Gallery of Miroslav Kubík in Litomyšl

The concept of transformation that took place in the space of the Miroslav Kubík Gallery in Litomyšl can be described in the following words: The gallery has a simple scheme in the form of a longitudinal axis leading from the square to the garden. Individual spatial events are hung along the axis. It is essential that the given space breathes in a certain way, expands into dominant parts and narrows into a constriction, thus creating its natural division. A person has the opportunity to take a breath before entering the next situation. From my perspective, several basic principles are present here: it is about space and light, but also about respect for the exhibited works. The newly created environment does not draw attention to itself by size or material. The connection of light and the natural environment is facilitated by a window to the garden. The visitor has the opportunity to communicate with the garden visually and through light, thereby expanding their perception of the horizon and the vertical and horizontal spatial axes, experiencing a simple airy space in which they can concentrate on individual visual events. The exhibition program is also important to me in the gallery and museum. The main principles of my building are: light, views, and a white wall. The possibility of painting the wall, the connection of space in both mass and light connection, I consider to be key. The most important point for me is the viewer in the sense that the viewer's eye remains calm and focused on the displayed art. It should not be disturbed by details, for example, the window frame or a socket. The base should be neutrally gray. No less important is the assumption for the quality functioning of a contemporary art gallery, concerning light in terms of illumination, which is simultaneously diffused onto the walls and into the space, supplemented by solo spots, and feels natural. The goal of the gallery space is to encourage the viewer to see, observe, subsequently to think, and to provide them with an experience. The Miroslav Kubík Gallery is a lived space for art.

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The gallery is located on the first floor of a representative town house No. 71, situated at the upper part of Smetanovo náměstí. Siblings Miroslava and Martin Kubík officially opened the gallery named after their father in September 2011 in Litomyšl. The house on the square has burned down many times in its history, and its last reconstruction took place in 1999, when the layout of the first floor was adapted into offices. Contemporary art exhibitions have been regularly presented here as part of Smetana's Visual Litomyšl since 2005. Experience from long-term exhibition activities became an impetus for the new reconstruction of the given space into a functional gallery for visual arts of the 21st century.

Architect Michal Motyčka transformed the space of the Miroslav Kubík Gallery into a civil, unpretentious exhibition environment where the presented works – sculptures, photographs, spatial installations, video installations, and paintings – become part of the whole, that is, means of meeting and dialogue with the visitor. Aesthetically clean and seemingly traditional solutions in the space are experienced through basic pleasures; we perceive: light, the sky and greenery, air, and the factor that Le Corbusier emphasizes and which is most important for the architecture of the exhibition environment: a certain sense of freedom. The entire space is open, full of light, and allows for simple installations as well as complex plays with space. The image of the gallery interior is comparable with contemporary global institutions while maintaining the genius loci of the given place. From one side of the gallery's windows, we can observe the happenings in the square from the height of the first floor, and on the other side, we can enter and settle into the cultivated garden environment.

The new space – new space – of the private Miroslav Kubík Gallery is unique in the Czech Republic for its unparalleled light atmosphere and the size of the exhibition areas and their facilities, but also in the confrontation of the newly created with the natural environment.