The exhibition Find Two Fakes showcases the collection of graphic designer Petr Babák and will end soon—on Friday, November 1. Haven’t yet visited this showcase full of striking artworks displayed alongside unique collectibles? Now is the perfect time to stop by the Prostora Gallery at Blanická 9 in Prague-Vinohrady and view the exhibition.
This unique installation is inspired by the modern digital era, especially the scrolling experience on smartphone screens, and was developed in collaboration with the graphic studio Laboratoř, founded by Petr Babák. You can follow the works arranged along the gallery’s perimeter in a central line, highlighting the minimalist yet visually captivating concept of the exhibit.
September 12 – November 1, 2024
Wednesday–Friday, 2:00–5:30 pm
Prostora Gallery (1st floor)
Blanická 9, 120 00 Prague 2
To enter the gallery, ring at Skupina / Prostora.
Join a guided tour of the exhibition with Petr Babák and Marcela Steinbachová on Wednesday, October 9, at 6 p.m. in the Prostora Gallery. Want to learn behind-the-scenes details about the concept of Babák’s collection? Come to the guided tour. And maybe you’ll find the two fakes!
Photo: Tomáš Souček
September 12 – October 25, 2024
Wednesday–Friday 2–5:30 p.m.
Prostora Gallery (1st floor)
Blanická 9, 120 00 Prague 2
For entry, ring the bell for Skupina / Prostora.
Find Two Fakes | Petr Babák
12/9 – 25/10 2024
Wednesday–Friday 2:00–5:30 PM
Weekend
Sat 28/9, Sun 29/9 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Photo: Kateřina Fialová
Find Two Fakes is the name of a new exhibition at the Prostora Gallery, featuring contemporary graphic designer and educator Petr Babák. The opening will take place on Wednesday, September 11, at 6:00 PM.
In 2024, Prostora Gallery continues to present collections of contemporary artists. The new exhibition, the fifth in the series, will run from Thursday, September 12, 2024, until the end of October. It will showcase works from Petr Babák's collection, representing the contemporary art scene. The exhibition will open with a vernissage on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 6:00 PM, featuring prominent artists. The black electro duo Body of Pain will perform at the event. The exhibition will also include guided tours.
Babák's collection includes a variety of paintings, photographs, and spatial artifacts by legendary artists such as Dalibor Chatrný, Jiří Valoch, Václav Stratil, and Stano Filko, as well as works by Ján Mančuška and photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková. The collection also features works from the middle generation, such as Václav Jirásek, Michal Cihlář, Markéta Othová, and Jiří Thýn, as well as pieces from emerging artists like Eva Maceková, Julius Reichel, Pavla Malinová, Magdaléna Rutová, and Vojtěch Veškrna. Babák also keeps an eye on the youngest generation across different professions, including illustrators, DJs, and photographers. The exhibition will feature works by Jakub Bachorík aka Don Chain aka DJ Venktovka, Eda Babák, and Viktorie Macánová.
And can you find the two fakes?
The collection is far from one-dimensional or monotonous; it spans various disciplines, including Babák's own field of graphic design, with works by Zdeněk Seydl, the art group Bratrstvo with Ivan Pinkava, Ondřej Chorý, Marek Pistora, or the team from the underground magazine Živel. The collection even includes two openly acknowledged fakes. Additionally, it features a "quirk"—a fascination with various fetishes. One of these is Ladislav Sutnar's orange bag.
Petr Babák comments: "This shopping bag, with many functional pockets in a typical orange color, was given to me by the glass artist and experimenter Václav Cigler during one of many visits to his Střešovice villa while working on his monograph. He presented it to me with the remark that, according to legend, it was Ladislav Sutnar's bag. Cigler was a student of the prominent artist and theorist Josef Kaplický in the glass studio at UMPRUM. I must admit, just the thought that the icon of my graphic adolescence, with the initials LS, used this somewhat provocative orange bag for shopping for bread rolls at a nearby shop was enough for it to become a favorite fetish in my already growing, chaotic, but passionate collection. I didn't bother to verify if it was a legend or fact, nor did I consider washing or restoring the bag. No way. Everything is original." - P.B.
Petr Babák is a renowned Czech graphic designer, university professor, and publicist. He is the founder of the graphic studio Laboratory (www.laboratory.cz), a professor at UMPRUM, and the author of the manifesto of the Graphic Design and New Media Studio, which he leads at UMPRUM. Babák has created many significant graphic outputs (https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Babák). His studio has produced publications for contemporary artists such as Jiří Kovanda, Ján Mančuška, Kateřina Šedá, and Federico Díaz.
"Thanks to his profession, Petr Babák is literally surrounded by artists. His house outside Prague, which I had the chance to visit, is thoughtfully complemented by works of contemporary artists, where every piece has its place and harmonizes with the interiors," says Marcela Steinbachová, founder of Prostora Gallery.
Petr Babák enjoys combining creation processes with chance or mistakes. He also likes collaborating with the sun, allowing it to complete graphic work (e.g., offset covers of the mmcité corporate catalog). He co-authored (with Tomáš Machek) the first comprehensive city visual identity for Zlín, for which he received the National Design Award in 1995. He has created logos and visual identities for many significant institutions, including the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, the National Film Archive, and the National Library of Technology, for which he won the Czech Grand Design Award as the Grand Designer of 2009. In 2020, UMPRUM and the Moravian Gallery in Brno published a comprehensive book (edited by Lukáš Kijonka) about Babák's studio, affectionately known as "MONSTRUM" due to its size (5.5 kg, 19 cm spine). The spines of this book were designed by contemporary artists and theorists such as Černický, Švejdík, Malinová, Kintera, Nanoru, Kvíčala, Valoušek, Pospiszyl, and Reichel. In 2024, UMPRUM also published "Petr Babák: True Texts" (1997-2023), summarizing Babák's publishing work over the past 25 years. He is the curator of the Prague Art Book Fair, organized annually by GHMP, and a member of several expert committees. Babák is an active Instagram user (https://www.instagram.com/petr_babak/), where he playfully documents his life.
Find Two Fakes, Petr Babák
Vernissage: Wednesday, September 11, 6:00 PM
Exhibition: September 12 – end of October 2024
Event on Facebook
IG: @prostora_galerie
The opening on September 11 will include a performance by the Prague minimal synth duo Body of Pain (Tereza Ovčačíková and Jan Vytiska).
Opening Hours
Wednesday–Friday: 2:00–5:30 PM
Saturday: 2:00–5:30 PM by appointment
(Closed on public holidays)
Entrance is voluntary. More info at www.prostora.org.
Organized by: Prostora, Marcela Steinbachová
Project supported by: Financial support from the City of Prague, State Cultural Fund of the Czech Republic
Media partners: Archizoom, ArtMap, Cultural Magazine Uni, Prague Moon
Media contact:
Marcela Steinbachová, +420 776 565 180, ms@skupina.org
Jan Kieweg, +420 607 708 190, architektura@kruh.info
"Life is a Good Thing" is the title of the new exhibition at Prostora Gallery, showcasing painter Jana Vojnárová and Josef Bolf. The vernissage will take place on Thursday, May 16, at 5:30 PM. Exhibition 17/5 – 26/8 2024
In 2024, Prostora Gallery continues to present collections of contemporary visual artists. The new exhibition, starting on Friday, May 17, 2024, will feature works from the contemporary art scene collected by Jana Vojnárová and Josef Bolf. It will be inaugurated with a vernissage on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 5:30 PM, attended by the artists. The exhibition will include guided tours.
The collection of Jana Vojnárová and Josef Bolf will showcase works by artists such as Adéla Babanová, Zbyněk Baladrán, Radek Brousil, Petr Cabalka, Jan Freiberg, Martin Gerboc, Jaroslav Grodl, Martin Herold, Igor Hosnedl, Jakub Hošek, Anežka Hošková, Krištof Kintera, Viktor Kopasz, Jiří Kovanda, David Landa, Laura Limbourg, Eva Maceková, Ján Mančuška, Jan Merta, Svatopluk Mikyta, Jaromír Novotný, Zuzana Ondroušková, Petr Pavlík, Jiří Petrbok, Michal Pěchouček, David Pinkava, Ivan Pinkava, Daniel Pitín, Paul Ryan, Alžběta Říhová, Pavla Sceranková, Vladimír Skrepl, Lu Jindrák Skřivánková, Markéta Soukupová, Jan Soumar, Jan Šerých, Pavel Šmíd, Adam Štech, Matej Štetiar, Jakub Špaňhel, Jiří Thýn, Jan Turner, Tomáš Vaněk, Daniel Vlček, Vobouch, Iva Vodrážková, Johanka Hrabíková Vojnárová, Jan Vytiska, Dušan Zahoranský, and many others.
Jana Vojnárová studied in the painting studio under Vladimír Skrepl, Michael Rittstein, and Stanislav Diviš. Her work focuses on the human (especially female) figure, often abstracted or deformed, combined with an indeterminate pictorial space. Her paintings feature a two-dimensional barrier behind which slightly narrative stories of characters and beings unfold. The playful composition of bodily relationships sometimes leads to a looser, almost abstract painting style. Her works are based on photographs that serve as a starting point or inspiration.
Josef Bolf graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied in the studio of Jiří Načeradský, Vladimír Kokolia, and Vladimír Skrepl. Throughout his career, he participated in several international residencies. Since 1996, he has been a member of the Bezhlavý jezdec group (active from 1998 to 2002), collaborating with artists such as Ján Mančuška, Jan Šerých, and Tomáš Vaněk. He lives and works in Prague. Bolf's artistic style can be described as a distinct melancholic language with graphic elements, oscillating between acrylic and oil. His works reflect narratives from science fiction, comic books, and graphic novels, with noticeable influences from medieval painting and visionary artists like William Blake.
Photo / Tomáš Souček
On May 29, there was a guided tour of the exhibition "Life is a Good Thing" with Josef Bolf and gallery founder Marcela Steinbachová.
In 2024, the Prostora Gallery continues to showcase collections of contemporary visual artists. The new exhibition, "The Involuntary Collector," will present the artistic selection of conceptual photographer Martin Polák. The collection was developed over forty years as a byproduct of the collector's main activity—photographing artworks, exhibitions, and activities of local artists from several generations. The collection also includes some acquisitions by the collector’s partner, Markéta Othová.
The exhibition will be open to visitors from Wednesday, February 21, 2024, and will be inaugurated with a vernissage on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 5:30 PM, attended by the collector.
The exhibition will include guided tours with Martin Polák, Markéta Othová, and Marcela Steinbachová.
Guided tours:
12/3 2024 5:30 PM
23/4 2024 5:30 PM
Martin Polák (*1966) is a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene. He is best known as part of the artistic duo Jasanský/Polák. Together, they developed their own conceptual approach to photography as a medium, thereby opening new avenues for its development.
The specific installation utilizes the original window glazing with wire glass and presents several dozen works, including paintings, drawings, photographs, and small sculptures by artists such as Jan Merta, František Skála Jr., Jiří Kovanda, Jiří David, Jaroslav Róna, Čestmír Suška, Petr Písařík, Jiří Černický, Petr Pastrňák, Antonín Střížek, KW, Jiří Středa, Petr Veselý, Miroslav Pacner, Tomáš Smetana, Jakub Špaňhel, the Kamera Skura group, and drawings by patients from a psychiatric hospital.
The exhibition will be open from February 21, 2024.
Opening hours:
Wednesday–Friday 2:00 PM–5:30 PM
Blanická 9, Prague 2
Ring the bell at Skupina / Prostora
The exhibition "So Sorry for Being Me" by Denisa Václavová and Krištof Kintera will be presented at the contemporary art gallery Prostora at the end of September, showcasing the youngest generation as well as established artists. The opening will take place on Tuesday, September 26, at 5:30 PM.
Guided tours:
19/10 2023 5:30 PM
22/11 2023 5:30 PM
Prostora Gallery continues its unconventional curatorial approach, featuring both established and emerging artists. Curator Denisa Václavová and artist Krištof Kintera will showcase their selection of favorite works. The exhibition does not display their own works, but rather the paintings of other contemporary artists they own.
The installation at Prostora Gallery will feature the youngest generation of the Czech art scene (e.g., Dávid Čerťanský, Ester Knapová, Samuel Kollárik, Kateřina Ondrušková), the middle generation and the authors' contemporaries (David Böhm and Jiří Franta, Zbyněk Baladrán, Lukáš Jasanský and Martin Polák, Ondřej Přibyl, Jiří Petrbok, Jan Šerých), as well as works by Milan Knížák and Miroslav Tichý. The only international exhibitor is David Shrigley, whose work "So Sorry For Being Me" gives the exhibition its title.
The exhibition will be open to visitors from Wednesday, September 27, 2023, and will be inaugurated with a vernissage on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at 5:30 PM, attended by Denisa Václavová and Krištof Kintera. The exhibition can be visited during opening hours until December 15, 2023.
The gallery will feature around forty artists, presenting paintings, photographs, installations, and sculptures. For many of them, this will be the first time their works are shown side by side. The exhibition includes works by these artists: David Adamec, Zbyněk Baladrán, Johana Bártová, Erik Binder, David Böhm / Jiří Franta, Josef Bolf, Dávid Čerťanský, Vlado Doležal, Viktor Frešo, Josef Frühauf, Václav Girsa, Lukáš Jasanský / Martin Polák, Jolana Kahounová, Vladimír Kintera, Markéta Kinterová, Ester Knapová, Milan Knížák, Samuel Kollárik, Július Koller, Karel Kuklík, Micl, Kateřina Ondrušková, Jiří Petrbok, Lukáš Procházka, Přemysl Procházka, Ondřej Přibyl, Helena Sequens, David Shrigley, František Skála Jr. Jr., Vít Soukup, Markéta Soukupová, Adam Stanko, Barbora Šemberová, Jan Šerých, Radek Šíma, Miroslav Tichý, Jiří Valoch, Zuzana Václavová, Jan Vytiska, Richard Wiesner.
"Denisa Václavová and Krištof Kintera are significant figures in the visual arts who strive to push beyond their own boundaries and those of their field. Since the beginning of their professional careers, they have aimed to provide space for other artists and to integrate visual art into public spaces as a natural part of our lives," says the founder of the gallery and architect Marcela Steinbachová.
The exhibition will also include an accompanying audiovisual program and guided tours with Denisa Václavová, Krištof Kintera, Marcela Steinbachová, or Jan Kieweg.
Denisa Václavová (*1973) and Krištof Kintera (*1973) are prominent figures in the contemporary art scene. They intersect at the annual 4+4 Days in Motion festival, dedicated to visual art and theater. Krištof has long been responsible for the visual design of this site-specific festival, its visual identity, and its main slogans. Denisa ensures the festival's dramaturgy, curation, and production, focusing on art exhibitions in unconventional spaces.
Sculptor Krištof Kintera studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1992 to 1999, and postgraduate at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam from 2003 to 2004. In the 1990s, he was a member and leading figure of the theater-performative group Jednotka and in 1999, he co-founded the Universal Space NoD, where he organized the first exhibitions. Between 2009 and 2011, he led the Sculpture Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. He has exhibited independently since the mid-1990s (City Library in Prague, Rudolfinum, Museum Tinguely in Basel, Kunsthal Rotterdam, DOX, or Kunsthalle Bratislava, among others). He is the author of several monuments and sculptures in public spaces in Prague, and publications and catalogs about his work have been published.
His artistic approach is based on recycling and modifying existing products – electrical, appliances, and everyday objects of various natures. Through interventions, he transforms them into objects that oscillate between reality and fiction. In this way, Krištof expresses his views on the contemporary world. He also creates two-dimensional works of the same formats, complemented by messages and often found objects.
Theater producer Denisa Václavová is a cultural organizer and dramaturg of the 4+4 Days in Motion festival, as well as artistic installations at the ProLuka Gallery, the cultural space Vzlet in Prague's Vršovice district, and the exhibition program for public space at Motol Hospital. She studied production at the Theater Faculty of AMU and fine and applied arts at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, where she also taught. She is the co-author of several publications related to her activities.
Prostora is a new gallery founded by architect Marcela Steinbachová, founder of the Skupina studio, the Kruhu association, and the director of its activities (lecture series on architecture, the Architecture Day festival, the Film and Architecture festival, and publication production). Prostora is located in the former telephone exchange building at 9 Blanická Street above Náměstí Míru, on the 1st floor. The gallery's name is derived from the more commonly used word "prostor," but "prostora" defines an environment that is more delineated, bounded, in this case, the exhibition space.
"The Prostora Gallery continues to present contemporary art figures in an unusual way. It shows their favorite works and artists, a collection or selection of artistic objects that the artists themselves own. This is not a composed collection with an investment intent, but rather an emotional selection of works by their colleagues, with whom they are happily surrounded. Life partners Denisa Václavová and Krištof Kintera are prominent figures on the contemporary art scene, and the gallery will showcase their tastes and interests. At the same time, it will present them as a distinctive couple, possibly in a new light," says the gallery's founder and architect Marcela Steinbachová.
Opening hours:
Wednesday–Friday: 2:00 PM–5:30 PM
By appointment also Saturday: 2:00 PM–5:30 PM
or upon request
Admission is free.
We inaugurated the Prostora Gallery in June with the first exhibition titled "MINE, MINE... by Jiří Petrbok." A guided tour took place, and we will announce further programs during the summer at a later date. The gallery's opening hours during the holidays are Wednesday to Friday from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM.
Located at Blanická 9 Street (on the 1st floor), the gallery stands out with its specific placement in the former telephone exchange building. It boasts large windows that provide the exhibition space with airiness and authenticity. The space has been left in its raw state, only complemented with electrical installations and a dividing partition, offering visitors a contrasting experience between the exhibited artwork and the rawness of the building's original function. The interior with windows and columns has been artistically enhanced with objects such as paintings, drawings, graphics, and sculptures, all installed by Jiří Petrbok himself. Some pieces are prominently displayed, while others are intentionally hidden from the audience's view.
We recommend visiting in the late afternoon when the sunlight gently permeates the room, providing you with a unique and individual experience. If you're lucky, you might hear the soothing tones of piano compositions from the piano studio located below us. To enhance the experience further, you can also access a playlist of Jiří Petrbok's favorite compositions, which you can save on your phone.
We look forward to your visit.
Exhibition: 21/6 - 31/8/2023.
The new space, dedicated to contemporary art, represents a year-round non-traditional curatorial project. Over the course of one year, it will show four prominent personalities of the contemporary Czech art scene from a different perspective. The painters, sculptors, photographers or architects will not exhibit their own works, but the works of other artists that are in their possession. They will present the works of their colleagues across generations, showcasing their personal choices, hobbies and likes.
The exhibition MY, MY... will open with an opening on 20/06/2023 from 6 p.m. in the presence of Jiří Petrbok and other artists.
As part of the exhibition there will be guided tours or discussions with the visual artist Jiří Petrbok (28/06 from 5:30 p.m.) and Marcela Steinbachová.
Exhibition 21/6 – 31/8/2023
Wednesday - Saturday: 14:00 - 17:30
Guided tours:
28/6 2023 5:30 PM
10/8 2023 5 PM
30/8 2023 5 PM
Last guided tour 20/9 2023 5:30 PM
Jiří Petrbok (*1962) was born in Kladno and then lived for twenty-one years in Komárov near Hořovice. After completing his apprenticeship and working for several years at the Buzuluk Komárov ironworks, he decided to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied from 1984 to 1990. Since 1995, he worked there as an assistant professor in the drawing studio of Professor Jitka Svobodová, and from 2011 until June of this year, he served as the head of the studio. He developed a very close relationship with his students, and the drawing studio became one of the most prominent studios at the Academy. His work, as well as that of his students, is represented in many gallery collections, as well as in the collections of private collectors and art lovers. In Jiří Petrbok's paintings, his personal experiences blend with a strong imagination, giving his works a very distinctive, colorful character. The symbiosis between the teacher and his students, through mutual consultations and discussions, also pushed him in his own work, provoking him to explore new possibilities in artistic expression.
The Prostora Gallery will not present his own work, but his hobby and passion for acquiring, finding, changing, and buying paintings, sculptures, and drawings from his fellow artists in the field. The majority of the works are by his recent students from the Academy, whose artistic production he supported through occasional purchases. The exhibition titled "MINE, MINE..." will feature works by authors such as: Jiří Marek, Gabriela Slaninková, Jakub Janovský, Adriana Sarnová, Jaroslav Róna, Josef Čižmár, Jan Vytiska, Dana Sahánková, Lubomír Typlt, Martin Kolář, Martin Gerboc, Kristýna Láníková, Renata Ciroková, Tomáš Absolon, Kateřina Adamová, Karolína Netolická, Jakub Tytykalo, Ivo Návrat, Marek Hyksa, Roman Košťál, Ivana Štenclová, Michal Nesázal, and others. The exhibition will also include an accompanying audiovisual program and guided tours.
We will officially open the space to the public on June 20, 2023 from 6 p.m. with the opening of our first art exhibition, titled ‘MY, MY…’, in the presence of Jiří Petrbok and other artists.
