Michael Webb v Ostravě

During the installation of a new exhibition, a pair of Californian journalists visited the Ostrava gallery Plato on Saturday, May 13, 2023, to see the transformation of the former city slaughterhouse into an art institution. The distinguished guests were writer Michael Webb, who has authored more than twenty publications primarily focused on West American architecture and countless articles for various newspapers and professional journals, and Thomas Aujero Small, who also served as the mayor of the Californian city of Culver City, known for its bold architecture.
Both journalists traveled halfway across the globe to visit the gallery. Initially, they planned to spend just an hour in Ostrava before continuing on to Vienna via Zlín and Brno, but eventually, they also visited the Lower Vítkovice area, where they became acquainted not only with the beginnings of the Plato gallery, which was based there after its founding, but also with the sensitive work of Josef Pleskot, whose creations impressed them so much that they will likely return to Ostrava soon.
Ostrava's Plato is currently attracting more interest from an international audience. The reconstruction was covered in the first issue of the Slovak magazine Projekt this year and the spring issue of the British magazine Icon. Steven Holl, this year's guest curator of Domus, included the gallery in the May issue of this Italian magazine.
In a week, the 18th Architecture Biennale will begin in Venice, where Robert Konieczny will present his studio's work at the exhibition Time Space Existence through a single project, which is the Ostrava gallery. On this occasion, a new large-scale model has also been created, which will hopefully visit Ostrava after the Venice exhibition concludes.
These days, the application deadline for projects for the upcoming Czech Architecture Yearbook for 2022-23 is also ending. The gallery deserves to be included, as it not only transcends the borders of the Czech Republic in authorship.