The Czech Museum of Fine Arts has built up a fine and balanced collection of Czech 20th-century art which, until now, was only possible to exhibit at occasional temporary shows tracing particular themes. It has been impossible for reasons of space to create a permanent exhibition of the museum's artworks in its own building in Prague.
The austere early Baroque interiors and extensive exterior spaces of the Jesuit College in Kutná Hora are highly suitable for the installation of such a series of artworks. Their architectural quality and scale are also suitable for the creation of a multifunctional culture centre integrating various fields of the arts. The reconstructed spaces will thus provide a venue for the 20th-century art collection of the Czech Museum of Fine Arts, but also for the collections of Baroque fine and decorative art from the extensive collection of the Central Bohemian Heritage Institute, an exhibition about the history of the Jesuit College where, for example, Bohuslav Balbín once lived and worked, and a Czech animated film collection brought together by Krátký film Praha a.s. A large variable space will be devoted to temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art from the Czech Republic and other countries. The spaces of the Jesuit College will also create the setting for music of various kinds, theatre ranging from 'traditional' to fringe expression on the boundary between various individual art forms. The Kutná Hora Arts Centre will also host contemporary dance, film, social events, seminars, symposia and creative workshops. The Jesuit College complex will, of course, offer its visitors other possibilities of spending their free time: there will be a literary and jazz restaurant-café, a bistro for light refreshments and a store selling art souvenirs and literature.
Conceived this way, the 'centre of modern and contemporary art' will not only be linked to its location in a town included in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites and the central Bohemian region, but from the outset will seek to forge links with the arts scene throughout the Czech Republic and elsewhere, establishing contacts with partner institutions at home and abroad.
Ivan Neumann