An international jury composed of representatives of leading international art institutions, including Ivet Ćurlin (Kunsthalle Wien), Anna Daučíková (artist and educator), Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), João Laia (Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki), and Jan Zálešák (curator and educator), selected from nearly 90 portfolios submitted by artists presenting their work on the contemporary Czech art scene. "We appreciated the quality and diversity of the submitted portfolios and their broad scope in terms of geography, gender, and identity. We welcomed the intertwining of artistic and activist positions. We also noted a significant inclination toward various forms of collaboration across the art scene. The authors often addressed highly relevant issues such as the re-evaluation of gender and national identities, feminist and queer positions, and the questioning of the late capitalist status quo. The artworks also sensitively addressed ecological themes and demonstrated an understanding of the need to find balance in unstable ecosystems, which they viewed from a holistic perspective that transcended the dichotomy of living and non-living, human and non-human," the jury summarized.
