About us
Kunsthalle Praha is a brand-new art space on Prague's cultural map. Founded by The Pudil Family Foundation as a non-governmental organisation and non-profit platform, its aim is to connect the Czech and international art scenes.
We decided to breathe life back into the former Zenger Transformation Station building, which is situated in the historic centre of Prague, and make it a more accessible space for the most diverse audience possible. As such, you’ll find three large gallery spaces, a design shop and a café with a terrace that features charming views of Petřín Hill and Prague Castle. We’ve managed to build an international program around short-term exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and innovative educational activities.
Our mission is to contribute to a deeper understanding of Czech and international art from the 20th and 21st centuries. Through our art collection, research, and support for international artists via our artist-in-residence programme, we hope to bridge the gap between our art scene and the world’s.
Our name, Kunsthalle Praha, alludes to Prague’s multicultural past as a city of three nations, two languages, and one unique charm. Together we can help create an inspiring environment that will allow us all to discover and share new perspectives on culture and the world we live in.
We are looking forward to your visit!
Kunsthalle Praha Team
Why Kunsthalle?
The name Kunsthalle Praha is itself an accurate and internationally comprehensible designation of our institution. So-called kunsthalles, originating in the late 19th century, historically functioned as spaces hosting temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Such kunsthalles can still be found all around Europe.
On the one hand, there were museums, spaces for storing and displaying collections; on the other hand, there were kunsthalles, which presented temporary exhibitions of living artists. With time, the conceptions of these two types of institutions began to merge. Accordingly, we are also building our own collection at Kunsthalle Praha, but we will not exhibit it permanently—instead, we will gradually reveal it via temporary thematic exhibitions as well as our online database.
Contemporary kunsthalles represent laboratories of critical thinking and open dialogue about relevant topics both in art and in society more broadly. The aim is not to conserve art, but rather to offer new perspectives and progressive tendencies, and to reflect on the world we live in. Moreover, we also understand this German term— “kunsthalle” — as reflective of Prague’s multicultural roots as a city of three nations, two languages, and a unique charm.
Throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Prague was an important cultural crossroads within Europe, partly due to the coexistence of Czechs, Germans and the Jewish community. We considered it important to retain the German term “kunsthalle” and naturally connect it to the name of the Czech capital city. We see this as a kind of signal for us to collectively become aware of this crucial and still deeply inspirational part of our own history. That is why Kunsthalle Praha.
Our team
We are an international team that openly cooperates with many external partners, including local, international, private, and state institutions as well as curators, art historians, researchers, education experts, artists, and volunteers.
Ivana Goossen
Director
Soňa Poláková
Finance & Administration Manager
Christelle Havranek
Chief Curator
Zuzana Dusilová
PR & Marketing Manager
Martina Freitagová
Manager of Public Programmes
Martina Bláhová
Membership & Development Manager
Štefan Tóth
Collection Manager
Věra Janíčková
Publications Manager, Chief Editor
Tijana Slokar
Design Shop Manager
