Condition Report: New Photographic Art from the Czech Republic

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Ffotogallery, the national development agency for photography and lens-based media in Wales, is delighted to present the UK premiere of Condition Report, an exhibition of new photographic art from the Czech Republic. Condition Report features the work of Katerina Drzkova, Vojtech Frohlich, Kvetonovi (Radek and Zdenek Kveton), Jan Mericka and Tereza Prà ­hodova; a group of emerging artists associated with the Department of Photography at FAMU (the School of Film and Television of the Academy of Performing Arts) in Prague. Their work represents a range of contemporary art practices that are in some way rooted in photography and lens-based media. The project has been developed through a partnership between Ffotogallery and the European Centre of Photographic Research, University of Wales Newport. As one of the EU's newest members, the Czech Republic has experienced profound social and economic changes in recent years. The work shown in Condition Report reflects the wider globalising influences at play after years of communist control. The Czech Republic has an incredibly rich photographic tradition, but the work presented here challenges the notion that there are cultural tendencies specific to that nation. These younger Czech artists share certain characteristics in their approach to making work, such as playful experimentation and the ability to combine traditional and modern processes of image making to transform the everyday and mundane into the extraordinary. It could be argued that they bring to their work a particular Czech sensibility, but more pertinently the featured artists are connected intellectually to the ideas and influences of a wider international art scene that reflects the New European zeitgeist. info@ffotogallery.org 029 2034 1667 Ffotogallery at Turner House, Plymouth Rd, Penarth, CF64 3DH