Jiří Petrbok: Deník pacienta – A Contemporary Art Exhibition on Identity and Transformation Through Self-Portraits

This exhibition focuses on Jiří Petrbok's self-portraits from the 1990s to the present, exploring identity as a space of transformation, masking, irony, and defense. The title 'Patient's Diary' refers to the broader human experience of being affected by institutions and societal expectations while documenting one's own existence.

The exhibition 'Jiří Petrbok: Deník pacienta' delves into the artist's extensive body of self-portraits, charting his creative output from the 1990s to the present as a continuous record of a mutable and perpetually questioned self. For Petrbok, the self-portrait is not a tool for confirming or stabilizing identity, but rather a space for transformation, masking, irony, and defense. Subjects appear as hybrids, roles, signs, or bodies subjected to external pressures. The exhibition title signifies more than just illness; it encompasses the broader human experience of navigating institutions, societal expectations, symbols, and one's own physicality. The 'patient' is presented as one who is acted upon by the world but also keeps their own record to avoid becoming a mere case study. Petrbok's visual diary interweaves pain, the grotesque, humor, and anxiety, demonstrating identity across decades as a fragile, ambiguous, and never definitively closed process. The exhibition traces the evolution of this principle through various periods of the artist's work, from early canvases depicting bodily and existential change, through motifs of masks, protective suits, and fragmented figures, to more recent pieces where family, the institution, public space, and language increasingly enter the self-portrait. Petrbok's oeuvre does not aim to reveal a singular 'true self'; instead, it highlights identity as a dynamic set of roles, defense mechanisms, gestures, and reactions shaped by both external pressures and internal experience. Thus, 'Deník pacienta' functions not as an intimate confession in the traditional sense, but as a poignant portrayal of a human navigating the space between vulnerability and self-irony in an effort to maintain their own coherence.

Information about admission fees can be found via the provided link. Merch related to the exhibition is available for purchase in the bookstore and on the e-shop.