Pixels and Poetics: Sudek, Funke and the Influence of New Technologies on the Development of Photography
In cooperation with the PPF Foundation, Czech Centres will present an extensive exhibition project Pixels and Poetics: Sudek, Funke, and the Influence of New Technologies on the Development of Photography in major cities around the world in 2026–2027. The exhibition connects the world of interwar analogue photography with the visual aesthetics of today’s digital age. It offers visitors a unique opportunity to compare how the image has transformed over two centuries—from tangible traces of light to synthetic visual worlds created by artificial intelligence.
The exhibition Pixels and Poetics: Sudek, Funke and the Influence of New Technologies on the Development of Photography connects the world of interwar analogue photography with the visual aesthetics of today’s digital age. It offers visitors a unique opportunity to compare how the image has transformed over two centuries—from tangible traces of light to synthetic visual worlds created by artificial intelligence.
The exhibition presents iconic works by Josef Sudek and Jaromír Funke, whose photographs demonstrate how light, composition, and atmosphere can transform reality into poetic or constructivist visual worlds. These classical approaches are complemented by historical photomontages, double exposures, and analogue manipulations, showing how deeply the desire to reshape the image is rooted in the tradition of photography.
The contemporary section of the exhibition develops this dialogue through artists working with AI and generative technologies. In her work Your Addiction Is the Message, Barbora Trnková reveals the mechanisms of visual dependency in the digital environment and the role of technologies in shaping our perceptions. Lenka Hamošová, in the project Troubling GAN and the series Strange Attractions, explores both the aesthetics and limitations of neural networks, showing how algorithms create and reproduce stereotypes or visual hallucinations. A collaborative work by Trnková and Javůrek, Generation of Princesses, uses generative models to critically reflect on pop-culture ideals of femininity and their digital reconstruction.
The exhibition offers a visually compelling and intellectually accessible perspective on how our understanding of the image, reality, and the things we are willing to believe when we look is changing.
Events
Artist profiles
Josef Sudek (1896–1976) was one of the most important Czech photographers of the 20th century. He was originally trained as a bookbinder, but began to pursue photography intensively after returning from World War I. After studying at the State Graphic School in Prague and collaborating with Jaromír Funke, he began to devote himself to both fine and applied photography. His work includes famous series such as From Invalidovna, The Window of My Studio, Glass Labyrinths, and romantic views of Prague and the Czech countryside. He is known for his lyrical capture of light and atmosphere, as well as his ability to find beauty in the ordinary.
Jaromír Funke (1896–1945) was one of the most prominent figures in Czechoslovak interwar photography. He originally studied philosophy, law, and medicine, but after World War I he devoted himself fully to photography. His work underwent significant development – from pictorialism through constructivism and functionalism to surrealism and social documentary. His most famous works are his carefully composed still lifes from the 1920s and 1930s, in which he worked with elementary shapes, light, and shadow as artistic elements.
Barbora Trnková (*1984) is a Czech artist, photographer, curator, and new media researcher, primarily based in Brno. She works on the principle that photography is not an objective record of reality but a reflection of the world through technological tools and their embedded programs, often dominated by a human perspective. In her work, she adopts a “glitch feminist intersectional” approach and emphasizes the perspective of survivors, dehumanized, or marginalized subjects.
Tomáš Javůrek (*1983) is a Czech artist and programmer focused on digital media and algorithmic systems. He explores the relationship between code, aesthetics, and the power structures of technology. His work reveals how algorithms influence our perception and decision-making. Together with Barbora Trnková, he forms the duo &, which focuses on post-internet and critical approaches to digital images.
Lenka Hámošová (*1988) is a Czech artist, designer, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of AI, creativity, and embodied human experience. She lectures internationally, designs courses, leads workshops, and curates initiatives such as Creative AI Meetups in Prague. She co-founded Uroboros Festival and TAH – Center for Innovations in Technology, Arts and Humanities. Her practice bridges experimental and institutional contexts, collaborating with programmers, hackers, DIY communities, academia, and industry.
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