GHMP expands exhibition spaces in the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace

photo: www.prague.eu

Prague - The reconstructed spaces of the former stable of the Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace will serve to showcase the work of the youngest artists. The Baroque palace on Karlova Street has been managed by the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague since 2010 and, according to the city's decision, should prepare for its extensive reconstruction. For now, it uses one floor for exhibitions and has also prepared a tour route that makes the representative areas of the palace accessible. In the former stable, the gallery will present its cycle Start Up, with the first author being UMPRUM student Barbora Dayef.

The new spaces, along with the existing exhibition halls, café, studios, and possibly a reading room in the near future, will create a new center for the gallery's cultural activities, said the exhibition curator Jirka Hlaváčková.

According to her, the author's identity is defined by the clash of two ethnically and culturally distinct worlds: the local living reality and a somewhat mysterious and timeless place somewhere in the Middle East. A place from where her father comes and with whose cultural heritage the author also works in her earlier projects. This time, she turns to archetypes inspired by the seminal text of the Middle East, the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh.

The basic creative medium for Dayef is clay, a classic sculptural material that she uses in very unorthodox ways. She paints with clay, engraves inscriptions into it, covers herself with it, and distorts it with her own body; she casts holes with clay, uses it as an object in her video performances and sound installations. In Barbora Dayef's work, clay represents the earthly element, symbolizes the feminine principle, but also serves as a reference to her birthplace, homeland, and origin. It also represents the area of ancient Mesopotamia, as it is a typical building, sculptural, and ceramic material for that region, an omnipresent substance of once fertile lands.

The Colloredo-Mansfeld Palace from the mid-18th century belongs to the city, which plans to renovate it in the long term; the complete reconstruction could cost about half a billion crowns, according to earlier city estimates. At the end of 2014, Prague councilors approved the plan to renovate and repurpose the palace for the gallery. The council also tasked the gallery director with commissioning the preparation of a feasibility study. “The feasibility study was prepared and submitted in 2015. Structural, historical, and restoration surveys as well as digital measurements of the building were also conducted to assist in the design,” said the director of the city gallery, Magdalena Juříková, to ČTK today.

According to the city, the palace should primarily serve as a monument; it plans to hold concerts, screenings, performances, or theater and dance productions there. However, the exact functions of the building will be determined by the study; the state also has considerations in its cultural policy for the years 2015 to 2020 regarding the establishment of a Mozart museum, as the composer performed in the palace and there is no museum dedicated to the famous composer in Prague.

For several years, Prague has been preparing to repair another Baroque monument, the Clam-Gallas Palace near Mariánské náměstí. According to earlier plans, it should cost 400 million crowns, but finding a use for the building is more of a problem than the money.