Jindřich Chalupecký Society

Jindřich Chalupecký Society is a platform for Czech post-revolutionary and contemporary art in international context. In collaboration with a number of partner institutions throughout the Czech Republic and internationally, we organize exhibitions, public programs, residencies for artists and curators, educational and publication projects. Since 1990, the Society awards the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for visual artists up to the age of 35.

The Society is named in honor of leading Czech theorist and critic of visual arts and literature, essayist and philosopher Jindřich Chalupecký (1910–1990) who co-founded it with academic painter Theodor Pištěk, poet and visual artist Jiří Kolář, and playwright, author and Czech president Václav Havel. It was founded to “improve the standard of contemporary Czech visual arts and to preserve a memory of the intellectual heritage of a man to whom fighting for Czech art became a mission in life.”

The Society aims to initiate and support innovative and experimental artistic, curatorial and research activities and to contribute to strengthening the role of contemporary Czech art in the local and international environment, including the regions outside the main cultural centers. The Society stands both for significant continuity and flexibility, constantly re-examining its forms and possibilities as an organization that is actively approaching the most contemporary events both on and outside the art scene.

Jindřich Chalupecký Society is a non-state non-profit organization based in the building of the Center for Contemporary Arts Prague. Jindřich Chalupecký Award is a member of the platform Young Visual Artists Awards (YVAA), a network of awards for young artists from Central and Eastern Europe.