Tomáš Uhnák
(Czech Republic, 1984)
ARTISTIC RESEARCH RESIDENCES
November 2019
He studied a Ph.D. in Life Sciences at the Czech University of Prague in 2018. He did also a Master of Science in Food Policy in 2017 at the City University of London. He also possess a Master in Arts 2006 – 2011 form Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Intermedia) the Czech Republic.
He uses gastronomy in and outside of the gallery as a political and social tool. Member of art collective P.O.L.E. he is also a co-founder of Initiative for Food Sovereignty based in the Czech Republic, which promotes solidarity cooperative food systems. Uhnák investigates the role of chefs in society and the societal and cultural role of gastronomic events in the Czech Republic from 1918 until today. He has also consistently offered lectures on the possible impacts of the TTIP treaty for food producers and consumers. Currently, he’s a Food systems advisor at the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Czech Pirate party.
He participated in the Art residency and Research Project, Kassandras (Intermedia Platform) in 2016 in Athens, Greece. He researches into politics of food aid and possibilities of food sustainability in refugee camps, he has also worked as a volunteer organizing urban gardening workshops. He proposed the happening La Cuisinière Bourgeoise based on civic participation and mechanisms of detachment.
Also in 2016, he participated in the Delfina Foundation Art Residency (Politics of Food program) in London, UK. As part of the program, he organized a psychogeographical tour through London called Politics of Societal Digestion, which consisted in covering places connected to food production, distribution or consumption by exploring the interlinks between precariousness and food/gastronomy.
Program funded with the grants for independent spaces of contemporary creation 2018-2019 of the Madrid City Council.
Check some images of the programme here: