In the New Libeň Synagogue, an exhibition by Václav Špalek about transience will begin

Prague – The exhibition by Václav Špalek titled On Transience... includes paintings, installations, objects, and photographs. It will take place in the New Libeň Synagogue at Prague's Palmovka, for which Špalek has been preparing a cultural program with the Serpens Association since 1995. The exhibition accompanies the release of a book of the same name and also marks the transfer of cultural activities in the synagogue between the Serpens Association and the Association of the Landscape of the Tide. The exhibition begins today and will last until July 15, Špalek informed ČTK.

The author has divided his depiction of transience into three parts. The first consists of objects made from health-hazardous lead sheets, which could be safely preserved. The sheets were recycled by the metalworks in Příbram. "Artistic photo documentation of the recycling process was done by David Kumermann. The video recording is the work of Amálie Nováková," said Špalek.

The second part of the exhibition also relates to transience, focusing on the threats of wars, murder, and destruction. The final section of the exhibition responds to the replacement of the natural world with the artificial, which, according to the authors, is poorly thought out.

On Saturday, June 13, the synagogue will open for the festival Experience Libeň 2026 with the event Adieu Serpens. It relates to the symbolic transfer of the organization of cultural activities to the Association of the Landscape of the Tide, which also operates in the synagogue. The Serpens Association was founded in 1995 to present visual, theatrical, and musical events in the synagogue.

On June 16, the exhibition will also feature a public debate on transience as a fundamental characteristic of the world and its influence on culture and visual art. Participants will include art historians, heritage conservators Milena Bartlová, Richard Biegel from Prague's universities, curator from the National Gallery in Prague Eva Skopalová, Petr Pavelec from the National Heritage Institute, architect and curator Ivo Kraml.

During World War II, the New Libeň Synagogue served as a storage for confiscated Jewish property. It continued to be used as a warehouse after the war, for example, to store scenery from the then-theater S. K. Neumann. The writer Bohumil Hrabal also worked here as a stagehand in the 1950s. Until the early 1970s, the synagogue was enlivened by debates and visual events organized by Hrabal's friends, Vladimír Boudník and Egon Bondy.