JAN TICHY
SPERTUS GROUND LEVEL PROJECT
CHICAGO
March 10 – June 27, 2010
© JAN TICHY, installation no. 6 (tubes), 2009,
Video installation with 200 paper objects, adhesive, sand bags, and sound.
Courtesy of the artist / Spertus
Ground Level Projects is a dynamic series of artist commissions for the glass-enclosed, street-level vestibule space of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. The project engages four artists over a year-long period, aiming to foster creative encounters that investigate, challenge, and expand traditional perceptions of the Jewish experience.
The inaugural project was The ways in which things operate by Chicago-based artist Deb Sokolow. This was followed by a photographic series entitled Portraits of Young Jewish Women by New York-based artist Sheree Hovsepian and by video work by Chicago-based artist Jason Lazarus with its work, entitled The top of the tree gazed upon by Anne Frank while in hiding (Amsterdam 2008), October 28, 2009 – January 17, 2010.
The fourth work in the series—running through June 27, 2010—is by artist Jan Tichy.
Jan Tichy’s dynamic installations address the multi-layered, often charged narratives of specific urban spaces and architectural contexts. Using light as his medium, his site-specific commission animates and transforms the ground floor. His minimalist approach ensures that his works remain open to interpretation, focusing attention on the impact of his materials to transform the viewer’s experience of reality.
ABOUT JAN TICHY
Born in Prague, Jan Tichy moved to Israel in 1993. After studying political science at Hebrew University, he attended Musrara School of Photography and New Media in Jerusalem and the Advanced Studies Program at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Tel Aviv. He completed his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009. Over the past three years Tichy’s work has been exhibited in Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Frankfurt, Haifa, Helsinki, Jerusalem, New York, Prague, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, and Washington DC. In 2008 his work was exhibited in the Israeli Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice and the artist had a solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. He recently completed a project at Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology and exhibited his largest solo exhibition to date at Richard Gray Gallery.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Related programming supported by Denis Weil in memory of Jacqueline Weil-Bloch. Additional support for the Jason Lazarus installation from the Bernard and Rochelle Zell Center for Holocaust Studies at Spertus. Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies is a partner in serving the community, supported by the JUF/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
Ground Level Projects is open Sunday-Thursday from 10 am to 5 pm. It is free and open to the public.
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
610 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605-1901
www.spertus.edu
