Duration:
10 October – 25 November 2018
Entrance fee:
80 CZK / 40 CZK
Venue:
Large hall CPC
Seydlerova 2835/4
Praha 5 (Nové Butovice)
See map
This Czech photographer of international renown and many local and international awards is to have a solo exhibition in the Czech Photo Centre gallery focused on Israel. As is typical for Cudlín, his photos capture everyday life within original compositions. His images of the Israeli landscape and its people speak to the viewer, providing a window on the everyday life of this complex country. The exhibition launches in the Czech Photo Centre gallery on 10 October and continues until 25 November 2018. The exhibition is being held with support from the Embassy of the State of Israel and the Czech-Israel Mutual Chamber of Commerce.
Karel Cudlín - SIGHT/EFFECT
Author: Karel Cudlín
Venue: Large exhibition hall Czech Photo Centre
Dates: 10 October 2018 - 25 November 2018 (every day except Mondays)
Opening hours: Tue - Fri: 11am – 6pm / Sat - Sun: 10am – 6pm
Entrance fee: 80 CZK / 40 CZK (concessions),
Ayin is the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its numerical value equates to the 70 years which have passed this year since the founding of the State of Israel. In Hebrew and other Semitic languages, ayin also means "eye", and as a glyph in some Proto-Semitic languages it really looks like an eye. Phonetically, it is often silent - a letter which is seen but not pronounced. It symbolises not just sight, but also the primordial light of creation. It’s hard to imagine a more suitable name for a photography exhibition, especially when its theme is Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Much of this work by leading Czech documentary photographer Karel Cudlín capturing changing landscapes and societies, from Sinai to the Golan Heights over the last twenty-two years, is exhibited here separately for the first time ever. The selection includes older work which is today iconic due to publication in books of photography and fiction, as well as many unfamiliar pictures, many of which were only taken this year.
Cudlín is the only Czech photographer who has focused his camera on Israel consistently, and not just as part of a single time-restricted project. His Israeli photos are not just geographical records seasoned with picturesque motifs of Middle East reality, nor are they political reports, they do not have a single theme, and they do not follow any particular pre-defined programme. They come about spontaneously from a pure interest in what is happening, without any agendas, expectations or ambition to put more into the image than the situation at that moment can bring, whether the event is taking place within a city, in the desert or on the beach. Cudlín is not just impartial, but he is above all a keen, swift and adept observer, and even though his frequent travels take him to places he has already visited many times, his photographs rarely give us the impression of repetition or monotony. Every picture shows human presence, even in their absence – in his images of apparently deserted landscapes, or where the only living protagonists are animals. His pictures are noted for their unmistakeable sense of humour which, if sometimes taken to the edge of absurdity, is always an excellent check against stereotypes and cheap sentimentality. Cudlín’s Israeli oeuvre, which today includes thousands of negatives and digital images, form a large, but not closed, chapter which is slowly but surely transforming into a visual novel with its own story to tell. Faithful to his style, principally building on the best of humanist photography tradition, Cudlín naturally builds on a vital interest in people as an infinite diverse society of individuals. It is evident that in this regard he finds Israel an inexhaustible source of inspiration.