Transition: Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Image Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2021.
Žák, Jiří. Rosenfeldová, Lucie. Pavlík, Matěj, Sterec, Pavel et al. Ada Kale, alternativní fakta o nejsevernější islámské exklávě v Evropě po roce 1902, Vydání první. Praha: Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová, 2018.
Žák, Jiří, Ngcobo, Gabi, Dekolonizace je špinavý proces, rozhovor. Artalk [online] , 2018.
