PRESS INFORMATION
14 April 2015
Grand exhibitions are being prepared by Pilsen 2015: Čestmír Suška's
RESTART, contemporary world design, art in the streets, and Maori portraits
by Gottfried Lindauer
At the end of April and beginning of May, the West Bohemian metropolis will see the
launch of several extensive and prestigious exhibition projects as part of Pilsen – European Capital
of Culture 2015. On 24 April, three of them will be at the public opening of the venue of DEPO2015,
a new centre supporting innovations and the development of creative business, transformed from
the former depot of the City Transport Company. Sculptor Čestmír Suška has prepared his RESTART
exhibition with this venue in mind. It features seventeen monumental installations created from
discarded tanks, including a fifteen-metre-high lookout tower. The adjacent hall will see
the simultaneous launch of a large conceptual exhibition of contemporary design titled DOMUS:
the Pilgrimage Site of Contemporary Design. Leading foreign and domestic designers such as
Werner Aisslinger, Marlene Huisshoud, Lauren Davies, the Mischer Traxler studio, FormaFantasma,
Jiří Příhoda, Jan Plecháč and Herny Wielgus, Maxim Velčovský, the Dechem studio and Janja Prokič
elaborate on themes connected with Pilsen and the Pilsen Region. Open from 17 April, the Pilsen
Family Photo Album will complete the trio of exhibitions at DEPO2015. One by one, Pilsen's public
spaces will also start coming to life, from 29 April onwards, featuring artistic installations that are
part of the project titled Zen Pilsen – City as Exhibit. From 6 April, the Gallery of West Bohemia in
Pilsen will offer an exhibition of more than fifty life-sized portraits of New Zealand Maoris at the
first ever retrospective exhibition of the Pilsen native Gottfried Lindauer. "We are glad to see
leading creators and curators collaborating on these exhibitions, because they mean a guarantee
of high standard and quality. The exhibitions relate Pilsen-specific themes to the world, reflecting
them and positioning them in a new context. They are among the key items on the programme of
the European Capital of Culture,” explains the Programme Director of Pilsen 2015, Jiří Sulženko.
RESTART is a follow-up to Suška's previous successful exhibitions, the Rusty Flowers at the
Tham Hall in Prague (2007) and Inside/Outside (2012) at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.
A large part of the seventeen monumental installations created from discarded industrial tanks,
including a fifteen-metre-high observation tower, has been designed especially for the Pilsen
exhibition that will fill about 3,000 m2 of the interior space of one of the industrial halls and the
adjacent courtyard. As to the title of the Pilsen exhibition, Čestmír Suška explains that “RESTART is
a reminder that we should not give up hope or lose heart because there is always the possibility of
starting again. Like the forgotten tanks, which are to be transformed into objects of admiration as if
with the wave of a magic wand." The title also refers to the transformation of the former depot into
a new cultural and creative centre. Čestmír Suška gives a new lease of life to the tanks destined for
the scrap yard, lending them a new purpose. Using plasma and an oxyacetylene burner, he carves
designs and structures into them, transforming them into original artefacts. The exhibition will be
accompanied by workshops and a programme of side events for visitors of all generations,
including artistic flea markets, creative workshops and crocheting performances. The exhibition will
be on until the end of 2015.
DOMUS: the Pilgrimage Site of Design will turn Pilsen into a European centre of
contemporary conceptual design. More than twenty prominent designers from around the world
and the Czech Republic will elaborate on themes connected with Pilsen and the Pilsen Region – five
rivers, beautiful nature, theatre and a machine in a concerted play. The objects, designed either
specifically for this exhibition or imported from abroad, will create an exhibition experience to be
enjoyed by experts as well as the general public. The core of the exhibition will comprise a glass
house – a chapel created by the German Designer of 2013, Werner Aisslinger. Here, visitors will be
able to see pieces such as the Farm Chair which grows in the course of the exhibition, the famous
Autrarchy project featuring baked utensils, the Archive of Vases and a model of the Holy Grail. The
exhibition focuses on Pilsen-related themes such as water, earth, mysticism and playing, as well as
exploring the relationship between design and the surrounding world, in particular in the context of
sustainable development. The exhibition will be on until 31 December 2015 and visitors will be
offered a total of 32 projects by 23 designers and design studios from 10 countries of the world –
Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Sweden, Great Britain and
the Czech Republic. "In collaboration with renowned designers from the Czech Republic and abroad,
we've created an installation experience that should become an intersection connecting the themes
and topics which comprise the profile of Pilsen as the European Capital of Culture 2015. The
installation will become a place reflecting progressive movements in contemporary design and, at the
same time, responding in an authentic way to contemporary spiritual needs and lifestyles," say the
curators Jana Zielinski and Jiří Macek.
28 April will also see the launch of a long-term project titled Zen Pilsen – City as Exhibit,
which will offer seven installations from the workshops of seven artistic groups at seven public
space locations, on the last Tuesday of every month from April to November. Introducing themselves
under the lead of curator Rostislav Koryčánek will be Matěj Al Ali, Jiří Beránek, Petr Dub, Pavel
Karous, Eva Koťátková, Dominik Lang, Michal Moravčík, Tomáš Moravec, Michal Pěchouček, Pavla
Sceranková, Michal Šeba, Benedikt Tolar, Dušan Záhoranský, Martin Zet, students of the Socha
a prostor (Statue and Space) studio, Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West
Bohemia. "Zen Pilsen is an imaginary meditation about the city and a way of contemplating what
Pilsen is and what it might become going forward. We have invited artists who have experience in
public space interventions and creators whose artistic approach offers room for exploring urban
issues," Rostislav Koryčánek says. There will be themed side events to complement the individual
interventions.
Fifty-one life-sized portraits of New Zealand Maoris will be on display at the Gallery of West
Bohemia in Pilsen from 6 May to 20 September, for visitors of the first ever retrospective exhibition
of Gottfried Lindauer, a Pilsen native and one of the most popular painters of the colonial era, who
left for New Zealand in 1874. A large part of the portraits come from the collections of the Auckland
Art Gallery; for the first time ever, the Haerewa, an advisory group of representatives of the
individual Maori tribes which advises on the administration and management of Maori arts, has given
its consent to taking this national treasure out of the country of its origin. The exhibition vernissage is
preceded by a traditional Maori ritual during which representatives of the Haerewa prepare room
for their ancestry, to the accompaniment of prayers, singing, and the haka war dance. In addition to
the Maori portraits, the Pilsen exhibition will present a comprehensive profile of painter Gottfried
Lindauer, utilising works from the collections of the state, the Church and private collectors, including
works from the era before Lindauer left for New Zealand. "The preparation alone is a very sensitive
and challenging process. We are bringing New Zealand's national treasures to Pilsen and the Maori
side approaches the matter with corresponding care and interest," explains Roman Musil, the
Director of the Gallery of West Bohemia.
The Pilsen Family Photo Album: Hidden City is the third exhibition visitors will be able to see,
from 17 April to 17 July, at the venue of DEPO2015. This is a selection of personal photos from the
citizens of Pilsen, collected in the period from December 2014 to March 2015. "The inception of the
idea can be traced to the French project titled Chercheurs de Midi, implemented as part of the
Marseille-Provence 2013 programme,” Jiří Sulženko says. About 2,000 pictures have been collected,
in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology of the University of West Bohemia and the
Municipal Library of Pilsen. Citizens save their photos themselves in the project's web-based gallery.
"The gallery presents a true picture of the everyday lives of Pilsen's inhabitants as it used to be and as
it is now, how they would spend their free time in the past and how they spend it today. The project
offers a look into the past and present life of the society, with the aim of capturing the identity and
character of the city and offering a deeper insight into the past and present life in Pilsen," Jiří
Sulženko concludes. Photos are still being accepted and can be sent to http://fotoalbum.plzen.eu
until June 2015.
For more information on the exhibitions in preparation please visit www.plzen2015.cz.
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Čestmír Suška – RESTART: 24 April – 31 December 2015, DEPO 2015
In collaboration with Pilsen 2015, the RESTART exhibition is being implemented by the public benefit
organisation of Bubec that is also preparing the first Pilsen Art Safari, an event already establishing
itself as a traditional festival of arts.
DOMUS – the Pilgrimage Site of Design: 24 April – 31 December 2015, DEPO2015
Preparing the DOMUS exhibition for Pilsen 2015 are curators Jana Zielinski and Jiří Macek
/Designblok, the Křehký (Fragile) project/.
Zen Pilsen – City as Exhibit: 28 April – November 2015, various locations around Pilsen
Zen Pilsen – City as Exhibit is being prepared on behalf of Pilsen 2015 by curator Rostislav Koryčánek
and co-curator Karina Kubišová.
Gottfried Lindauer (1839–1926) – Pilsen painter of New Zealand Maoris: 6 May – 20 September
2015, the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen
The exhibition is being prepared by the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen, with the support of Pilsen
2015.
Pilsen Family Photo Album: Hidden City: 17 April – 17 July 2015, DEPO 2015
A selection of personal photos from the citizens of Pilsen, collected in the period from December 2014
to March 2015. This project of Pilsen 2015 aims to capture the identity and character of the city.
Contacts:
Jiří Sedlák - ArtsMarketing.CZ
Collaborating PR agency
+420 604 868 914
jiri.sedlak@artsmarketing.cz
Mirka Reifová, Pilsen 2015 PR Manager
+420 606 090 801
reifova@plzen2015.cz
Photos related to the exhibitions are available for download at http://bit.ly/plzen2015