Tichy Ocean Foundation

The Tichy Ocean Foundation was founded in 2005 by Roman Buxbaum with the aim to collect, preserve and present the artwork of Miroslav Tichý (1925–2011). The unique collection of Tichý photographs, drawings, paintings, prints and self-made photo cameras, in short, the “Miroslav Tichý Collection”, forms the first pillar of the Tichy Ocean Foundation.

The second pillar is a collection of international contemporary art, the “Artists for Tichy – Tichy for Artists” collection. It originated in Miroslav Tichý’s barter with contemporary artists and continues to grow. In recent years, a collection of over a thousand works by more than 150 contemporary artists has been formed, while many of Tichý’s works now reside in the homes and studios of these artists all over the planet.

The third pillar of the Tichy Ocean Foundation is the Art Beyond Cultural Definition (ABCD) collection, dedicated to Outsider.

The current repositioning of the Tichy Ocean Foundation, which includes not only the exhibition space in Zurich, but also a Schaulager in Tichý’s hometown Kyjov, also gives rise to numerous nomadic exhibitions and current projects. Working with contemporary artists from the collection on current issues is a great opportunity for the Tichy Ocean Foundation to demonstrate that its activities go beyond collecting, preserving and presenting, to shaping the current discourse of contemporary art, which has recently become more activist and artivist with a new drive in social, ecological, political and also economic areas.

The Tichy Ocean Foundation resolutely believes that contemporary art today has an orienting and resistant function for people and society, as it did for Miroslav Tichý in particular.

Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing

Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing in Zuurich understands itself in the sense of a salon as a “reception, social or living room of the house” at Lessingstrasse 9, which is set up for a “convivial circle of an artistic and cultural nature” as well as for art exhibitions. This former multi-story factory building first of the silk cloth dyeing and later of the bookbinding is now home to the Tichy Ocean Foundation, the center for psychiatry and psychotherapy Psychcentral, as well as private living quarters of Roman Buxbaum.

The orientation of Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing in Zurich borrows from the place Buxbaum ran as “Salon Lessing” for talks, dinners, artists’ meetings, interviews, art exchanges, research and parties around the «Miroslav Tichý Collection» and the related contemporary artists of «Artists for Tichy–Tichy for Artists» (AFT), which he organized here during the last fifteen years in an intimate, private setting.

Throughout the labyrinthine house, artworks from the Tichy Ocean Foundation collections can be discovered, including those installed in situ, such as the work «After Any Given Time» by Lawrence Weiner, which is mounted on a façade. Psychcentral’s offices, meeting rooms and hallways feature works by artists of the Art Beyond Cultural Definition (ABCD) collection, so-called Outsider, Art Brut artists. Many of these ABCD artists were discovered by Roman Buxbaum during his many years as a psychiatrist, and thus also influenced the international interest in Art Brut.

We are therefore not only opening Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing in Zurich as an exhibition space on the first floor with a rich program of changing art exhibitions, artistic projects and events, but we are also making the entire house accessible on certain occasions to art lovers as a private museum. There is a presentation of works by patients of Psychcentral on the first floor, on the second floor there are changing exhibitions of artists from the ABCD collection and on the top floor, the loft of Roman Buxbaum, works from the AFT collection are presented.

We align the exhibition and event program of our Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing with the daily activities in the house and are oriented towards the three pillars of the Tichy Ocean Foundation–the «Miroslav Tichý Collection», the «Artist for Tichy – Tichy for Artists» collection and the ABCD collection of Outsider Art and the activities of Psychcentral. We want to bring the topics of art and psyche transversally at eye level and experientially into a fruitful dialogue.

Exhibitions will change four times a year, drawing from our extensive collection of works and themes to present ever new, surprising, and unusual projects. We will present exhibitions of contemporary artists from all over the world. We will steadily advance the expansion of the collection «Artist for Tichy–Tichy for Artists» and present it to the public. Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing will become a place of art exchange and will demonstrate a different value system based on mutual respect, creating a critical form of artistic dialogue that goes beyond the art market.

Miroslav Tichý’s attitude of resistance against the constraints of the totalitarian society of his time was unique. We believe that focusing on artistic freedom could mean looking for new forms of a museum. We hope to create living spaces not only for the works of art and artists, but also for cultural nomads from all over the world. Inspired by Tichý’s attitude, Tichy Ocean Foundation – Salon Lessing is artist- oriented, independent and boldly seeks new forms and content for the changing cultural needs of our time.

Without exception, all the artists in the «Artist for Tichy – Tichy for Artists» barter are inspired not only by Tichý’s work, but above all by his philosophy of life and his liberated approach to making art without regard to the social and political climate or market trends.

During the exhibitions, events –performances, talks, lectures, concerts– will take place that are specifically dedicated to the themes of the exhibition and the tension between art and the psyche.