In the Volyn gallery, architect Norbert Schmidt is exhibiting

Volyně (Strakonicko) - On the eve of All Souls' Day and the upcoming Day of the Dead weekend, those interested can visit the exhibition, or rather the architectural intervention Überraum, at the gallery "Na shledanou" in the cemetery in Volyně. The author is architect Norbert Schmidt, who heads the Center for Theology and Art at the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University. The gallery also features the exhibition "Presence of Absence" by Michal Škoda.
    According to curator Jan Freiberga, Schmidt decided to fill and simultaneously empty the empty gallery with a grand architectural gesture. The six-meter high structure occupies almost the entire space of the gallery. At the same time, it creates a place of silence inside the gallery, which has its own rules. Schmidt has softened the intensity of the contemporary architectural language of the original mourning hall and the surrounding world and suggested a new space that, with its material uncertainty and simple colors, can lead the viewer back to themselves, to their own existence, and to the fundamental questions that each person asks.
    Norbert Schmidt has long been intensely engaged in searching for connections between architecture, art, and religion, taking on several roles. In the Church of the Most Holy Savior at the Charles Bridge in Prague, he acts as a curator for contemporary art interventions in the historical sacred space. As the head of the Center for Theology and Art at KTF UK, he initiates discussion meetings and lectures on the given topic. Theoretical texts and publications are also produced, primarily on the platform of the theological revue Salve, of which Schmidt has been a long-term editor.
    "At the opening on November 1 at 3:00 PM at the cemetery gallery Malsička in Volyně, Michal Škoda, curator of the House of Art in České Budějovice, will present a new exhibition. Canon Tomáš Petráček from All Saints at Prague Castle, a theologian and historian, will then reflect on the majesty of death and the power of hope together with the visitors," said Aleš Pištora, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Prague, to ČTK. The auditory aspect of the Day of the Dead afternoon will be taken care of by Alice Flesarová from the band Zuby nehty and Jiří Hodina, choirmaster of the Prague Cathedral Choir at St. Vitus.
    The building of the gallery "Na shledanou" was constructed in the Zet action at the end of the 1980s and was intended to serve as a mourning hall. However, it was never put into operation. After 20 years of emptiness, the gallery was established in 2010.