Jiří Nováček  

Current managing director, exhibition curator, creator of photographic and visual art concepts, and fine art and documentary photographer.

Since the early 1990s, he has held senior and middle management positions across various companies—primarily in the fields of management and leadership, as well as human resources. His work has encompassed the organization of operational workflows, acquisitions, and the execution of corporate projects, including the delivery of training sessions and seminars.

He is the founder of Navis Vision spol. s r.o., a company specializing in aerial axonometric imaging, as well as the documentation of classical urban and modern architecture, religious architecture, exteriors, interiors, and landscapes.

Furthermore, the company is active in publishing, post-production, graphic design, the processing of historical materials, and the development of curatorial and exhibition projects. To date, he has overseen the launch of over twenty-five exhibitions and exhibition spaces, featuring not only his own photographic work but also projects spanning the visual arts and other genres.

Artistic Work:

During his time in Great Britain—where he studied and worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum (a museum of specialized and applied arts) in London—he participated in numerous significant exhibitions and projects. It was also during this period that he developed one of his exhibition series, characterized by a profound sense of authenticity: the documentary project “London’s Walk,” which was presented in the Czech Republic following his return in 2007.

He is a graduate of the department at the Silesian University in Opava, where he studied under Jindřich Štreit, Jan Pohribný, Vladimír Birgus, Pavel Mára, Petr Velkoborský, and others. His early work was developed, among other places, in the studio of Ivo Holán and other artists.Over the past 25 years, he has been active both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He frequently creates subjective documentary series infused with personal experiences, perceptions, and moods.

An extensive series from 2008–2009, titled “Gradus Ad Deum,” explores the lives of Benedictine monks within the monastery complex in Rajhrad. In 2017, he returned to this theme with a follow-up project titled “Reditus.” Since 2018, he has been documenting the “White Brothers” of the Premonstratensian Order—a community that has resided at the Želiv Monastery since the 12th century—in a project titled “Alba Levi Via Nostra.”

In 2011, he completed and published a documentary project on social care titled “Domicilia.” This work was also showcased in several venues as part of joint exhibitions—titled “Secrets of the Soul” (“Tajnosti duše”) and “Metamorphosis” (“Metamorfóza”)—which featured the artistic creations of individuals with autism and children with disabilities. During his travels through the Balkans, he created the series “Romanians,” while another series, “Unkonventional,” was produced in Germany. In the Netherlands, he developed “Transmissie” (2009–2011)—a color documentary project with a sociological dimension—which was presented at the International Documentary Film Festival in 2013 and 2024.

In 2015, following several years of work, he completed and unveiled a distinctive portrait of a horse breeder and trainer who worked for film studios. Titled “Dva prameny – Inter Hominem et Equum” (“Two Springs – Between Man and Horse”), the project focuses on a man who contributed to productions such as Miloš Forman’s “Amadeus”, the film “Night Riders” (“Noční jezdci”), and the fairy-tale films “Three Veterans” (“Tři veteráni”)—directed by Oldřich Lipský—and “Salt Over Gold” (“Sůl nad zlato”).

He also engages in long-term documentary projects; for over a decade, he has been developing an extensive series on the lives of aristocratic families in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austria—a project that remains ongoing. This body of work is complemented by other documentary-style projects, including *Panem et Circenses* (focusing on the Berousek Circus), “Anno Domini “0” (the war in the Dolomites, Italy), “Nomadic – Steamship of the White Star Line” (Ireland), and “Human Proximity” (covering France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Great Britain, and Scotland). In Spain, he has explored the architecture of the Catalan Modernist Antoni Gaudí through a distinctive lens, with a strong emphasis on detail, in the series “Superficie, colores y formas”.

On a shorter-term basis, he focuses on photojournalism—such as his “Youth Workers”… series—while also incorporating elements of fine art or commercial photography, often infused with a reportage-style, emotive, or aesthetic quality. His work also encompasses staged photography and graphic art, drawing inspiration from themes like the First Czechoslovak Republic and free interpretations of paintings. Character-driven portraits—capturing both well-known figures and everyday people—form another key component of his portfolio. His distinctive visual style has also extended into fashion photography, culminating in the 2012 exhibition series *Untitled Fashion*. A selection of his curatorial projects includes: “Painter František Pořický – The First Republic”; “The History of Želiv Monastery”; “Painter František Matula” (including the publication “Paintings”); “Souls from the Periphery – 37 Years of Psychiatry”; and “Testimony of an Era – Dolní Kralovice”…

(abridged version)

novacek.ji@seznam.cz +420 604 494 224