Fragnerova Gallery will reopen after renovations and with a new program
Prague – The Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, one of the few primarily focused on the presentation of architecture and urbanism, is reopening. Since January, it has a new director, urban planner, and curator Karolína Plášková. Today, she presented the upcoming program to journalists. The first exhibition after the gallery was closed for six months due to a change of operator and repairs will begin on Thursday and is titled Architecture as Work.
Plášková wants the exhibitions in the gallery to have a more long-term character and serve as a theme for accompanying programs and building a community interested in architecture. "My vision is not to present architecture in the form of photographs and captions; you can find materials on the internet more quickly and easily today. Rather, I want to choose a specific topic for which we will create an environment here and discuss it,” Plášková said today.
According to her, the area around the Bethlehem Chapel should function as a community center, similar to the Hybernská Campus or the Scout Institute. The rector of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), Vojtěch Petráček, said today that the school plans to relocate its rectorate to the Bethlehem complex and would like to have its center in historical buildings, similar to Charles University in Karolinum.
The gallery has been operating in the Bethlehem Chapel area since the 1950s. For more than the last two decades, exhibitions at the Fragner Gallery have been organized by the Architectura association led by curator Dan Merta. In 2020, ČVUT purchased the building with the gallery from the Czech Architecture Foundation (NČA) and did not extend the contract with the association. Plášková emerged as the winner from the selection process for the new gallery director last year.
The area purchased by the gallery has been unified under ČVUT, with the main goal of creating a cultural space in the historic center of Prague. In addition to the architecture gallery, there will be an information center of ČVUT with a café and a gastronomic facility in the historical basement.
Plášková studied architecture in Brno, Vaduz, and Vienna. She participated in organizing cultural events related to architecture and urbanism, such as Architecture Day at the European Capital of Culture in Plzeň (2015), the urbanize! festival in Vienna (2016), and the international conference Plan for Brno (2017).
In the project Dear Architects..., she opened a discussion in the Czech Republic on the topic of ethics and working conditions in architecture. In 2019 and 2020, she collaborated with the Brno Faculty of Architecture and the architecture gallery on an international lecture series about education in architecture and degrowth.
The director of the gallery is an employee of ČVUT, which covers the operating and investment costs of the gallery. The gallery's program is ensured by its management; this year it has grants from the Ministry of Culture amounting to 800,000 CZK, from Prague 600,000 CZK, the Czech Architecture Foundation provided 50,000 CZK, and the State Cultural Fund 60,000 CZK.
Plášková wants the exhibitions in the gallery to have a more long-term character and serve as a theme for accompanying programs and building a community interested in architecture. "My vision is not to present architecture in the form of photographs and captions; you can find materials on the internet more quickly and easily today. Rather, I want to choose a specific topic for which we will create an environment here and discuss it,” Plášková said today.
According to her, the area around the Bethlehem Chapel should function as a community center, similar to the Hybernská Campus or the Scout Institute. The rector of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), Vojtěch Petráček, said today that the school plans to relocate its rectorate to the Bethlehem complex and would like to have its center in historical buildings, similar to Charles University in Karolinum.
The gallery has been operating in the Bethlehem Chapel area since the 1950s. For more than the last two decades, exhibitions at the Fragner Gallery have been organized by the Architectura association led by curator Dan Merta. In 2020, ČVUT purchased the building with the gallery from the Czech Architecture Foundation (NČA) and did not extend the contract with the association. Plášková emerged as the winner from the selection process for the new gallery director last year.
The area purchased by the gallery has been unified under ČVUT, with the main goal of creating a cultural space in the historic center of Prague. In addition to the architecture gallery, there will be an information center of ČVUT with a café and a gastronomic facility in the historical basement.
Plášková studied architecture in Brno, Vaduz, and Vienna. She participated in organizing cultural events related to architecture and urbanism, such as Architecture Day at the European Capital of Culture in Plzeň (2015), the urbanize! festival in Vienna (2016), and the international conference Plan for Brno (2017).
In the project Dear Architects..., she opened a discussion in the Czech Republic on the topic of ethics and working conditions in architecture. In 2019 and 2020, she collaborated with the Brno Faculty of Architecture and the architecture gallery on an international lecture series about education in architecture and degrowth.
The director of the gallery is an employee of ČVUT, which covers the operating and investment costs of the gallery. The gallery's program is ensured by its management; this year it has grants from the Ministry of Culture amounting to 800,000 CZK, from Prague 600,000 CZK, the Czech Architecture Foundation provided 50,000 CZK, and the State Cultural Fund 60,000 CZK.
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