Tschechisches Zentrum Berlin

In this episode, artist Veronika Holcová and gallerist Susanna Albrecht discuss the Ostara exhibition at the Albrecht Gallery in Berlin, featuring works by Holcová and Anna Zemánková. Holcová introduces her imaginative paintings, while Albrecht shares her insights into how the works of these two Czech artists complement each other. Zemánková, regarded as one of the foremost representatives of Art Brut, brings her distinctive, intuitive drawings into dialogue with Holcová’s intricate and expressive pieces. This conversation offers a unique glimpse into their creative processes and artistic approaches.

This episode of the CCAiB podcast features Petr Hošek. He studied art history in Prague and Madrid before earning his MA at Charles’ University. Following a curatorial residency in New York City, he co-founded Gallery Plevel in Prague, showcasing online art in a renovated 19th-century industrial space. He later established Hošek Contemporary after relocating to Berlin in 2014.

Gabriela Těthalová (born 1988) is a Czech artist known for her bold, geometric paintings. Her works are notable for their meticulous attention to geometric shapes and a vibrant color palette, combined with quick, gestural strokes. She often employs interlocking and overlapping surfaces, which disrupt one’s spatial orientation. Before she decided to become an artist, she completed a master's degree in mathematics where she often finds inspiration, as well as in other artistic forms such as music, poetry, or art history. Těthalová studied at the HFBK Hamburg University of Fine Arts and previously at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design under Jiří Černický and Marek Meduna, the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2013, she completed her master's degree in mathematics at Charles University in Prague. In 2020, she was represented at Academy POSITIONS 2020 in Berlin, and in 2023, she was awarded the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for young Czech artists. Her art has been exhibited internationally, with shows in Prague, Hamburg, and New York.

This episode of the CCAiB podcast features several people who worked on the current project presented at the Bauhaus Re-use in Berlin, "Exploring Sound Fields - Imaginary Workspace". We discuss the interdisciplinary Czech-German working process behind the scenes of the collaboration between students from the Academy of Art, Design and Architecture (UMPRUM) in Prague and the UdK Berlin.

This episode of the CCAiB podcast features Anna Kubelík, a multimedia artist. Trained as an architect, Anna Kubelík has shifted her practice into art that works with space using any medium needed to create contextualized projects. Most of her projects are generated in transdisciplinary processes with other artists or scientists. After creating numerous performative objects and installations in the last decades she is currently creating new bodies of works related to her family history connected to the czech-suisse conductor Rafael Kubelík, musical and scientific instruments, and reinvented architectures. Anna Kubelík is a professor of “artistic experimental design” at the architecture faculty in Constance, Germany, and holds the position of principal investigator at the Cluster of Excellence “Matters of Activity”, which enables her to act as a curator between artistic practices and science. Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin (CCAiB) aims to systematically map, render visible, interconnect, and expand the existing networks of artists and curators with Czech-German backgrounds. This project is built upon three key pillars: an online podcast, studio visits, and networking events. The podcast's essence lies in crafting a timeless online database that not only spotlights individual positions but also portrays a nuanced web of relationships by charting the Czech art scene within the context of its ties to the German art scene. Through this approach, we offer an overview of the breadth of connections and also archive individual positions, potentially enhancing the prospects for future collaborations.

This episode of CCAiB delves into the world of contemporary art and cultural initiatives with a Czech-German background, focusing on the current exhibition Hours Against the Clock in KVOST (Kunstverein Ost e. V.). Our today’s guests are Světlana Malinová and Marija Petrović. Světlana Malinová (*1997, Czech Republic) is a Prague-based curator and cultural producer. Since 2022, she has served as the artistic director of the Fotograf Festival and co-manages the City Surfer Office, a multifunctional art space in Prague's Žižkov district. She is the curator of the current exhibition Hours Against the Clock in KVOST. Marija Petrovic (*1992, Dnipro, Ukraine) is an artist, researcher, and curator based in Berlin. She's currently pursuing her Ph.D. project "Vulnerability" at HFBK, supported by the Ernst-Ludwig Ehrlich Foundation. Marija's work explores human interaction and memory complexities. She's a member of the curatorial team at KVOST, promoting contemporary art from Central- and Eastern Europe. The exhibition Hours Against the Clock offers a glimpse into the minds of two generations of Czech and Slovak artists and reflects a shared Czechoslovak historical experience that spills over into the present. Collective traumas and family memories are written into the visual images. It features the artworks of Jan Durina, Alena Kotzmannová, and Milan Mazúr.

Am 28.03.2023 war die tschechische Autorin Anna Bolavá in unserer Reihe „Tschechien erlesen“ zu Gast in der Ingeborg-Drewitz-Bibliothek in Berlin-Steglitz. Sie stellte ihr Romandebüt „Der Duft der Dunkelheit“ vor, in dem sie die Leserinnen und Leser in eine südböhmische Kleinstadt mitten in der Natur entführt, in der es unter der Oberfläche des Alltags unheilvoll brodelt. Aus der deutschen Übersetzung las Julie Adam, es moderierte Christina Frankenberg.

For this edition, we visited the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover to meet Klára Hosnedlová. In collaboration with the Kestner Gesellschaft, she prepared her first institutional solo exhibition 'To Infinity'. Let’s introduce you to her work. Klára Hosnedlová was born in the Czech Republic and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno. She lives and works in Berlin. Her work combines craft, fashion, design, architecture, sculpture and performance. She uses these tools to create immersive environments that explore the uncertainties of the post-industrial world. Her work has been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including X Museum, Beijing (2022), at the Art Basel Parcours, Basel (2021) or at the Baltic Triennial 14: The Endless Frontier, Vilnius (2021). The exhibition To Infinity at the Kestner Gesellschaft is her first institutional solo show and has become the Kestner Gesellschaft's most ambitious project for the season. We spoke to the artist herself, the in-house curator Alexander Wilmschen and the director of the Kestner Gesellschaft Adam Budak about the show.

In this episode of our Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin series, we present the artist Daniel Vlček, whose works were part of the exhibition Deep Rivers Run Quiet at the Czech Center Berlin in autumn 2022. Daniel Vlček (*1978), painter and musician, focuses in his work mainly on the connection between sound and his own visual expression, mainly with the help of science, living organisms or modern technologies. He visualizes the recording of sound, vibrations and their propagation in space in subjective patterns, with the resulting shapes often resembling technical drawings of sound waves.

In this issue of Contemporary Czech Art we will introduce you to the multimedia artist Petra Janda. Her artworks are part of our current exhibition Deep rivers run quiet. She studied sculpture and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. She moves across the spectrum of creation, education and awareness, but all activities are related to the relationship of man to environmental issues, sustainable development of the surrounding world and improvement of the environment both external and internal - psychological. Her work responds to contemporary life in its openness, uncertainty, fragility and mystery, and presents a narrative of life, including community projects, activism, but also ancient myths and inner spirituality. Petra founded the web platform Artbiom.cz and the AVU ecobox. At the moment you can see some of her works at the exhibition Deep rivers run quiet which is held in the gallery of Czech centre in Berlin and you can visit it until the 17th of December.

In the 30th issue of Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin we introduce you the artist Krištof Kintera on the occasion of his current exhibition Gedankenexperiment at the gallery Heldenreizer Contemporary in Munich. The exhibition was curated by Stella Toonen, a researcher based at Tate and King’s College London, who also joins the interview. Krištof Kintera, born in 1973, studied art at the Academies of Fine Arts in Prague and Amsterdam. His installations and sculptures can often move, glow or speak and possess a large portion of humour. But the artist also uses them to address the state of man, technology and nature.

In the 29th issue of Contemporary Czech Art, we introduce you to visual artist Radek Brousil, whose works you can see in the current exhibition Deep rivers run quiet at our gallery. Radek Brousil is a visual artist based in Prague. In his works, he refers to theproblematic effects of human behaviour towards nature and accentuates their influence on the human psyche. His work is characterised by the combination of interdisciplinary research, facts, photography, textiles and video format, which enables him to grasp the phenomena in a more complex way. In his compositions, he uses a very sophisticated yet clear visual language, which he combines with the installation of photographs within more complex objects. Radek Brousil studied photography at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague, and also completed an internship at Concordia University in Montreal and at the London College of Communication. Currently, his works can be seen in the exhibition Deep rivers run quiet, which takes place in the gallery of the Czech Centre Berlin.

In the 29th issue of Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin, we talk to Tina Poliačková, a curator and contemporary art critic based in Prague with Slovak roots. Last year she received The Věra Jirousová award (for visual art critics) in the category of emerging art critics with her text The Search for the lost God (Hľadanie strateného Boha). As a reward, she received a few days' stay in Berlin in cooperation with the Czech Centre Berlin, which she visited in May this year. Currently, she is completing a PhD programme at the Academy of Fine Arts under the supervision of doc. Václav Magid, where she researches the phenomenon of "romanticism" in contemporary art. She contributes to various Czech magazines focused on visual art and co-curates exhibitions at independent contemporary galleries(Berlinskej Model, and Holešovická šachta). She also performs as a DJ under the pseudonym "dirrtina" as part of the DJ/AV collective Blazing Bullets, where she is involved in experimental and post-club music. She studied History of Art at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and MA in Theory and History of Modern and Contemporary Art at UMPRUM in Prague.

In the 28th issue of Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin, we talk to the visual artist and cultural organizer Alice Máselníková. Alice Máselníková (b. 1989, Zlín, Czech Republic) is a visual artist, and an organizer of various artist-run initiatives based in Stockholm. She is one of the three creative directors of Supermarket – Stockholm Independent Art Fair, founder of the artist-run initiative Flat Octopus, project leader of ARNE (Artist-Run Network Europe), project manager at Intercult, while she also works independently as a curator, editor, and cultural funding advisor. In her artistic practice which includes painting and writing, she deals with themes such as interactions of human bodies, the fragility of internal experiences and its external manifestation. Máselníková’s last solo exhibition titled Those games we fail to play took place in June in TOP project space in Berlin, and at the moment she is preparing her next solo exhibition in Frankfurt am Main at gallery Eulengasse opening on 2 September as well as another in Stockholm at Konsthallen Studio ABC in Vällingby in October. This year she also exhibited solo at KH7 in Aarhus, Denmark, and in a duo show with sculptor Tone Linghult at the Residency of the Czech Ambassador in Stockholm. Alice holds a bachelor’s in Art and Philosophy from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Arts and Design, in Dundee, UK. Afterwards she received a master’s education in Curating Art from Stockholm University in Sweden. She also studied Fine Art at Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain.

In the 27th issue of Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin, we talk to the curators of the Jindřich Chalupecký Society. The Jindřich Chalupecký Society is a platform for Czech post-revolutionary and contemporary art in an international context. In cooperation with a number of partner institutions in the Czech Republic and internationally, the society organizes exhibitions, public programs, residencies for artists and curators, and educational and publication projects. Since 1990, the society awards the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for visual artists up to the age of 35. In this interview we focus on the current project of the Jindřich Chalupecký Society in Berlin, the exhibition Beyond Nuclear Family: Around the Family Table, which Barbora Ciprová, Veronika Čechová, Tereza Jindrová curated together with Katharina Koch and Sylvia Sadzinski for alpha nova & galerie futura in Berlin.

In der 26. Ausgabe von Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin stellen wir die Künstlerin Nina Plášková (geb. 1997 in Brno) vor, die in Tschechien und der Schweiz aufgewachsen ist und seit 2018 an der Kunsthochschule Weißensee studiert. Ihr Schaffen hat der Philosoph Knut Ebeling folgendermaßen charakterisiert: „Ihr von Ortswechseln und Umzügen geprägtes Aufwachsen verarbeitet die Künstlerin in der Form einer stark autobiographisch geprägten Kunst, die sich aus den Reservoirs von persönlichen Kindheitserinnerungen ebenso speist wie aus der Bewegung der Romantik und ihrem sozialen Umfeld. Eine zentrale Rolle spielen hier Ninas Träume, die den Dreh- und Angelpunkt ihrer Arbeit bilden und über die sie ein akribisches Traumtagebuch führt. Aus diesem bringt sie immer wieder Traumsequenzen zur Aufführung und Ausstellung in ihren solide und handwerklich gekonnt gearbeiteten Werken.“ Aktuell stellt Nina Plášková im Rahmen der Gruppenausstellung Asynchronicity of Now (12. 02. – 26. 03. 2022) in der Galerie Bernau aus. Im Gespräch mit der Künstlerin und der Leiterin der Galerie Bernau, Frederiek Weda, stellen wir Nina Pláškovás Arbeit sowie die aktuelle Ausstellung vor.

Aufnahme einer Veranstaltung vom 23.02.2022 im Tschechischen Zentrum Berlin Michala Čičváková und Martin Krafl (ČLC) informierten im Gespräch mit Christina Frankenberg (TZB) nicht nur über die aktuelle Situation der tschechischen Literatur, sie geben auch einen Ausblick auf erwartete Buchpremieren und Übersetzungen ins Deutsche, stellen Fördermöglichkeiten für deutsche Verlage und Literaturveranstalter vor. Eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung in deutscher Sprache des Tschechischen Literaturzentrums, Sektion der Mährischen Landesbibliothek in Brno, und des Tschechischen Zentrums Berlin.

In der 25. Ausgabe von Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin stellen wir den bildenden Künstler und Kunstpädagogen Ludvík Feller vor. Ludvík Feller (*1929) studierte Malerei, Grafik und Psychologie an der pädagogischen Fakultät der Karls-Universität Prag. Er etablierte sich als Grafiker in Prag, nachdem er zahlreiche erste Preise auf dem Gebiet „Logo“ gewonnen hatte. Nach der Niederschlagung des Prager Frühlings und dem Einmarsch der Truppen des Warschauer Paktes verließ Feller 1968 die Tschechoslowakei. Er absolvierte zahlreichen Studienreisen und lehrte in Berlin am Schiller College Bildende Kunst und an der Universität der Künste visuelle Rhetorik und angewandte Semiotik. Die Aufhebung der Grenzen zwischen freier und angewandter Kunst ziehen sich durch sein künstlerisches Schaffen. Die Verbindung zwischen Natur und Kunst und Überlegungen über den Ursprung und die Ausdrucksformen des künstlerisch-kreativen Schaffens ziehen sich durch sein Werk. Feller lebt und arbeitet in Berlin und Prag. 2020 wurde ihm der europäische Trebbia-Preis verliehen, mit dem Künstler|innen und Kulturunterstützer|innen ausgezeichnet werden. Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin: berlin.czechcentres.cz/de/projects/contemporary-czech-art-in-berlin

Aufnahme einer Diskussion vom 20.01.2022 in der Botschaft der Tschechischen Republik in Berlin Inwiefern sich Tschechien von den anderen Ostmitteleuropäern unterscheidet und wie die sozioökonomische Entwicklung des Landes seine Haltung zur Europäischen Union, zu Russland und dem Krisenbogen in der östlichen Nachbarschaft prägt, darüber diskutierten Zuzana Lizcová (Lehrstuhl für Deutsche und Österreichische Studien, KU, Prag), Vladimír Handl (Institut für Internationale Studien, Prag) und Volker Weichsel (Osteuropa-Redaktion, Berlin) unter der Moderation von Manfred Sapper (Osteuropa-Redaktion, Berlin). Eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde (DGO), des Tschechischen Zentrums Berlin und der Botschaft der Tschechischen Republik in Berlin.

In der 24. Ausgabe von Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin stellen wir die Kunsthistorikerin und Kunstvermittlerin Charlotte Esser vor und sprechen mit ihr über das Projekt „Wo-men beliefs“, bei dem sie eng mit dem Prager Künstlerinnenkollektiv Mothers Artlovers zusammengearbeitet hat. Charlotte Esser hat Kunstgeschichte, Theaterwissenschaft und Japanologie in Bochum, Italien und Berlin studiert. 2010 hat sie das Bildungs- und Kunstvermittlungsprogramm des me Collectors Room/Stiftung Olbricht aufgebaut und mit verschiedenen Künstlerinnen interdisziplinär zusammengearbeitet. Anfang 2020 ist sie nach Prag gezogen und im September dieses Jahres nach Berlin zurückgekehrt. Aktuell ist sie als freie Kuratorin für die imagine future company tätig. Vor kurzem hat Charlotte Esser in Berlin Neukölln das Projekt „Wo-men beliefs“ organisiert. Es handelt sich um ein transnationales Ausstellungsprojekt, welches sie gemeinsam mit Zuzana Stefkova, Darina Alster und Kateřina Olivová, sowie drei Künstlerinnen aus der Gruppe Mothers Artlovers und drei KünstlerInnen aus Berlin durchgeführt hat. Mothers Artlovers sind ein tschechisches Kollektiv, das aus visuellen Künstlerinnen, Kunsttheoretikerinnen, Kuratorinnen und Aktivistinnen besteht. Sie adressieren spezifische Probleme und Bedürfnisse von Müttern in der Kunstindustrie. Ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Projekts „Wo-men beliefs“ waren neben einer Ausstellung auch Workshops mit OberstufenschülerInnen des Albrecht-Dürer-Gymnasiums zum Thema Gender. Das Projekt wurde unterstützt vom Deutsch-Tschechischen Zukunftsfonds, dem Kulturamt Neukölln und YoungArts Berlin Neukölln. Die Ausstellung „Wo-men beliefs“ fand 25. 10. – 31. 10. 2021 in der Kiezkapelle in Neukölln statt und wird am Anfang des Jahres in Prag zu sehen sein. Contemporary Czech Art in Berlin: berlin.czechcentres.cz/de/projects/contemporary-czech-art-in-berlin