POKOJE 2020

Pokoje? That’s the exhibition where art students transform rooms in abandoned buildings around Prague every year, right? Hm, that’s too bad… Did they cancel it this year?

They did not. We only completely changed the format of the exhibition and invited students to use their own rooms for artistic expression this time. The result is an extraordinary collection of artworks that respond in a personal way to the current situation from the intimate environment of diverse homes.

Under normal circumstances, the exhibition would be limited by the number of rooms in a building. For this reason, we again curated a selection of projects that most captured our attention. Our primary goal, however, was to support students in their creation, so all 112 projects we received are available on the website.

The Pokoje 2020 professional jury included curator and art historian Daniela Kramerová, visual culture theorist and founder of the Platform for the Study of Visual Culture Fresh Eye, Andrea Průchová Hrůzová, and artist, educator, and multiple finalist of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, Richard Loskot. They awarded projects by Anna Benháková, Eliška Thielová, Jakub Černý, Kateřina Frgalová, Barbara Váňová, Veronika Zpěváková, Jan Nyč, Tomáš Hoffman, and Martin Odehnal. The Audience Award went to Anne-Marie Rohanová.

We thank everyone who participated in Pokoje 2020 and are glad that we could offer visitors an opportunity to experience contemporary student work even during this challenging time.

Pokoje 2020 was held with the kind support of the Ministry of Culture, Prague City Hall, Prague 1 Municipal District, and under the auspices of:

• Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University in Prague

• Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen

• Faculty of Art and Design, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem

• Faculty of Multimedia Communications, Tomas Bata University in Zlín

We also thank Radio Wave and GoOut for media support.