Kafkárna

CENTER FOR ARTS AND ECOLOGY UMPRUM

Kafkárna is a hundred-year-old sculpture studio in Prague's Ořechovka district, which was created for Bohumil Kafka and his monumental realisations, especially the statue of Jan Žižka in Prague's Vítkov. The wooden building, which was originally built as a temporary structure, is still almost in its original state, minor modifications were carried out in the 1950s, when the studio created a model of Stalin's monument to Letná. During the period of normalisation, stone masons worked in the Kafkárna. Since the revolution, the studio has been used by sculpture students of the UMPRUM, initially under the direction of Kurt Gebauer, who acquired the studio for the school, and for the last ten years under the direction of Dominik Lang and Edith Jeřábková (Isabela Grosseová, Kateřina Vídenová).

It was in the past year that the sculpture studio began to open the space to the public, gradually defining a programme for it in which ecology and art are intertwined. The themes opened with HOSTINA series, a format of regular community dinners combined with lectures and art performances. It was not only the interior of the studio that was important, but also the magical garden full of sculptures that surrounded it. In the next two years, this programme will continue at Kafkarna, mainly thanks to the receipt of a grant from the Norway Grants.

The backbone of the programme will be three multi-day symposiums (October 2022, May 2023, October 2023) and an opening (April 2024). In addition, shorter events for students and the public (workshops, readings, lectures, screenings, dinners) will take place at Kafkárna throughout the duration of the project, and gradually part of the teaching relating to ecological issues will be moved there. Kafkárna will also participate in several community events (Den architektury, Zažít město jinak, Open studios etc.).