In February, Kunsthalle Prague will open, a new gallery space

Prague – The new gallery in Prague named Kunsthalle Praha will open its doors in February with two exhibitions. It was created by converting the Zenger Transformer Station in Klárov. The first of the exhibitions, which will start on February 22, is Kineticism: 100 Years of Electricity in Art. It will showcase over 90 works by artists from several generations around the world. Today, Ondřej Čížek informed CTK on behalf of the organizers.

The second exhibition, titled Zenger Transformer Station: Electricity in Architecture, Electricity in the City, will focus in detail on the original function of the building. It will pay tribute to the Czech avant-garde artist and pioneer of kinetic art Zdeněk Pešánek and explore the history of electrification in Prague.

The term kunsthalle is primarily used in German-speaking countries and refers to an institution that organizes exhibitions. Unlike a gallery or museum, it does not have its own collections. In the Czech Republic, institutions like the Gallery Rudolfinum, DOX Center, or the House of Art of the City of Brno operate on the principle of a kunsthalle.

The first exhibition will demonstrate how electricity has transformed artistic practice from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. It will capture the evolution of art from the first artistic use of motorized movement and artificial light to information technology and contemporary digital art. Its key areas will be cinematography and kinetic, cybernetic, and computer art. The exhibition will feature works by pioneers such as Mary Ellen Bute, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Duchamp, or Zdeněk Pešánek.

The second exhibition, titled Zenger Transformer Station: Electricity in Architecture, Electricity in the City, will allow visitors to explore the history of the original building from the 1930s. Czech architect Vilém Kvasnička integrated industrial operations into a strictly rational interior, while designing the exterior almost like an urban palace blending with the historic buildings of Malá Strana. The transformer station was named after the prominent Czech physicist and educator Václav Zenger (1830 to 1908).

The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a story about the role electricity and modern technology played not only in the development of Zenger's station but also in the history of entire Prague. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about the work of Zdeněk Pešánek, who designed a cycle of monumental light-kinetic sculptures titled One Hundred Years of Electricity for the main facade of the Zenger transformer station from 1932 to 1936. He conceived them as a celebration of the electrical age. In 1937, he won an award for them at the World's Fair in Paris, but upon returning to Prague, their trace faded and they were never installed on the facade of the Zenger transformer station. They will now symbolically return to Kunsthalle Praha through a special large-scale projection as part of this exhibition.

The idea for Kunsthalle Praha arose in 2015 when the couple Petr and Pavlína Pudil, through their foundation The Pudil Family Foundation, purchased the dilapidated Zenger Transformer Station with the aim of transforming it into a modern gallery space for temporary art exhibitions, cultural events, and educational activities.

The reconstruction sparked criticism from some advocates of industrial architecture a few years ago. The owner removed certain parts of the protected building and replaced them with new ones. The Ministry of Culture and the National Heritage Institute told CTK at the time that more significant interventions were necessitated by the use of lower quality cement and contamination of the building with hazardous substances. Elements that were removed from the facade were to be returned to it after the reconstruction.