Slovaks open the long-prepared House of Photography
Prague - After ten years of preparation and delays, the House of Photography is opening in Prague. The building on Revoluční Street is operated by the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague (GHMP), which will present the group exhibition Slovak New Wave as its first exhibition. The house, which is a significant example of Prague's interwar architecture and part of which has been reconstructed for the gallery according to the project by the architectural studio MOBA, will open to the public on Tuesday at 10:00.
The first exhibition, featuring works by Jano Pavlík, Rudo Prekop, Tono Stano, Vasil Stanko, Martin Štrba, Miro Švolík, Kamil Varga, and Peter Župník, will run until March 16. "It's a historical exhibition, showcasing works that are already three decades old. Their authors are still creating, but we are showing early works from the time when they were around 18 years old," said one of the curators of the exhibition, Tomáš Pospěch. He also added that the exhibition is a small tribute to FAMU, where many of the exhibiting photographers studied.
The building on Revoluční was designed by Fridrich Lehmann in 1937 for the Victoria insurance company. MOBA began preparing the spaces in the mezzanine and first floor for adaptation in 2003. "The goal was to utilize the logic of the house as much as possible. The foyer flows into the publication shop, and the conference room with the director's office serves its original purposes. The interior retains a number of elements that have survived three-quarters of a century," says architect Yvette Vašourková. The reconstruction was completed as early as 2006.
The origins of the Prague House of Photography (PHP) can be traced back to 1989 when the Free Photography Initiative was established, an association of photographers aimed at seeking suitable exhibition spaces. In 1991, it transformed into the Prague House of Photography Foundation, which operated a gallery on Husova Street from 1991 to 1997. It had further spaces in 1999 at the Gallery U Řečických and from January 2000 in a building on Haštalská Street.
However, these spaces were fatally damaged by a flood in 2002, and the PHP members then prepared exhibitions in substitute spaces. At that time, the idea of a large museum institution focusing on the presentation of both Czech and world photography emerged. The project included a large gallery along with a depository, library, lecture hall, and darkroom for photography courses and workshops.
A non-profit organization was established, which included the Prague City Hall and the Ministry of Culture. Both institutions contributed 20 million crowns to the project, but it was never completed, and the Prague House of Photography dissolved in 2010. The project faced increasingly frequent disputes between photographers and PHP management, and repeated complaints from tenants delayed the occupancy permit for the building.
Ultimately, in 2010, the non-residential spaces were transferred to the ownership of GHMP. The gallery also received five million crowns from the city hall for the completion of air conditioning and the operation of all spaces, and the FotoForum Prague association handed over a photographic collection and a professional library to the gallery.
The first exhibition, featuring works by Jano Pavlík, Rudo Prekop, Tono Stano, Vasil Stanko, Martin Štrba, Miro Švolík, Kamil Varga, and Peter Župník, will run until March 16. "It's a historical exhibition, showcasing works that are already three decades old. Their authors are still creating, but we are showing early works from the time when they were around 18 years old," said one of the curators of the exhibition, Tomáš Pospěch. He also added that the exhibition is a small tribute to FAMU, where many of the exhibiting photographers studied.
The building on Revoluční was designed by Fridrich Lehmann in 1937 for the Victoria insurance company. MOBA began preparing the spaces in the mezzanine and first floor for adaptation in 2003. "The goal was to utilize the logic of the house as much as possible. The foyer flows into the publication shop, and the conference room with the director's office serves its original purposes. The interior retains a number of elements that have survived three-quarters of a century," says architect Yvette Vašourková. The reconstruction was completed as early as 2006.
The origins of the Prague House of Photography (PHP) can be traced back to 1989 when the Free Photography Initiative was established, an association of photographers aimed at seeking suitable exhibition spaces. In 1991, it transformed into the Prague House of Photography Foundation, which operated a gallery on Husova Street from 1991 to 1997. It had further spaces in 1999 at the Gallery U Řečických and from January 2000 in a building on Haštalská Street.
However, these spaces were fatally damaged by a flood in 2002, and the PHP members then prepared exhibitions in substitute spaces. At that time, the idea of a large museum institution focusing on the presentation of both Czech and world photography emerged. The project included a large gallery along with a depository, library, lecture hall, and darkroom for photography courses and workshops.
A non-profit organization was established, which included the Prague City Hall and the Ministry of Culture. Both institutions contributed 20 million crowns to the project, but it was never completed, and the Prague House of Photography dissolved in 2010. The project faced increasingly frequent disputes between photographers and PHP management, and repeated complaints from tenants delayed the occupancy permit for the building.
Ultimately, in 2010, the non-residential spaces were transferred to the ownership of GHMP. The gallery also received five million crowns from the city hall for the completion of air conditioning and the operation of all spaces, and the FotoForum Prague association handed over a photographic collection and a professional library to the gallery.
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