The exhibition will illustrate the connection of Frank Gehry with the Czech environment

Prague - A work by American architect Frank Gehry in relation to the Czech environment from the perspective of Czech creators or collaborators will be showcased in the Winternitz villa. It is called Frank Gehry: Through Czech Eyes and will be accessible from Wednesday until December 13 following today's opening. This year's exhibition program at the Winternitz villa is focused on the work of foreign architects in the Czech lands.

"Frank Gehry is one of the most important world architects of the last 40 years. We are fortunate that he built his iconic Dancing House here. However, he is also connected to other lesser-known things in the Czech Republic. And those are precisely what we decided to present in the exhibition,” explained the concept of the exhibition by its curator Adam Štěch.

The exhibition offers three perspectives on the architect’s work. The photographic part showcases images by Czech photographer who goes by the name DANALKA, who travels around the world to capture Gehry's buildings. For the exhibition at the Winternitz villa, he selected several photographs printed on metal plates, from the Dancing House in Prague to Gehry's famous Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

The final part of the exhibition returns to the Dancing House through audio testimonies of Vlad Milunić. In addition to a number of retirement homes, apartment complexes, and renovations, his name is most prominently associated with this building. "To illustrate the story of the Dancing House in the exhibition at the Winternitz villa, we decided to record some of Milunić's memories that were published in 2003 in the book Dancing House," stated Adam Štěch.

The ninety-two-year-old Frank Gehry is one of the most original architects of our time. His monumental buildings made of titanium and glass, concrete and steel, wood and stone are conceived as three-dimensional from the start. Gehry gained international renown for, among other works, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; in the Czech context, he is well-known for the project of the Dancing House.

The early works of the author stem from modernism. They were influenced by pioneers of modern architecture such as Harwell Hamilton Harris, Richard Neutra, and Frank Lloyd Wright. However, since early residential projects, Gehry has been exploring the expressive potential of ordinary materials, trying to bring motion into architecture. His works are often compared to sculptures - they break the boundaries between art and architecture, yet do not suppress functionality. In 1989, Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Prize, one of the most prestigious architectural awards.