Jiří Ševčík passed away

Jiří Ševčík, theoretician and curator of contemporary art, has passed away. During his long and intensive tenure at the Department of Theory and History of Architecture (1966-1989) at the CTU, he profoundly influenced several generations of architects. 

"We loved Ševčík, he taught us the theory of architecture. We went to his unofficial seminars, he gave us Lynch, Heidegger to read..." recalls doc. Hana Seho. In the 1970s and 1980s, she says, Jiří Ševčík was one of the few people at the faculty with whom one could talk. "The fact that I like architecture is largely due to him," adds Hana Seho.

The dean emeritus, Prof. Ladislav Lábus, remembers the charismatic teacher in a similar way. "Jiří Ševčík lived and created to the fullest. When he devoted himself to something, he did it with a passion and enthusiasm that were very infectious in his presence. If you were similarly attuned and had the potential for harmony, he soon infected you with his passion and enthusiasm. You became similarly passionate and enthusiastic." 

Jiří Ševčík was one of the most inspiring and influential teachers at the faculty. He was intensively involved not only in modern but also in contemporary architecture and its theory. "Jiří Ševčík taught us to perceive the meaning of words and texts about architecture. He was a unique source of up-to-date information and an apologist for new trends and styles of architecture. Although he has passed away, he helps us all who knew him personally, to continue to strengthen our community and "keep our lives together," says prof. Lábus. 

Jiří Ševčík graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Aesthetics, Bohemistics and History. After graduation he became editor of the magazine Architecture of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and then a researcher at the Department of Theory and History of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the CTU. Together with his wife, Jana Ševčíková, they published a number of academic texts in the 1980s, in which they dealt mainly with postmodernism. After 1989, they became one of the key curatorial duos who opened the Czech art scene to the world. In 1990, Jiří Ševčík became the chief curator of the Prague City Gallery, and at the same time worked intensively with one of the first private gallery institutions, the MXM Gallery.

Since 1995 he has worked at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he founded the VVP AVU in 1997. He also worked as a curator of the Gallery of the Austrian Cultural Centre in Prague, was involved in the tranzit.org initiative, and was behind the creation of the Contact of Central European Art collection.

Jiří Ševčík was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, in 2016 he received the Medal of the FA CTU and in 2018 the State Prize of the Ministry of Culture.

He passed away on April 2, 2022. He was 82 years old.