Jan Tichy

October 12—December 23, 2012

Jan Tichy (Czech, b. 1974) is collaborating with the Museum of Contemporary Photography for a one-year period to create a museum-wide exhibition based on the museum’s collection of more than 11,000 images and objects. The first stage of the project focuses on the public’s online access to the collection and explore the possibilities of digital archiving. Tichy is working with a group of MA/MFA students from throughout the Chicago area to explore collection database processing such as tagging to identify and develop strategies for better access to the collection that could enhance connections between the institution and the community. Together with the museum staff, the students will have the opportunity to create a new platform for access and dialogue about the collection.

Jan 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.