Jan Pfeiffer

Pfeiffer combines an analytical melancholy over historical, political and sociocultural phenomena and a genuine fascination by mythological and religious symbolism.

However, the artist does not choose his material according to its relevance in the historiographic discourse. He is primarily interested in the sometimes hardly perceptible mechanisms and connotations that co-create or surround the given historical or social moments. Or, on the contrary, he explores the given mechanisms and connotations as results of a moment of initiation which triggers a historical or social movement.

The language employed by Pfeiffer to narrate the eclectic stories of his own reflection is abstract and often distinctively symbolic. However, it is still based on a human measure that the artist employs both in his individual works and in the gallery context.

Education
2006 – 2011 Academy of Fine Arts (AVU), studio of Jiri Prihoda,
Prague, CZ 2010 Cooper Union, New York, USA – exchange
2008 Academy of Fine Arts (AVU), studio of Zbigniew Libera, Prague, CZ
2002-2005 School of Design and Art, Prague, CZ

Awards and Grants
2015
Nomination – Czech Lion Awards by Czech Film and Television Academy
for the best scenography
2011
Henkel Award – First prize, Czech section
2009
Other Visions 2009, PAF – 8th festival of Film Animation – Jury Award
Essl Award CEE 2009 – First prize
–
Grant award from the City Council of Prague for the Telescopic Studio
Project – External project of the Václav Špála Gallery, Prague, CZ
2008
Grant award from the Standpunkte Landeplatze for a public space
installation, curator: Wolfgang Herzer, Weiden, D

Curatorial Activities
2008 – 2015
Organizer / curator of Gallery Pavilon, Prague, CZ
2009
Curator of the Telescopic Studio Project, Václav Špála Gallery, Prague, CZ
2007 – 2011
Selections Board member of Gallery (GAVU) of Academy of Fine Arts
(AVU), Prague, CZ

Residency Program
2014
Imago Mundi, Bytom PL

2012
Art School Palestine, Ramallah, PS

Solo Exhibitions
2015
Steel Motion, curated by Lenka Sýkorová, Gallery Altán Klamovka, Prague, CZ
Mastabas and Dumps, curated by Zuzana Jakalová, Jaro Varga, Gallery
Hit, Bratislava, SK
2014
Support Points, curated by Stanisław Ruksza, Gallery Kronika, Bytom, PL
Hidden Power, curated by Michal Novotný, GalleryFutura, Prague, CZ
Ostentatious Abstraction, curated by Sandra Bavorovská, Colloredo
Mandsfeld palace, GHMP, Prague, CZ 2013
Constraction Work, curated by Markéta Stará, Galerie Kabinet, TIC,
Brno, CZ – with Radek Brousil

A Maid’s Room, curated by Lída Prybišová, Gallery of Youth, Nitra,
SK – with Markéta Magidová The Fire Begins All Over Again, curated
by Petr Kovář, Gallery OFF/FORMAT, Brno, CZ

2012
Each embracing all the rest, curated by: Viktor Čech, Jelení Gallery
, Prague, CZ Some Things Pass, curated by: Jakub Stejskal, Drdová
Gallery, Prague, CZ

2011
Contribution, curated by Tereza Stejskalová, etc.gallery, Prague, CZ
A Premonitioned Landscape Stretches Behinde You, curated by Dušan
Záhoranský, Gallery Cube – Meetfactory, Prague, CZ
Right in front of me, curated by Alessandra Troncone, Museo
Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Roma, IT

2010
Behind the Back, curated by Bára Špičáková, Gallery Fenester, Prague, CZ
Extension, curated by Sandra Baborovská, Start-up – GHMP – The Golden
Ring House, Prague, CZ Urbanism of Memory, curated by Katarína
Uhlířová, Open Gallery, Bratislava, SK
Limited Overlap, curated by Jan Zálešák, Galerie mladých BKC, Brno, CZ

Group Exhibitions
2014
Multiplicity, curated by Marco Antonini, Mixed Greens, New York, USA
Prostory narace, curated by Viktor Čech a Caroline Krzyszton, Gallery
NoD/Roxy, Prague, CZ
Mapy, curated by Milan Mikuláštik, NTK Gallery, Prague, CZ
Rekonstrukce, curated by studentky oboru Kurátorská studia FUD UJEP,
Emila Fily Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, CZ The Circular Ruins, curated
by Jean-marc Avrilla, Institut français de Prague, CZ
Nulla Dies Sine Linea, curated by Lenka Sýkorvá, Emila Fily Gallery,
Ústí nad Labem, CZ
2013
The Mind is a Muscle, curated by Viktor Čech, Meetfactory, Prague, CZ
A Glass Of Wather, curated by Michal Novotny, Gallery Futura, Prague, CZ
Empty Lines – Borders Worlds, curated by Margherita Belcredi ,
Kulturbrücke Fratres, A
Festival Otets Paisy Street, curated by Stefka Tsaneva, Plovdiv, BG
Blind Spot, curated by Milan Mikuláštik, Gallery NTK, Prague, CZ
Silhouette, curated by Bill Carroll, EFA, New York

2012
Dependent Observers, curated by Zuzana Štefková, Klára Žaludová,
Karlin Studios, Prague CZ
Zlínský Youth Salon 6th, Zlín, CZ
Gaze upon my gaze, curated by Jia Zhen Tsai, Art Museum at The Art
Park, Taipei, Taiwan
Eye and Mind, curated by Helena Doudová, Gartenhaus / ADBK, München, D
Last Space For a Man, curated by D. Baráčková, P.Gajdošíková,
P.Herotová, Karlin Studios Gallery, Prague, CZ Coal and Steel,
curated by Jaro Kyša, The Candid Arts Trust Gallery, London, UK
Posun o devadesát stupňů, curated by Viktor Čech and Karíma
Al-Mukhtarová, Galerie NoD/Roxy, Prague, CZ

2011
Maps, curated by D.Čarná, L.Gregorová, City Gallery of Bratislava,
Mirbach Palce, Bratislava, SK
Gallery 2, curated by Zuzana Fojtíková, Intersection of Prague
Quadriennale, Národní třída, CZ DIPLOMANTI AVU 2011, curated by
Markus Huemer, Karlín Hall, CZ
Velicopedia, curated by Lenka Kukurová & Milan Mikuláštík, Gallery
NTK, Prague, CZ
In Optima Forma, curated by students of curatorials studies – FUD,
Gallery Emila Filly, Ústí na Labem, CZ
Whose city is this?, curated by Milan Mikuláštik, Karlin Studios
Gallery, Prague, CZ
Live Ammo, curated by Jia-Zhen Tsai, Museum Contemoray Art – MOCA, Taipei, T
2010
Other Visions 2010, PAF – 9th Festival of Film Animation, Olomouc, CZ
THE BIG SCREEN PROJECT, curated by Stephanie Does, New York City, USA
This way rather than another, Right in front of you, curated by Josef
Omáčka, church of St. Anthony, Sokolov, CZ – with Lukáš
Machalický
One day you will lose it all, curated by Krištof Kintera, Denisa
Václavová, Institute of Folk Art Production, Prague, CZ
Ontogenia, curated by Marie Krajplová, Zbrojovka, Brno, CZ – with Josef Bareš
SHADOWS OF THE PAST UTOPIAS, curated by Milan Mikulaštik, Gallery
NTK, Prague, CZ PROSTOR Z(I)LIN(A) interventions into the public
space, curated by Martin Fišr, Zlin, CZ
Biennale of Young Artists, curated by Tomáš Pospiszyl, GHMP – House
at the Stone Bell, Prague, CZ Foolish and Ingenious, curated by Vlasta
Čiháková Noshiro, Gallery of Critics, Prague, CZ
Collectors, curated by Lucie Drdová, Martin Mazanec; Brotkunsthalle, Wien, A
re-do-re-think-re-play, curated by Marek Milde, Czech Center, New York

2009
Other Visions 2009, PAF – 8th festival of Film Animation, Olomouc, CZ
ESSL AWARD CEE 2009 Winners, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg – Wien, A
Tropic Lab, LASALLE College of the Arts, SGP
Urban Kiss, curated by Vlasta Čiháková Noshiro, Gallery of Critics,
Prague, CZ
Private Distance, Meetfactory Gallery, Prague, CZ – with Lukáš Machalický
Iconoclasm, Building-up, Criticism of Public Space Sculpture, curator
by Ivana Moncolová, Šaloun Studio, Prague, CZ

2008
New & Diferent, Padova, Itay
Cargo Project, Sophia, Romania
In the Villa, Gallery GJA, Prague, CZ – with Aleš Čermák
New Czech Cubism, curated by Václav Magid, Old Town Hall, Prague, CZ
Moscow Biennale, curated by Denisa Kera, Moscow, Russia Cosmopolitics,
curated by Denisa Kera, Gallery Artlaboratory, Berlin, D

2007
AVU 18, National Gallery, Prague, CZ
Standpunkte Landeplatze, curated by Wolfgang Herzer, Weiden, D
Cosmopolitics, curated by Academy of Science, Prague, CZ
Cosmopolitics, curated by Noua Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

2006
Temporary Zone, curated by Čestmír Přimdiš, Prague, CZ