The visual style associated with typography is ubiquitous today. Along with fashion, it defines the era in which it emerges. It shapes the appearance of websites and social media, the documents we create using pre-designed templates, the books we read, the posters we pass on the streets, TV commercials, the tickets we buy—simply everything where text and typeface play even a minor role.

Perhaps that is why most of us do not perceive it as art. It is merely a medium that, only in exceptional cases, can transcend the content of the message and become a work of art in its own right. Eva and Jakub Horští and their studio Upupaepop undoubtedly fall into this category.

The exhibition Everything We Have will not only showcase their independent creative work, artist-made books, and textiles, but will also offer a glimpse into the possibilities of the ancient techniques of relief printing and letterpress, which, in this era of perfect and impersonal digital typesetting and printing, allows us to perceive and experience the beauty of subtle imperfections. Even though the same motif is repeatedly printed, each piece is an original thanks to the technology used.

Although they have amassed a substantial collection of old machines and typefaces over the years, their goal is by no means to preserve this vanishing craft in a museum setting, but rather to connect the past with the possibilities offered by new materials and technologies. Their prints still radiate a childlike playfulness and wonder at the final form of the created work, which is always, at least in part, a product of luck and chance.

It is precisely this pure joy of visual adventure that the two exhibiting artists wish to pass on.

Eva Horská and Jakub Horský have been exhibiting in Hradec Králové under the joint brand Upupæpop since 2014. They have made a name for themselves in the field of book graphics and illustration, earning nominations and awards in the Zlatá stuha (2021, 2023, 2024), Magnesia Litera (2021, 2024), and Czech Grand Design (2020, 2024). Beyond design, they devote themselves to independent creative work that reflects the principles they apply in their practice (traditional graphic techniques, hand printing, illustration, and typography) in combination with organic elements that extend into space and other media.

Curator: Petra Příkazská