ART 101: HOW TO READ CONTEMPORARY ART TODAY

ART 101 is interactive lecture series explores how contemporary art is made, shared, and experienced.   

We’re opening applications now and the course makes a perfect gift under the Christmas tree! What will you learn, and how it works? 

  • You’ll learn about asking what it means to look at art today, and how artists help you see the world in new and inspiring ways. 

  • You'll explore how artists respond to the world around us today, from identity and memory to technology and the environment. 

  • You'll make sure that contemporary art is not something to be afraid of.   

  • You’ll look at how different experiences and perspectives influence what we see in galleries and beyond. 

  • You’ll gain an overview of the most significant international as well as local artists today  

  • You’ll have space for discussion and reflection. 

  • Art 101 is an invitation to slow down, look closely, and think together about how art speaks to the world we all share.  

  • The course is led by British artist and educator Peter Watkins. 

The course is divided into three parts. You can choose to complete all of them or just the ones you prefer.  Each part consists of five lessons. We are now opening applications for the first part:  

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PART 1: WHY IS THIS ART? 
from 4 February to 4 March 2026

This part explores how we make sense of the contemporary: what it means, why it keeps changing, and why it matters.

When and where

every Wednesday from 4 Feb to 4 Mar 2026
from 6 PM to 7:30 PM
at Kunsthalle Praha

Price

3500 CZK, including study materials and light refreshments.
10 % discount for members of all categories.

Programme

Five lectures on contemporary art with lecturer Peter Watkins.
In English. 
You’ll find the detailed programme and lecture descriptions below. 

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PART 2
from 11 March to 8 April 2026 

Looks at who shapes the art world, and how artists, curators, and institutions work together — or against each other — to create meaning. 

WE’LL OPEN APPLICATIONS SOON

PART 2
from 15 April to 13 May 2026 

Explores the materials and media artists use today, and how these choices reveal new ways of seeing and feeling the world around us.  

WE’LL OPEN APPLICATIONS SOON

LECTURE PROGRAMME
PART 1: WHY IS THIS ART?  

LECTURE 1: What is contemporary?

Wednesday 4 February 2026

What is the role of contemporary art today, and what does it actually mean? Is it simply art made now, or does it reflect a particular way of seeing and thinking about the world? This session explores how artists from Duchamp to Pierre Huyghe have redefined what art can be, and how ideas of time, context, and experience shape what we call “the contemporary.” 

Questions to think about

What do we mean when we talk about “contemporary art”?  

How has the idea of art changed over the last hundred years?  

How does identity and lived experience shape what counts as contemporary? 

LECTURE 2: I could have done that

Wednesday 11 February 2026

This is a common reaction to conceptual or minimal works that oftentimes seem simple or effortless. But what makes something “art”? Do we need skill to make it? This session looks at how artists have challenged traditional ideas of work and value, and how art can be as much about thinking and questioning as it is about making.  

Questions to think about

What is the role of work in contemporary art, and do we need skill to make it?

How does “authorship” change when ideas matter more than materials? How does the viewer contribute to the making of meaning?

LECTURE 3: Why go to a gallery when everything is online?

Wednesday 18 February 2026

Most of us now encounter art first through screens. So what difference does it make to experience it in person? This session explores how gallery spaces shape our understanding, and how artists have questioned, reimagined, or even rejected the traditional “white cube.” Together we’ll think about why physical experience, and being present with others, can still change how we see and feel art. 

Questions to think about 

How do gallery spaces influence the way we see art?

What happens when artists challenge the spaces that show their work?

Why does physical experience still matter in a digital world?

LECTURE 4: Is it kitsch or is it art?

Wednesday 25 February 2026

Taste feels personal, but it’s deeply connected to culture, education, and class. What makes one artwork “serious” and another “tacky”? Who decides what counts as good or bad taste? This session explores how artists have played with and challenged these hierarchies — using humour, parody, and excess as tools of critique.  

Questions to think about

Who decides what makes art “good” or “bad”?  

How do culture and class shape our ideas of taste?  

How do artists use humour, parody, or excess to question value? 

LECTURE 5: But what does it mean?

Wednesday 4 March 2026

Many people approach art with this question — and often, there’s no fixed answer. Meaning in art can be fluid, layered, and open to interpretation. This session looks at how artists and audiences make meaning together, and how openness and accessibility have become central to the experience of contemporary art.  

Questions to think about 

Who decides what an artwork means?

How do artists invite multiple interpretations of their work?

How can museums and galleries make encounters with art more open and inclusive?

WHO IS YOUR LECTURER?

Peter Watkins is a British artist and educator based in Prague. His work begins with photography and extends into sculpture, video, installation, and text to examine trauma, loss, history, and the structures through which personal and collective memory are formed. Alongside his autobiographical practice, he develops socially engaged projects that focus on visibility, solidarity, and collective forms of image-making. 

Watkins graduated from the University of Westminster (2008) and the Royal College of Art (2014, Distinction). He lectures in Photography at FAMU, Prague, and is a regular guest speaker at several UK universities. 

His work has been exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at Galerie NoD (Prague), Webber Gallery (London), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), The Ravestijn Gallery (Amsterdam), Format Festival (Derby), and Brighton Photo Fringe. His projects have been featured in The Guardian, British Journal of Photography, 1000 Words, Numero, Hotshoe, and Photoworks. He has received multiple awards, including the Guernsey International Photography Award (2018) and the Skinnerboox Book Award (2019). His book The Unforgetting was shortlisted for the Rencontres d’ Arles Author Book Award (2020) and named one of The Guardian’s best books of 2019. 

Works from his collaboration with Tereza Zelenková, Index of Time, are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and Museum Winterthur (Switzerland).