<p>The winner of the Jindřich Chalupecký Prize is Barbora Klímová</p>

Brno - This year's winner of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for artists under 35 is Barbora Klímová. She was chosen from six finalists by an international jury, which took into account both her previous artistic activity and the works created for the final exhibition at the Brno House of Art. Klímová compared the effects and reception of various public performances from decades ago to those of today.
    "We are awarding her for a sensitive dialogue with the recent history of art. She examines the specific works of Czech artists involved in performance art and the lasting importance of their creations," explained the jury's choice.
    The other finalists were Jan Kotík, Dominik Lang, Dušan Skála, Tomáš Svoboda, and the group Rafani, which received one of the secondary awards despite the fact that its members did not enter the exhibition hall even once and entrusted the painting of the reserved space to children from the vicinity of the House of Art.
    All finalists expressed themselves conceptually this year, with none offering paintings or other classical media for the exhibition. Klímová was no exception, and her work was presented to the exhibition visitors via projections. The artist repeated various public performances from the 1970s and 1980s in the streets of her home city, Brno. "I was more interested in actions that could be mistaken for reality, rather than well-composed projects definitively defined as art. I was curious about the reactions," she said after the announcement. She recorded the responses of passersby with a hidden camera.
    Klímová noted that her public performances were mostly met with indifference and disinterest. No one reacted even to the event where she lay motionless on the ground. No one asked her if she was alright; someone simply sent an ambulance anonymously.
    The Jindřich Chalupecký Award is awarded annually, alternating between Prague and Brno. This year's edition is the seventeenth. The first laureate was Vladimír Kokolia, and last year Kateřina Šedá won. The award comes with a financial reward of 100,000 crowns and a study stay in the United States.