Last year, the Kunsthalle Prague gallery was opened

Prague – One year ago, on February 22, 2022, the gallery Kunsthalle Praha was opened, built from a former transformer station in Klárov. Kunsthalle was established by The Pudil Family Foundation, founded by former co-owner of Czech Coal, Petr Pudil, and his wife. It defines itself as "a non-state and non-profit platform for connecting the Czech and international art scene." It commenced its operations with an exhibition that captured 100 years of electricity usage in art. On the opening day, about thirty young people connected to the art or gallery scene gathered to protest against the alleged linking of money from the business activities of the gallery's founder, Petr Pudil, and the art world.

The gallery was created by converting the former Zenger transformer station in Klárov. According to the owner’s representatives, the purchase of the building and its reconstruction cost more than 800 million crowns. The reconstruction won last year's Grand Prix Architects Main Award – National Prize for Architecture for 2022.

"We wanted to create a friendly and creative place that inspires through art, which is here for those who love art, but also for those who are still finding their way to art,” said Ivana Goosen, Executive Director of The Pudil Family Foundation, to journalists last year.

She explained why the organizers chose the name Kunsthalle: "This term is now a common designation for this type of institution anywhere in the world. Unlike museums, which were created to care for collections, kunsthalle was created for temporary exhibitions,” she stated. According to her, these models are now interconnected, but the concept of rotating exhibitions inspired the naming of Kunsthalle Praha. "It is also a reference to our focus, our goal of connecting the Czech and international scenes,” she added.

Kunsthalle Praha has a collection that focuses on art from the early 20th century to the present, but it will not exhibit it permanently. The kunsthalle's program is expected to include six to eight exhibitions per year, including educational programs and workshops.

The preparation of the Kunsthalle took seven years, but even before its opening, it experienced protests from several artists. Kunsthalle was built by The Pudil Family Foundation, which was established by Pudil and his wife. They invested their art collection into the foundation's endowment, resulting in the creation of the Kunsthalle Praha Foundation Fund. Years ago, at a public presentation of Pudil's foundation, about thirty artists organized a protest during which they stated that Pudil, in their view, was laundering his money through art, labeling such a procedure as artwashing.

Pudil participated in the purchase of the Mostecká uhelná společnost from the Appian Group in 2005, which was incorporated into the newly formed Czech Coal group. In 2010, he sold his stake to Pavel Tykač's companies. According to publicly available sources, Pudil did not participate in the privatization of the Mostecká uhelná společnost and was not tried in any of the processes related to the privatization.