Meet Factory has another gallery, a café, new acoustics, and a façade

Prague - The cultural factory Meet Factory has new exhibition spaces and an acoustically and technically enhanced main hall, which serves both theater and music. A new café has also been created in the building, and the object has received a new facade. "The acoustics in the hall are now at a high level, there is no competition in Prague, and it meets even the highest demands of organizers of music and theatrical productions," said music dramaturg of Meet Factory Petr Kaláb to ČTK today.
    Unlike other Prague clubs, Meet Factory has the advantage of being located outside residential areas, thus it does not have to end at 10 PM and deal with whether the music production disturbs the neighbors. The stress test will be the Sperm Festival from Friday to Sunday, returning after a year’s break and featuring primarily progressive electronic music. By hosting Sperm, the dramaturgs of Meet Factory aim to attract new visitors, showcase their capabilities, and present new quality sound.
    "Over three days, 20 music and audiovisual projects will perform, the festival also includes an exhibition of contemporary Czech artists and a projection section in collaboration with Bio Oko. This year, the festival maps new trends in live performances with electronic music," said the festival director and music dramaturg of Meet Factory Michal Brenner to ČTK.
    The capacity of the hall is now 1,000 people, and up to 1,200 visitors can be accommodated in the entire building, including the theater hall. They would like to organize up to ten music events per month at Meet Factory.
    The Center for Contemporary Art, established three years ago in the former administrative building of Czech Railways in Smíchov, primarily serves visual arts and provides residential spaces for foreign artists. Another gallery space has now opened in the adjacent building of the former boiler room. The Kostka Gallery is mainly intended for shorter-term art projects, said Meet Factory dramaturg Jan Horák to ČTK.
    Meet Factory was opened in the fall of 2007 by David Černý, David Koller, and Alice Nellis, who are on the board of the non-profit organization. The main goal of the institution is to develop and operate an artistic center of overlapping genres and creative groups.
    The idea for such a center dates back to 2001, when Černý wanted to create it from a former ham factory in Prague’s Holešovice with the mission to involve Prague in international cooperation on the contemporary art scene worldwide. Floods in 2002 destroyed these plans. In 2007, an industrial building in Prague 5 was reconstructed, which the company rents under a contract with Prague. Prague also financially supports the factory; this year, for example, it received a two-year grant and will draw 5.5 million crowns this year and next.