Tichy, Jan

Czech, b. 1974

BiographyJan Tichy works at the intersection of video, sculpture, architecture, sound, and photography; many of his works combine these elements. Using video projection as a time-based source of light, Tichy creates physical and psychic spaces in which he explores themes of concealment, obscurity, and the seen and unseen. Tichy’s use of photography in his work, tempered by his strictly formal and minimalist visual language, results in installations in which the narrative is open to interpretation.

In 2011, in an effort to map the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s extensive collection of, then, nearly 11,000 objects, the museum commissioned Tichy to delve into the archive with an eye toward making it more accessible. Over the course of this endeavor, he probed the collection’s characteristics, highlights, and parameters, as well as its elusiveness. His work culminated in the 2012 exhibition, 1979:1–2012:21: Jan Tichy Works with the MoCP Collection.

Born in Prague, Jan Tichy moved to Israel in the mid-1990s. After studying Political Science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tichy studied photography at Musrara School of Photography in Jerusalem and Advanced Studies in Art at Bezalel Academy in Tel Aviv. In 2007, he moved to Chicago, where he earned an MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Center for Contemporary Art-Tel Aviv, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Spertus Museum, Chicago. His work has been included in exhibitions in Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Paris, Prague, Stockholm, Venice, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, New York, Portland, and Washington, D.C., among others. Tichy’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Magasin 3 Stockholm Kunsthall; MoBY - Museum of Contemporary Art, Bat Yam; and Spertus Museum, Chicago.