Students opened their own gallery in the center of Plzeň

Pilsen - A group of students from the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of West Bohemia operates a new gallery in the center of Pilsen. Emerging artists have set up their own space where they can exhibit. The gallery, named Vestředu, located on Martinská street, focuses on contemporary art and design. It currently presents sculptural works, followed by conceptual art. Jana Trávníčková, the gallery's creative director, stated this for ČTK. In addition to exhibitions, the new gallery will also offer lectures and workshops.
    "The Faculty of Art and Design is in Bory, which doesn't attract the public; it's far away, in an industrial zone. We decided to bring art closer, so we found spaces in the center. It's purely a student gallery," she noted. Young people are thus managing the program and operations themselves.
    The gallery is located in a municipal building, with the spaces chosen by the students in collaboration with the city council. However, according to Trávníčková, the conditions were difficult at the beginning. "We had to evict the former tenant at our own expense, then we laid a new floor. Initially, there was no heat or electricity; we were running on a generator," she mentioned.
    The students aim to bring more young art closer to the public, which they believe is not well understood yet. Every month, the institution will showcase works from one of the fields taught at their faculty.
    The annual rent of 25,000 crowns is covered for the students by the company Plzeň 2015, which is preparing the project for the European Capital of Culture. According to Jiří Sulženek, the program director of Plzeň 2015, the student gallery is an example of how small support from Plzeň 2015 can help local activity grow.
    Until March 9, the gallery features an exhibition titled Tabula rasa, showcasing works by students from a studio led by academic sculptor Jiří Beránek. This will be followed by a program focused on conceptual art, kicking off on March 12 with a lecture by prominent Czech artist Kateřina Šedá, who focuses on socially-oriented happenings and experiments. The exhibition titled A k čemu to jako je? will present works by students and graduates from the studios of intermedia, new media, and multimedia from March 19.