Publishing

The UMPRUM Publishing House was established in 1996 and has since published a great number of original and translated books on theory and history of art, as well as other scientifically relevant literature – monographs, exquisite bilingual publications, exhibition catalogues, retrospective catalogues and printed materials related to various activities of the Academy, e.g. handbooks on book binding and typography, fashion textbooks, etc.

In 2017, the UMPRUM Publishing House introduced the edition “Edice Dizertace P.S.” [Dissertation Theses P.S. (Post Scriptum) Edition], whose purpose is to publish outstanding texts by graduates of UMPRUM doctoral programmes, and in 2018 the edition “Edice Katedra” [Scholars Edition], where we present to Czech readers critical theoretical texts on design that are now considered as fundamental sources of reference. A new series, “Edice Staří mistři” [Old Masters Edition], was launched in 2021, where we present exceptional works by graduates of the UMPRUM Illustration and Graphics Studio. Other projects include publication of the outcomes of scientific research created in the framework of the UMPRUM Academic and Student Grant Competition or grants awarded by the Czech Science Foundation, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and other Czech and foreign institutions.

All the books feature a remarkable and innovative graphic design conceived and made by UMPRUM students, graduates or teachers, which has earned them many prestigious awards.

The UMPRUM Publishers’ Catalogue is approved by the Editorial Board, composed of eight members, on the basis of a transparent grant selection procedure.

Title: Architecture and Czech Politics from the 19th to the 21st Centuries
Subtitle:
Original title: Architektura a česká politika v 19.–21. století
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Cyril Říha et al.
Designed by: Tereza Hejmová, Kristýna Žáčková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-65-2
Selling price: 499 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 402
Annotation: The publication forms the final element in the five-year-long research project of the same name realised by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, involving instructors, graduates, and PhD candidates from the academy’s Department of Theory and History of Art. This research has considered architecture and politics in their mutual and bilateral relations, regarding architecture not merely as a passive medium for national and state representation, but itself as an active component helping to shape the social and political spheres. The present-day Czech Republic is a small state of 10 million inhabitants, clearly geographically outlined – particularly in its western section – by the space of the Bohemian Basin surrounded by a border of mountains. It would appear that now it is politically anchored quite clearly within Central Europe. Yet the recent history of the land is far more complicated. Over the past 150 years, Czech political life has been shaped against a backdrop of several highly different state formations. And it has undergone many far-reaching shifts that have changed its spatial framework and state institutions. Through the entire long 19th century up until 1918, the Czech lands were part of the Austrian Empire, later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. After the end of World War I, they joined Slovakia and the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, now in Ukraine, to create the independent state of Czechoslovakia, known as the First Republic. During World War II, the territory was part of the truncated fragment of the Protectorate of Bohemian and Moravia, de facto an annexed territory of the German Third Reich. After 1945, the Czechoslovak Republic was revived, but after the Communist coup of 1948 it remained for many decades enclosed in the “East Bloc” of nations under the sway of the USSR. The year of 1968 saw the culmination of a brief ideological thaw, yet ended by the violent invasion of Soviet troops. At the same time, it saw the definitive end of the idea of a unified “Czechoslovak” nation and a change in state organisation toward a federation of the Czech and the Slovak socialist republics. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, democratic conditions returned, yet not long after in 1993, the state dissolved into two separate entities, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. By 2004, the two successor states were again integrated into a larger whole – the European Union. As such, any historical continuity in Czech politics from the 19th to the 21st century is broken up into several relatively self-enclosed periods, from which we have selected the four main ones that lasted the longest. These sections shaped the entire research project, which tried to observe what relation architecture had towards the political sphere. In all periods, we tried to investigate how architecture, urban planning, and the built environment in general expressed each different political arrangement of the separate ages. Each of the four sections is summarised by an introductory motto – an emblematic historic quotation – that encapsulates the main political mentality of the given era. The long 19th century is primarily the age of Czech national emancipation (The Strength and Future of the Nation Is National Identity), the interwar period the age of building an independent state (A Spirit at Work), the 1945–1989 years as the age of idealism and visions of radiant futures (The Future Is Hidden in the Present) and finally the epoch after 1989 as the time for the renewal of democracy (The Rule over Your Affairs Once Lost Will Return to You). The main focus of the exhibition, though, is on the examples of realisations or projects of “political architecture”, which represents these ideas (more or less) consciously, or even from its own efforts manages to shape them.

Title: The rule over your affairs once lost will return to you
Subtitle: Architecture and Czech politics after 1989
Original title: Ztracená vláda věcí tvých se k tobě navrátí
Original subtitle: Architektura a česká politika po roce 1989
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Cyril Říha
Designed by: Tereza Hejmová, Kristýna Žáčková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-57-7
Selling price: 499 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 656
Annotation: The book explores mutual links between architecture and politics in the period of restoration of democracy after the 1989 Velvet Revolution. In that period, architecture had to reflect the changed local and global circumstances: the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, accession to the European Union, new territorial and administrative division of the Czech Republic and the policy of economical liberalism. The publication focuses on contracts for the construction and transformation of the seats of the restored state institutions (the Prague Castle, Parliament of the Czech Republic, regional and municipal offices), public architectural competitions for national cultural institutions, but also, for example, new types of state-supported social housing replacing the prefabricated residential blocks and rehabilitation of areas burdened with the communist regime residues. Furthermore, the book raises the question as to what extent the new developments in contemporary architecture and urbanism (such as the activist and public participation trends) promote healthy politics, and how architecture (e.g. through urban architects) has contributed to shaping of the public space after 1989.

Title: Design & Transformation                              
Subtitle: Stories of Czech Design 1990–2020
Original title: Design & transformace
Original subtitle: Příběhy českého designu 1990–2020
Book language: English edition
Editor: Daniela Kramerová
Designed by: Olga Benešová, Tereza Saitzová, Studio Marvil
Publishers: UMPRUM, Moravian Gallery in Brno
ISBN: 978-80-88308-79-9
Selling price: 490 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 144
Annotation: The catalogue shows through the texts of Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Daniela Kramerová, Hana Machková, Pavla Pauknerová, Klára Peloušková, Radek Sidun, Jiří Suk and Jindřich Vybiral that the term Czech design hides a number of remarkable products and works. It traces the relationship between the transformation of society and design production. It does not focus only on beautiful objects, but tries to approach the background of their creation through the stories of companies whose fates document the specifics of the Central European situation - centuries-old cultural and craft traditions, as well as the constant changes in state formations, economic and political frameworks. The book was published on the occasion of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union and accompanies two exhibitions of the same name at the Design Museum Brussels (7 September 2022-8 January 2023) and at Prague House in Brussels (8 September-2 October 2022).

Title: Ester Krumbachová
Subtitle:
Original title: Ester Krumbachová
Original subtitle:
Book language: English edition
Editors: Edith Jeřábková, Kateřina Svatoňová
Designed by: Daniela a Linda Dostálková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-47-8
Selling price: 1.000 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 448
Annotation: This publication is devoted to Ester Krumbachová (1923–1996), an important film and theater costume designer, screenwriter, author, director, and artist who collaborated in the theater with Miroslav Macháček, Ladislav Smoček, and Ivan Vyskočil and in film with Otakar Vávra, Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Karel Kachyňa, and Petr Václav. This publication aims to present a critical treatment of Ester Krumbachová’s entirely unknown estate, her work, and themes whose relevance extends into the present. The book comprises several layers, including scholarly and essayistic texts by both Czech and foreign experts from a number of fields as well as archival material arranged into thematic, loosely commented, interconnected clusters. Indeed, this rhizomatic structure is perhaps the closest to the way Ester Krumbachová herself worked and reveals her way of thinking about direction, scenography, costume design, and screen writing, as well as her thoughts on details, active objects, color concepts, and the symbiosis of film professions; on magic, folklore, and exoticism; on realism, subjectivity, hierarchy, masculine and feminine polarity, queerness, feminism, love, and sex; on food; and on cats, care, and friendship. Author of the texts: Šárka Gmiterková, Libuše Heczková, Edith Jeřábková, Jesse Jones, Kyoo Lee, Francis McKee, Ruth Noack, Pádraic E. Moore, Sylva Poláková, Lukáš Skupa, Kateřina Svatoňová, Grażyna Świętochowska, Markéta Uhlířová, Věra Velemanová. The research and publication of this book was supported by a grant from the Czech Science Foundation for 2018–2021 (project no. 18-22139S, Hidden Forms of Directing: Linking the film, literary, costume design and visual work of Ester Krumbachová. An analysis of her estate). Additional financial support was provided by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, State Cultural Fund of the Czech Republic, and Agosto Foundation. 

Title: Meanwhile
Subtitle: Stories of the 21st Century
Original title: Mezitím
Original subtitle: Příběhy 21. století
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Magdalena Rutová
Designed by: Jan Čumlivski
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-32-4
Selling price: 300 CZK
Binding: hardcover (sewn)
Number of pages: 184
Annotation: The publication ‘Meanwhile. Stories of the 21st Century’ is a personal picture chronicle, which systematically yet absolutely at random covers various possible topics. Its focus is fairly placed on celebrities as well as ordinary people, on the topical as well as marginal themes. The career is a recurrent topic – the career of people, the career of animals, the career of things. Business and success – and failure! Now, now, now. What was Bob Dylan doing when a poor officer finished his lunch break at the other end of the world? Like soap operas trying to encompass the world in its entirety, the book ‘Meanwhile’ presents an account of these efforts as of the year 2021. In the entry form to a Prague psychiatric clinic, there is a question: Do you think something interesting happens every day? The author certainly does think so.

Title: A Spirit at Work
Subtitle: Architecture and Czech Politics 1918–1945
Original title: Duch, který pracuje
Original subtitle: Architektura a česká politika 1918–1945
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Vendula Hnídková
Designed by: Tereza Hejmová, Kristýna Žáčková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-22-5
Selling price: 499 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 608
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: Architecture in 1918–1945 in the Territory of Czechoslovakia and the Protectorate was created on the basis of markedly varying topics. To locate the architectural production of the time within the territory of a small country in the unsettled situation of Central Europe, it is necessary to confront architecture directly with issues of political science. Therefore, besides the above mentioned emphasis on typological categories or thematisation of individual roles in contrast with group roles in the process of realization of government commissions, each chapter deals with a general term of political science that helps relate architecture to politics quite distinctly. A survey of ambivalent positions of the participants of the architectural and political business during the process of creating the scene of Czechoslovakia and the Protectorate as well as an examination of the shared and developed building production in the context of political issues of the time help define the local identity through architecture in a complex way as a “petrified ideology”. The book is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as a part of the Program of Applied Research and Development of the National and Cultural Identity (NAKI II).

Title: Modern Woman – Architect
Subtitle: Projection and Reality in Central Europe since 1900
Original title: Moderní žena – architektka
Original subtitle: Projekce a realita ve střední Evropě od roku 1900
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Helena Huber-Doudová
Designed by: Petr Babák, Martin Ponec
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-34-8
Selling price: 620 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 304
Annotation: The emancipation potential of women involved in the Modernism and Bauhaus movements is the main theme of this book, which shows examples of their achievements in the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Estonia in the last century. The focus is placed on the dichotomy between the projection, i.e. the image of a modern woman as presented for example by the Bauhaus’ ‘Neue Frau’ or in films and magazines, on the one hand, and the architects’ actual experiences determined by the legal regulations, access to education and their social position, on the other hand. This collective monography aims to present lesser-known architects and their works, but also shed a new light on the questions of the making of the feminist canon and the benefits brough about by media, gender, and visual art studies.

Title: Theatre of the Street: Advertising and Window Display within the Context of Modernism, 1918–1938
Subtitle:
Original title: Divadlo ulice: Reklama a aranžérství výkladních skříní v kontextu modernismu, 1918–1938
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Lada Hubatová-Vacková
Designed by: Adéla Svobodová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-43-0
Selling price: 1.200 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 372
Number of pages of drawings: 20
Annotation: The metaphor “theatre of the street” was conceived by theoretician Karel Teige to describe the vivant and dynamic audio-visual hustle and bustle typical for city centres in 1920’s. He did not mean only the omnipresent traffic, but also the urban iconography, composed of shop signs and portals, illuminated window displays, façade advertisements, and flashing neon signs. Window displays presenting artfully arranged goods caught the attention of the Surrealists, who admired their sophisticated and absurd compositions; light illuminations resembled the Constructivists’ experiments; advertisements and signs applied modern typography and processes to attract by-passers and ‘flâneurs’. The fleeting “theatre of the street” is a key theme for understanding the Modernist style of the Interwar period, yet it has rarely been explored in expert studies.  This book searches for common aspects of commerce and art; the “low” and the “high”; the pop-culture, commercial advertisement, and independent artistic creation. The publication contains five expert studies, which present advertisement practices in the context of fine art, architecture, photography, film, and new technologies appearing with the electrification of towns and cities. In terms of place and time, the studies focus on the situation in Czechoslovakia in the period between 1918 and 1938, with selected references to European relations. The narrative part is accompanied with an extensive set of documentary materials and pictures found through research in the contemporary journals, archives, public and private collections. A set of twenty drawings of Eva Koťátková – on translucent paper – is inserted in the book as an anachronic element. The artist’s drawings elaborate on the explored theme, balancing on the edge between the commercial pragmatism and the “convulsive beauty” of Surrealism. The book is published with the support of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic.

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Title: Manual of Diacritics                                                         
Subtitle: Case studies of newly designed accents for contemporary typefaces
Original title: Diakritický manuál
Original subtitle: Případová studie nově navržených akcentů současných písem
Book language: English edition
Author: Radek Sidun
Designed by: Radek Sidun
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-17-1
Selling price: 590 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 128
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: Due to the geographical location of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and to the frequency of accents in Czech language make us one of the places where teaching of type creation is also focused on complex creation of various diacritical signs of languages using Roman alphabet both in current and historical script. This picture textbook aimed at learners as well as type designers covers the whole field of diacritics systematically. It provides a comprehensive system that facilitates creation of specific local signs. It gives not a detailed verbal description, but a visual instruction. The result of the author’s ten-year experience and research served as the basis of his successful habilitation in October 2019 and aspires to become a key source of information on linguistic support of Roman scripts.

Title: The Future Is Hidden in the Present
Subtitle: Architecture and Czech Politics 1945–1989
Original title: Budoucnost je skryta v přítomnosti
Original subtitle: Architektura a česká politika 1945–1989
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editors: Veronika Rollová, Karolina Jirkalová
Designed by: Tereza Hejmová, Kristýna Žáčková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-53-9
Selling price: 499 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 472
Annotation: The Czechoslovak architecture changed dramatically after WWII. It had to serve new political and social imperatives, its institutional structure transformed, and the circle of architects reformulated the critical topics and issues. The book follows the development of the definition of ‘socialist architecture’, as well as its main purposes and the structural concept of the communist ‘Future World’, from mid-1940’s to late 1980’s. It explores how this process was shaped by politicians, architects themselves, and also other stakeholders, including construction firms, and how the interested persons negotiated with each other. The authors of the individual chapters do not focus on the changing forms or construction methods or the lives of specific personalities, but rather on the architects’ responses to the varying dictates of society and their efforts to actively influence them. The book is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as a part of the Program of Applied Research and Development of the National and Cultural Identity (NAKI II).

Title: The Strength and Future of the Nation Is National Identity
Subtitle: Architecture and Czech Politics in the 19th Century
Original title: Síla i budoucnost jest národu národnost
Original subtitle: Architektura a česká politika v 19. století
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Jindřich Vybíral
Designed by: Tereza Hejmová, Kristýna Žáčková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-23-2
Selling price: 499 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 640
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: The book accompanies an exhibition of the same name, which is the first tangible result of the project “Architecture and Czech Politics in the 19th to 21st Centuries”, launched at the Department of Theory and History of Art of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD) in 2018. The intention was not to present a “map” of the 19th-century political architecture in the Czech territory, but rather to explore the various forms of interactions between architecture and politics. The authors studied the reflections of ideological and social- and psychological contents in architectonic forms, and the way how these forms helped to establish power relationships and build political positions. The title motto was written by Josef Hlávka, an architect and benefactor, and refers to the pivotal point of the publication – the role of architecture in shaping of the Czech nation. The authors further show how the monumental architecture of that period expressed or formed the citizens’ loyalty to the state, or the ruling dynasty; how it contributed to development of democratic institutions and civil society, and what part the architecture played in the social processes associated with the industrialisation and modernisation. The book is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as a part of the Program of Applied Research and Development of the National and Cultural Identity (NAKI II).

Title: Art and Evolution
Subtitle: A Festschrift for Jindřich Vybíral
Original title: Umění a evoluce
Original subtitle: Sborník pro Jindřicha Vybírala
Book language: Czech-English-German-Slovak edition
Editors: Veronika Rollová, Cyril Říha
Designed by: Anežka Hrubá Ciglerová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-14-0
Selling price: 570 CZK
Binding: hardcover with dust jacket
Number of pages: 384
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: The book Art and Evolution is published by the AAAD Publishing House on the occasion of Prof. Jindřich Vybíral’s birthday. It is a collection of texts written by leading Czech and foreign historians of art and architecture. Their texts – published in Czech Slovak, English, and German – follow on the Professor’s work in one way or another, revealing overlooked continuities and demasking often misleading perceptions of the “revolution” in art and architecture on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The book in its typical finished form is accompanied with its potential “successor” in the evolution: a digital tabula gratulatoria. Unlike the printed publication, the Instagram site Festschrift_JV is open for anyone to write their congratulations or comments from any place and at any time.

Title: Projektil33
Subtitle:
Original title: Projektil33
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Michal Nanoru 
Designed by: Petr Babák, Jaromír Skácel
Publishers: UMPRUM / Projektil architekti studio
ISBN: 978-80-87989-83-8
Selling price: 590 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 392
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: The publication Projektil33 is a follow up to the eponymous exhibition, which explored the topical question of depicting architecture. The curator Michal Nanoru, in co-operation with architects of the Projektil studio, selected eleven completed projects (mostly publicly accessible buildings) and approached eleven photographers who are not primarily focused on architectonic photography, and eleven fine artists. Each of them was assigned one of the projects and asked to present it in their own specific way. The exhibition further included eleven texts by Michal Nanoru dedicated to the individual buildings, and, in addition, the book also contains interviews between the curator, the architect, the two artists and the graphic designer turning around the relevant project.

Title: Codex Aigas / We Came in Peace for All Mankind
Subtitle: A Collection of Original Books Created at the Studio of Illustration and Graphics at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 2003–2018
Original title: Codex Aigas / We Came in Peace for All Mankind
Original subtitle: Soubor autorských knih z Ateliéru ilustrace a grafiky UMPRUM 2003–2018
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editors: Jan Čumlivski, Juraj Horváth, Michaela Kukovičová
Designed by: Jan Čumlivski, Juraj Horváth
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-57-9
Selling price: 700 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 956
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: This Czech-English publication traces history of publications created at the Studio of Illustration and Graphics at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, that is original books, comics, zins, illustrated texts, experimental fragments and newspapers, individual and collective projects. The book contains not only works which are representative of the Studio’s recent history but also a list of all original publications created at the Studio. The collection includes texts by Jan Rous, Juraj Horváth and Jan Čumlivski, interviews with heads of the workshops of the Department of Graphic Arts, photographs of the workshops, a list of graduates. Subsidized by the Miroslav Šašek Foundation.

Title: The Villa of Jenny and Josef Winternitz 
Subtitle: Adolf Loos, Karel Lhota 1931–1932
Original title: Vila Jenny a Josefa Winternitzových  
Original subtitle: Adolf Loos, Karel Lhota 1931–1932
Book language: English edition
Editors: Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Valentyna Nikolenko 
Designed by: Michal Veltruský
Publishers: UMPRUM / David Cysař
ISBN: 978-80-87989-78-4
Selling price: 290 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 108
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: Villa Winternitz is one of the last implemented projects resulting from the creative synergy and co-operation between Adolf Loos and Karel Lhota in the years 1931 and 1932. The Villa is a typical example of the Modernist architecture, but also stands as a silent witness to the individual history of the Jewish Winternitz family in the multi-cultural Czechoslovakia in the interwar period, and as a relict of the turns of events during World War II and subsequently under the communist regime. The publication, which also serves as a guide through the Villa, is composed of individual studies, which present the history of the family and the Villa, while simultaneously addressing the questions of authorship and “personal” artistic style or problems associated with the notional framework of architecture inspired by Adolf Loos. Apart from archive pictures following the Winternitz family and the Villa, the book also contains contemporary photographs and graphic works of young artists (axonometric projections, panoramic photographs).

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Title:
MALE NAME SELLS ME
SAND, LAKE, ALE
MAKES ME MEAN AND SAD,
AND MEANS JINK                  [The title–poem is an anagram of the artists’ names]
Subtitle:
Original title:
DAR JMÉNA, ALE I NÁS
JÍM NÁSLEDEK RÁNA
DERE NÁS JÍL A KAMNA
NÁŠ JÍL. RAMENA. DEKA.
JÍL, RAMENA AND SAKÉ
JÍL, RAMENA & SAKÉ         
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Authors: Jimena Mendoza, Aleksandra Vajd
Designed by: Adéla Svobodová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-88308-08-9
Selling price: 310 CZK
Binding: paperback (sewn)
Number of pages: 80
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: The bilingual visual book by the artists Aleksandra Vajd and Jimena Mendoza (in Czech and English) incorporates a poem by Petr Borkovec and graphic design by Adéla Svobodová, which broaden the artistic perception of their joint work and together form a comprehensive multi-disciplinary artefact. The publication primarily aims to capture the artists’ fluid co-operation, which lead to several successful joint exhibitions such as causalidad/causalidad, Ladies (Complexity, Contradiction, and a Decorated Shed), espejo, espejo or djav azodnem. Through a continual process of copying, metamorphoses and exchanges, extensions, sameness and simultaneous dissimilarity, Aleksandra Vajd and Jimena Mendoza developed a shared yet conflicting practice that emphasises what is sensual and invisible and blurs the borderlines between causality and coincidence, media and authorship, the supporters and the supported. The adopted language of misunderstanding represents a potential – potential expansion and condensation in one, which perhaps only poetry can likewise offer. Vajd and Mendoza have conceived an idiosyncratic method that goes beyond the usual limits of language, material, media, and culture to test the possibilities of communication through imitation and misinterpretation. The process of controlled merger and translation of the authors’ artistic approaches makes room for a new joint creative work taking a visual, haptic, and conceptual form. A book is thus transformed into a hybrid artwork balancing between a catalogue, exhibition, and separate piece of art. Translated by Deana Kolenčíková.

Title: The Spanish and German Halls at Prague Castle in the 19th Century
Subtitle:
Original title: Španělský a Německý sál na Pražském hradě v 19. století
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Jindřich Vybíral
Designed by: Štěpán Malovec
Publishers: UMPRUM / National Heritage Institute
ISBN: 978-80-87989-84-5
Selling price: 700 CZK
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 200
Number of illustrations: 128
Annotation: The Spanish and German Halls (the current Rudolph Gallery) located in the northern wing of the Prague Castle were commissioned by the emperor and king Rudolph II on the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Both halls were refurbished in 1866–1868 based on the design by renown Viennese architects   Ferdinand Kirschner and Heinrich Ferstel, which maintained part of the plaster decorations of the Rudolphean era. This book follows the course of the construction work, provides detailed information on the authors of the architectural design and other persons involved in the refurbishment, and identifies the premises that were built in the 19th century and those that date back to earlier periods. The author analyses the stylistic physiognomy of the two representative halls; explores their function as a symbol of the dynastic tradition and legitimacy, and reveals the historical and social context of the refurbishment, where both halls are perceived as political and ceremonial premises. From this viewpoint, the author explores the connection between the interior architecture and the ceremonial etiquette of the Habsburg court. The publication contains photographs by Ivan Pinkava and Vladimír Uher.

Title: Classification of Typefaces of Latin Origin
Subtitle:
Original title: Klasifikace typografických písem latinkových
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Jan Solpera
Designed by: Jan Solpera
Publishers: Revolver Revue (in cooperation with UMPRUM)
ISBN: 978-80-7622-000-3
Selling price: 80 CZK 
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: non-paged book
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: This is a new separate edition of the famed monograph (originally published as enclosure to Revolver Revue No. 77 in 2009) in the Czech and English languages. The monograph provides an essential resource for anyone interested in typography. “The present classification of typefaces reflects the extensive font family we live in. While respecting the historical background, the classification is primarily based on the design of letters. This monograph is intended for graphic designers as well as for everyone interested in typography, to guide them through the labyrinth of the existing fonts. It merely describes the characteristics of individual alphabets, without evaluating or putting them in any order of precedence. The premise is that all typefaces of Latin origin, not only those intended for print, can be broken down into different groups based on their shape. Whether the fonts are neat and legible, or ugly and indecipherable is irrelevant.” (Jan Solpera)

Title: Adéla Matasová / Interface 2014–2017                 
Subtitle:
Original title: Adéla Matasová / Interface 2014–2017
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Jen Kratochvil
Designed by: Tomáš Moravec
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-49-4
Selling price: 480 CZK 
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 
Annotation: The catalogue Adéla Matasová: Interface 2014–2017 is dedicated to a cycle of joint exhibitions of works by the students of Adéla Matasová, a key figure in the Czech visual arts of the second half of the twentieth century. Her distinctive vision has formed many substantial artists across several generations (e.g., Jiří Černický and Pavel Kopřiva, Matasová’s assistant of many years).  This publication documents the joint exhibitions of her students through photographs and is thus an examination of the ever-transforming network that is this rich artistic collective. Authors: Charlotta Kotíková, curator emeritus of the Brooklyn Museum in New York; Martina Pachmanová, theorist and curator of contemporary art at UMPRUM in Prague; Jen Kratochvil, independent curator.

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Title: Czech Glass
Subtitle:
Original title: České sklo
Original subtitle:
Book language: English edition
Author: Sylva Petrová
Designed by: Rostislav Vaněk
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-63-0 (the 2nd revised, completed and extended edition)
Selling price: 2000 CZK 
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 432
Number of illustrations: 168 black and white portraits + 347 color photos
Annotation: This publication is an expanded and revised edition of the original publication from 2001, most copies of which were destroyed in a flood and which specialists and laypeople alike had only sporadic access to. This book focuses primarily on the development of artistic forms in a particular segment of Czech glass-making, one referred to as art glass (glass sculptures and objects) or individual design. It analyzes a specific glass-making discipline, which with its early emergence, breadth, and artistic output was ahead of its time internationally and is therefore still highly topical. This book not only documents and analyzes the emergence of Czech art glass after 1945 in historical context, but also summarizes important pre–World War II milestones in Czech glass-making that prefigured later developments. The book is the only specialized publication of its kind; it is largely encyclopedic in concept and therefore contains extensive reference materials and information. Besides texts, it also includes 360 color photographs of the most important historical works by more than 170 Czech glassmakers, in addition to biographies, portraits, and bibliographic information.  

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Title: Ada Kaleh, Alternative Facts about the Northernmost Islamic Exclave in Europe after 1902
Subtitle:
Original title: Ada Kale, aletrnativní fakta o nejsevernější islámské exklávě v Evropě po roce 1902
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Authors: Matěj Pavlík, Lucie Rosenfeldová, Pavel Sterec, Jiří Žák
Designed by: Filip Kraus
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-26-5
Selling price: 360 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 240
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: Ada Kale was an insular enclave of Ottoman Turks on the Danube river on the territory of current-day Romania. In the 1970s it was flooded during the construction of the dam at the Iron Gates gorge. Nicolae Ceaușescu proposed that the local inhabitants should move to another island. He even had the original fortification reproduced there. However, the autochthons did not accept his proposition. Thus the „new Ada Kale“ has been an abandoned copy of the original ever since. The story of Ada Kale raises many questions and presents an interesting issue environmentally, historically, ethnically and aesthetically. It used to be surrounded by Slovak, Czech, Serbian, German and, naturally, Romanian settlements and thus it represents a remarkable example of contact of various linguistic, ethnic and religious groups of people. Ada Kale serves as a metaphoric basis of this book. Ever since the ancient times the rhetors have been encouraged to picture a particular location – a building or its ground plan – and to “place” topics in it in order to remember their speech better. The book deals with issues treated by the gallery team and invited specialists. It is “placed” on the ground plan of the abandoned mock island by means of particular works of art. The book is based on the Galerie 207 program at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in the academic year 2014/2015.

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Title: The Source
Subtitle: Studio of Photography 2008–2016
Original title: Pramen
Original subtitle: Ateliér fotografie 2008–2016
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editors: Aleksandra Vajd, Hynek Alt, Jiří Ptáček
Designed by: Jan Brož, Michal Landa (Parallel Practice), Jakub Samek
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-39-5
Selling price: 250 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 224
Annotation: The primary aim of this book is to present a retrospective look at UMPRUM’s Studio of Photography between 2008 and 2016, when the teaching duo of Vajd and Alt was active there. Their conceptually based, methodological artistic practice, reflecting photography’s regimes of representation, manifested itself in their approach to leading the studio. For eight years it was the undeniable epicenter of experimentation in Czech photography, transforming the landscape of contemporary art. During the same period, systematic efforts were also made here at determining photography’s position within the fine arts and cultural production. In the field of visual culture, a retrospective work cannot get by without engaging in the archeology of images. Current and former students of the studio were asked to create their own contributions to a book-length work––visual essays that comprise a sort of catalogue of parallel histories and present a cross-section of their personal and shared portfolios. Over the course of two semesters, Jiří Ptáček, the book’s editor, became an “external member” of the Studio of Photography, and by traversing through its history and relics in the form of photographs and knowledge produced he attempted to reconstruct the methods that have been developed at the studio.

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Title: Hidden Places
Subtitle:
Original title: Skrytá místa
Original subtitle:
Book language: English edition
Author: Kateřina Pazourková
Designed by: Jolana Sýkorová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-75-3
Selling price: 510 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 236
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: Urban architecture is embodied by buildings while the city is animated mainly by people around them. The book Hidden Places deals with the National Heritage Area in Prague, crosses the street scenery and rediscovers the relations that have been disappearing quietly from this particular space. The life in the protected area is changing constantly. The conservation area retains its appearance but the inner city is changing. Consequently, the protected area often loses its irreplaceable authentic places which are essential not only for keeping the particular atmosphere but also for preserving the urban life. The book compares current intentions and options of revitalization of selected locations. It represents a review of forgotten places designed not only for experts and also a guidebook of hidden corners and secret gardens in Prague. Originally, the book was written as a supplement to the thesis Life in Conservation Area. 

Title: A Century of Danish and Czech Furniture Design: Convergence and Divergence
Subtitle:
Original title: Století dánské a české nábytkové tvorby: konvergence, divergence 
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editors: Pavla Rossini, Jiří Pelcl
Designed by: Mikuláš Macháček
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-09-8
Selling price: 720 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 392
Number of illustrations: 328
Annotation: This bilingual book complemented with extensive photographs confronts the Danish and Czech modern furniture design created in the last 100 years. The book follows the fates of the two seemingly incomparable national approaches and overall distinctive features both in the context of the global development and their unique characteristics; it aims to explain the styles which they use as a basis as well as the respective social and economic context. The book also briefly presents the history of manufacturers and institutions as well as their skills in organising exhibitions and promoting and distributing their work as important aspects for their activities at domestic and international markets. The book, part of which is also dedicated to vocational education in the two countries and which further offers profiles of Danish and Czech designers, was prepared by Pavla Rossini and Jiří Pelcl in collaboration with renowned professionals in the given field – Ivana Čapková, Jens Overbye, Dagmar Koudelková and Anežka Šimková, as well as Klára Peloušková, a student at the AAAD Department of Theory and History of Art. 

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Title: The Library
Subtitle: Books and eBooks, Collections and Databases
Original title: Knihovna
Original subtitle: Svazky a digitalizáty, sbírky a databáze
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Authors: Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Pavla Pauknerová
Designed by: Anežka Hrubá Ciglerová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-48-7
Selling price: 150 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 44
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: The Library. Books and eBooks, Collections and Databases project presents an analytical as well as a visionary view on what books were like and might be like in the future. The exhibition and the catalogue introduce selected publications from the library of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The scope includes earlier acquisitions and publications important in terms of the history of typography and graphic design (Owen Jones, Eadweard Muybridge, László Moholy-Nagy, Augustin Tschinkel, Le Corbusier, Ladislav Sutnar, Qi Bai-Shi, Armin Hofmann, Henry Dreyfuss, George Lois). In addition, the project involves digital interpretations of these book artefacts executed in the course of 2017 by the students of the Department of Graphic Design and Visual Communication. These pieces indicate how new technologies change the established analogue book form and how they influence the ways of reading books. This group comprises work with virtual and augmented reality, designs of database environments, prototypes of mobile and web applications. Attention is also paid to the history and classification of the book collection of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design and to issues opened by the digital media at a more general level of library systems. 

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Title: Green Fox Street 
Subtitle:
Original title: Za Zelenou liškou
Original subtitle:
Book language: English edition
Author: Jan Kolský
Designed by: Anežka Minaříková
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-74-6
Selling price: 190 CZK
Binding: paperback (in cardboard box)
Number of pages: non-paged book
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: The book not only reconstructs but also constructs the apartment and studio of Ester Krumbachová, prominent artist of the Czechoslovak new wave, based on her peers’ memories and her estate which is being researched by art specialists and art historians. Her apartment represents a starting point of an outline of ideas behind the work of this artist – film director, costume designer, screenwriter and writer –, her life and historical context. Ester Krumbachová lived in this apartment since the early 1960s until her death in 1996. She not only lived there but also (especially after the so-called Normalization hindered her film career) worked and met with her collaborators and friends. In fact, she made it her inner exile. In the book her apartment, its functions and context are shown through an extensive interview of her friends and collaborators that visited her as well as through digital images in which the virtual space of the 3D reconstruction blends with the photographs taken at those times. The fiction based on virtual reconstruction, archive material and compilation of the interviewees’ memories offers an insight into the artist’s life, work and times. Introduction Edith Jeřábková. 

Title: Leopold Bauer
Subtitle: Häretiker der modernen Architektur
Original title: Leopold Bauer
Original subtitle: Heretik moderní architektury
Book language: German edition
Author: Jindřich Vybíral
Designed by: Štěpán Malovec
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-62-3
Selling price: 850 CZK
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 580
Number of illustrations: 452
Annotation: At the turn of the twentieth century, Leopold Bauer (1872–1938) was one of the leading representatives of modern architecture in Central Europe. He is considered to be the designer of the first modern building in the Habsburg Monarchy and the author of the first philosophical and theoretical reflection on modern architecture in this region. Later, however, he would turn his back on these views and embrace Neo-Historicism. He severely criticized his teacher Otto Wagner and later succeeded him as professor, allegedly with support from conservative politicians. This monograph on Bauer’s architectural and design work is based on research conducted in the extensive collection of his writings archived at the Albertina Museum in Vienna and on systematic field studies of the buildings he designed, mostly in the Czech Republic and Austria. Bauer’s oeuvre is subjected to stylistic analysis and an interpretation of its substance, the results of which are presented in the broader intellectual and cultural context of the era. Historicizing Bauer’s work poses a substantial methodological problem to the researcher: How can one value not only the innovativeness of his works, but also the moments in which they preserve or create traditions? In an attempt to restore the place of such architects in history, architectural historians use the term “a different tradition of modernism.” Bauer’s works are examined based on the hypothesis that he did not abandon modernism but merely criticized it. Therefore, this book does not just contain an analysis of more than 300 of Bauer’s designs and buildings, but it also contributes to a new definition of modern architecture. The original Czech version of the book, Leopold Bauer: Heretik moderní architektury (UMPRUM 2015), has now been published in a revised and expanded German edition by the renowned Swiss publisher Birkhäuser.

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Title: Nail Art
Subtitle: Space for Sale
Original title: Nail Art
Original subtitle: Space for Sale
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Peter Fabo
Designed by: Petr Bosák, Robert Jansa
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-33-3
Selling price: 350 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: non-paged book
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: In the Catalogue, renowned photographer Peter Fabo combines several aspects of his artwork. “Through an assemblage of multi-layered visual material and texts, Fabo has conceived a comprehensive collection, in which creative and art techniques intertwine with explanatory and interpretative processes, thus composing a unique whole. Such a combination of conceptual approach and material-specific artwork is innovative in many aspects. From our viewpoint of “readers”, the book instigates both the acts of viewing and reading, permeating in a non-codified form, which is thus open to our own interpretation.” (citation from an article by Kamil Nábělek)  

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Title: Gottfried Semper: Wissenschaft, Industrie und Kunst
Subtitle:
Original title: Gottfried Semper: Věda, průmysl a umění
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-German bilingual edition
Editors: Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Tomáš Zapletal
Designed by: Štěpán Marko
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-14-2
Selling price: 520 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 240
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: Commented translation of the German publication Wissenschaft, Industrie und Kunst by Gottfried Semper, originally published in 1852; the Czech edition was prepared by Lada Hubatová-Vacková and Tomáš Zapletal who also selected the accompanying pictures. The essay Science, Industry and Art was written directly in connection with the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and served as a reference document for all the subsequent influential works of Gottfried Semper (1803–1879), an architect and historicism theorist, as well as for the nascent field of applied arts. Applied arts, which Semper described back then on the background of the Great Exhibition, subsequently expanded from England and swiftly developed throughout the Continental Europe.  A dense institutional network of academies and museums of applied arts was gradually established. The translation of Semper’s essay is therefore essential for understanding the genesis of the “Kunstindustrie” concept and of the modern discourse on applied arts. The bilingual (Czech-German) edition of Semper’s “programme manifest” also includes expert postscripts written by Jindřich Vybíral and the editors. The above reasons instigated the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague (AAAD), whose identity and philosophy are built on Semper’s historical concept, to take charge of the first translation of the aforementioned essay into the Czech language. 

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Title: OCH! Olgoj Chorchoj: Logic of Emotion
Subtitle:
Original title: OCH! Olgoj Chorchoj: Logika emoce
Original subtitle:
Book language: English edition
Editors: Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Rostislav Koryčánek
Designed by: Jiří Karásek, Tereza Pavelková (Marvil Studio)
Publishers: UMPRUM / Moravian Gallery in Brno
ISBN: 978-80-87989-29-6
Selling price: 990 CZK
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 252
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: Designers and architects Michal Froněk and Jan Němeček established an associated studio – Olgoj Chorchoj – in 1990.  Since 2000, they have been the Heads of the Product Design Studio of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. Olgoj Chorchoj is a leading studio in the given field both in the Czech Republic and worldwide. The book presents the professional development of Olgoj Chorchoj in the areas of design, architecture and exhibition management through authorial essays and a complete list of their works implemented to date. The works created by Olgoj Chorchoj in the period from 1990 to 2016 are symptomatic for presentation of the wider framework of the post-communist transformation (in the areas of applied design, academic art education, plant manufacturing and “restart” of the capitalist market economy). From the viewpoint of the history and theory of design, the activities of Olgoj Chorchoj are noteworthy given their initial inclination towards emotive postmodernism and the later shift to the plain and logical principles of neomodernism. The book is published on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition held at the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Museum of Applied Arts (9 December 2016 to 16 April 2017). The texts were written by Tulga Beyerle, Andrea Březinová, David Crowley, Michael Horsham, Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Rostislav Koryčánek, Adam Štěch, Petr Volf, Jan Wollner. The catalogue, issued in the Czech and English language versions, is published in co-operation with the Moravian Gallery in Brno. 

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Title: POP10
Subtitle:
Original title: POP10
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Petr Babák
Designed by: Petr Babák et al.
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-08-1
Selling price: 304 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: non-paged book
Number of illustrations: only illustrations
Annotation: The POP10 Catalogue is prepared on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the AAAD Graphic Design and New Media Studio. Throughout its existence, this “Treasure Island” has been attended by many pre-eminent students, who have naturally brought the field of graphic design to reach new heights. The Studio commenced its activities by an ambitious, albeit perhaps slightly naive and utopian, Manifesto, which has nonetheless gained realistic outlines in the end. Several noticeable “graphic design groups” have formed within the Studio, such as Kolektiv, Mütanta, Deep Throat, Strčprstskrzkrk, Advancedesign, Okolo, Dip, Paralell Practice, Very Popular Office, Vajco and others. The Catalogue is a follow-up to the Treasure Island catalogue presented in the form of a mysterious box five years ago. It is being prepared by Petr Babák, Lukáš Kijonka, Jan Matoušek, Jaromír Skácel, Richard Rozhoň and Zdeněk Kvasnica.  

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Title: Heritage
Subtitle: Tradition, Innovation, Fashion
Original title: Dědictví
Original subtitle: Tradice, inovace, móda
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Alice Klouzková
Designed by: Adam Uchytil
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-19-7
Selling price: 490 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 168
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: The book presents the works of Alice Klouzková created within her postgraduate studies at the AAAD Fashion Design Studio. She focuses on the traditional Czech and Moravian techniques and their use in the contemporary fashion design. The author’s intention is to prove that rather than being obsolete, the techniques can find their use even as functional component of contemporary fashion design. Her main emphasis is on presentation of the modern innovative use of each technique. The book was prepared to accompany an exhibition held at the AAAD Gallery in November and December 2016. 

Title: Textile and Experiment
Subtitle:
Original title: Textil a experiment
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Jitka Škopová
Designed by: Petr Hrůza
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-28-9
Selling price: 750 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 256
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: A bilingual catalogue of the AAAD Textile Design Studio presents a selection of student works from the years 2012 to 2016, experimenting with materials in ways uncommon for ordinary perception of textiles. The students created projects for various areas of textile design, both two- and three-dimensional, where textile is used either as traditional or alternative material. Their creative works brought ideas and solutions that were not only novel, innovative, with great aesthetic value and applying expert knowledge, but also respected the principles of sustainable development and use of local materials and waste. Every so often, new “smart” materials are introduced to the market and the technological development opens new ways and areas for designing, manufacturing and use of textiles. Thanks to their specific knowledge of materials and textile techniques, textile designers are uniquely positioned to make use of such new alternatives. In addition to experimental approaches, the tuition at the Studio is focused on traditional textile techniques; repeating, infinite and solitary patterns; tapestry; and the area of art design. 

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Title: Rony Plesl. My Flesh
Subtitle:
Original title: Rony Plesl. My Flesh
Original subtitle:
Book language: English-Czech bilingual edition
Editor: Adam Štěch
Designed by: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss (Okolo)
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-18-0
Selling price: 600 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 344
Number of illustrations:
Annotation: The book My Flesh by Rony Plesl is published on the occasion of his professorial lecture at the Academy and his retrospective exhibition held in the Royal Summer Palace (Belvebilingual dere) at the Prague Castle. It provides an introduction to the author’s work, his inspirations and opinions on design and fine arts.  The book was edited by Adam Štech, a curator and art theorist, whose in-depth interview with Rony Plesl about art, design and life constitutes the first part of the book. The second part is dedicated to Plesl’s current work, consisting mostly of fine arts, and the exhibition which is currently held at the Prague Castle. The third part presents a selection of the author’s works since 1990 to date.

Title: Rest in Peace
Subtitle: Guide to Czech Typographers’ Graves
Original title: Spěte sladce!
Original subtitle: Průvodce po hrobech českých typografů
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Matyáš Machat
Designed by: Matyáš Machat
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-17-3
Selling price: 400 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: non-paged book
Annotation: The book tracks graves or places containing the scattered ashes of thirty-six outstanding personalities of Czech type design and typography. Each personality is given the space of two spreads that comprise a photograph of their tombstone or place containing their scattered ashes, a brief profile focused on their typographic work and a copy of frottage of the tombstone typography. The book is divided according to particular cemeteries or places where the personalities were buried or their ashes scattered; each of these sections is introduced by a double-page photography of the particular burial ground. By way of supplement there is a map insert that shows the precise location of graves or places containing the scattered ashes. 

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Title: Building a State
Subtitle: The Representation of Czechoslovakia in Art, Architecture and Design
Original title: Budování státu
Original subtitle: Reprezentace Československa v umění, architektuře a designu
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Authors: Milena Bartlová, Jindřich Vybíral et al.
Designed by: Jan Čumlivski
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-01-2
Selling price: 570 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 520
Annotation: With select exhibits of various art media on display, this exhibition shows the ways in which Czechoslovakia was presented in 1918–1939 and 1945–1992 as a state entity, and how the visual arts and its institutions played a role in representing the country. The list of art media is extremely broad and ranges from small- and large-scale oil paintings and bronze sculptures to prints, photographs, installations, and architectural models and plans, to films and even product design, exhibition design and organization, and the clothing made by the Centre for Folk Art Production (ÚĽUV). Instead of the usual art-history canon, this exhibition will present a cross-section of the true form of the period’s visual history. The exhibition will include the publication of a large catalogue with abundant pictorial documentation and interesting essays. Accompanying programs will be geared toward both children and youth, and the older generations – the witnesses of Czechoslovakia.

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Title: Three Hundred Treasures
Subtitle: Chinese Porcelain in the Waldstein, Schwarzenberg and Lichnowsky Family Collections
Original title: Tři sta drahocenností
Original subtitle: Čínský porcelán ze sbírek Valdštejnů, Schwarzenbergů a Lichnowských
Book language: English edition
Author: Filip Suchomel
Designed by: Štěpán Malovec
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-66-5
Selling price: 700 CZK
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 512
Number of illustrations: 310
Annotation: Chinese porcelain ware is contained in many major art collections worldwide. The Czech Republic also has interesting collections, which, however, have not previously been very well-known to the wider public. The boom in the trade of Chinese porcelain is linked to the discovery of the trade routes to China in the 16th century. Porcelain then became a popular artistic item that adorned the residences of the richest aristocrats in other European countries, as well as in our country during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II. Chinese porcelain can be found in a number of our castle and palace collections. The largest of these are mainly gathered in the former Waldstein, Schwarzenberg and Lichnowsky dominions, namely at Hluboká nad Vltavou, Český Krumlov, Mnichovo Hradiště, Duchcov and Hradec nad Moravicí castles. This publication is the result of the research project: "Chinese Applied Art from the Czech Collections", which aimed to professionally explore collections of Chinese applied art, handicraft, folk art and ethnographic items collected in Czech castles, palaces and regional museums. The book is produced in separate Czech and English editions. 

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Title: K.O.V. Studio – Concept, Object, Meaning
Subtitle: Seven Years
Original title: Ateliér K.O.V. – Koncept, Objekt, Význam
Original subtitle: Sedm let
Book language: English-Czech bilingual edition
Editor: Eva Eisler
Designed by: Petr Bosák, Robert Jansa
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-81-8
Selling price: 600 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 240
Number of illustrations: 271
Annotation: The book features selected student projects of K. O. V. Studio from the period of 2007–2014 and constitutes a document and testimony of an ongoing creative process, of conceptual and analytical thinking, of searching for the essence of things in between art and design… The studio headed by Eva Eisler trains jewelers and designers, and makes students understand the significance of even the smallest details or fragments of a complex structure and their role in the overall framework in relation to design, architecture and fine arts. Students get the chance to experiment with various materials, applications and technological procedures thus later they have a large range of professional options in their field. The publication contains texts written by prominent Czech and foreign experts (Helen W. Drutt, Eva Eisler, Toni Greenbaum, Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Petra Matějovičová), documentation of installations, workshops and training abroad as well as an overview of the studio activities and achievements.

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Title: A Strange House?
Subtitle: Architecture of German Bohemians 1848–1891
Original title: Cizí dům? / Ein fremdes Haus?
Original subtitle: Architektura českých Němců 1848–1891 / Die Architektur der Deutschböhmen 1848–1891
Book language: Czech-German bilingual edition
Author: Věra Laštovičková
Designed by: Toman Graphic Design
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-80-1
Selling price: 400 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 348
Annotation: During the 19th century Czechs and Germans found themselves on opposite sides of the barricade in the process of development of civil and national society. Either nation strove to define and defend its own identity. Czechs continued to increase their social status, while Germans struggled to keep their position. Architecture bears most remarkable testimony to their aspirations, evident especially in buildings closely connected to the national cause: German association houses, German theatres, German town halls, Turnverband gymnasiums, Lutheran or Old Catholic churches. The book not only outlines the work of German Bohemian architects but also describes the character of town architecture in the former German-speaking areas. Its primary aim is to find an answer to the question of how the German Bohemians’ architecture contributed to formation of their national consciousness in the turbulent period from the revolution of 1848 – called the Spring of Nations – up to the opening of the General Land Centennial Exhibition which was held in 1891 and featured just one nation of the Czech lands – Czechs. In the 1850s it was not important yet whether the project of a Czech national theatre should be designed by an architect of German stock, while by the end of the century two rival parties stood against each other. Was there really a gap between the Czech and German achitecture, though? 

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Title: Modfolk. Modernity in Folkness
Subtitle: Studio of Fashion and Footwear Design of Liběna Rochová at UMPRUM
Original title: Modfolk. Modernita v lidovém
Original subtitle: Ateliér designu oděvu a obuvi Liběny Rochové na UMPRUM
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editor: Lada Hubatová-Vacková
Designed by: Štěpán Marko
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-87989-10-4
Selling price: 250 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 128
Annotation: The catalogue features the new collection created at the UMPRUM Studio of Fashion and Footwear Design headed by the distinguished fashion designer Liběna Rochová. The Modernity in Folkness collection draws on research on history of folk craft and vernacular architecture and deals with numerous patterns and photographs from the UMPRUM library. It focuses on the correlation of folk craft and modernistic design, i. e. on typology of simple patterns and construction solutions. The Modernity in Folkness collection constitutes a follow-up project to the much acclaimed fashion collection Simple for Simple 2013 (Bohemia Collection). The catalogue accompanied the exposition held at the Jurkovič Villa in Brno (26. 6. – 1. 11. 2015). It is complemented by an essay written by Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Liběna Rochová’s account of the genesis and process of creation of the fashion collection and profiles of the represented authors. 

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Title: Second Nature
Subtitle:
Original title: Druhá příroda
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Authors: Ondřej Dadejík, Pavel Sterec
Designed by: Jan Brož, Michal Landa (Parallel Practice)
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-86-3
Selling price: 300 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 126
Annotation: The book Second Nature deals with the phenomenon of “politicized” nature. It treats of woods that were designed and planted by people as memorials or monuments and it discusses boundaries between the natural and the man-made. It tries to pinpoint and acknowledge the tension that arises between nature shaped for ideological purposes on one side and natural environment that surrounds and naturalizes it on the other side. This conflict constitutes the essential topic of the book and does not appear to be a call for “resigned” return to virgin state but to be a driving force of a creative process – of a new creation. The topic is developed through a case study that aims to grasp the phenomenon of woods planted in various times at various places so as to manifest a particular political message or become a monumental allusion. The book contains photographs of woods planted in the mid-20th century and shaped as words Hitler (the Czech Republic), Tito (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Lenin (Belarus), and also of the Forest of the Martyrs (Israel). The last set of photographs documents planting of the new Forest of Growth (the Czech Republic). The book gradually explores fascination of wood as natural environment, of wood as a monument and ruin and, finally, as art motivated by this fascination and it tries to capture or to recreate this effect. After all, even the structure of the book reflects the contradictions that we perceive in these woods (www.facebook.com/Druha.priroda).

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Title: Catalogue of Ceramics and Porcelain Studio 2011–2014
Subtitle:
Original title: Katalog Ateliéru keramiky a porcelánu 2011–2014
Original subtitle:
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Editors: Maxim Velčovský, Milan Pekař
Designed by: Jan Buchtela, Vojtěch Říha
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-85-6
Selling price: 20 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: non-paged book
Annotation: The catalogue features a selection of the best student projects created at the Ceramics and Porcelain Studio in recent years. This bilingual catalogue serves as presentation of the studio both in our country and abroad (e. g. at the Venice Biennale or the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan etc.). The idea is to give wider publicity to this field and point to the potential of creation and experimentation. The publication contains an introduction written by Maxim Velčovský, the head of the studio, and an essay written by Milan Hlaveš, the head of the collection of glass, ceramics and porcelain at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. However, the core of its contents is the visual documentation of student projects that are most illustrative of the purpose of the studio. Each photograph represents a “miniportrait” of a particular author, including information about the project, material, technique and concept of the work.

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Title: Friedrich Ohmann
Subtitle: The Reinvention of the Baroque and the Beginnings of Modern Architecture in the Czech Lands
Original title: Friedrich Ohmann
Original subtitle: Objev baroku a počátky moderní architektury v Čechách / Die Entdeckung des Barocks und die Anfänge der modernen Architektur in Böhmen
Book language: Czech-German bilingual edition
Author: Jindřich Vybíral
Designed by: Tomáš Nedoma
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-72-6
Selling price: 300 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 352
Annotation: The architect Friedrich Ohmann (1858–1927) was the first professor of architecture at the School of Applied Arts in Prague and a prominent representative of late Historicism and early Modernism in the Czech lands. During the decade of his academic career in Prague he played a significant part in awakening interest in the Czech Baroque. The exposition and publication feature his work in the Czech lands and the idea of modern architecture that Ohmann asserted at the turn of the 19th and 20th century: he preferred synthesis of historical themes creatively reinvented in accord with the demands of modern life to reduction of forms and adaptation to rationalism of civil engineering. 

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Title: More Work
Subtitle: Studio of Graphic Design and Visual Communication / Student works from the years 2006–2013
Original title: More Work
Original subtitle: Ateliér grafického designu a vizuální komunikace / Studentské práce z let 2006–2013
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: team of authors
Designed by: Kristýna Greplová
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-74-0
Selling price: 300 CZK
Binding: paperback (in a special box)
Number of pages: 600 (volume 1, 2)
Annotation: The comprehensive two-volume publication More Work documents various attitudes of particular students and their search for unbeaten paths. Their solutions to thematic tasks are often daring or even provocative but always feasible. The UMPRUM Studio of Graphic Design and Visual Communication trains students for work in all fields of graphic design as independent creative personalities capable of complying with graphic assignment, communicating in the given space and perfecting the given task down to the smallest detail. Students of the Studio of Graphic Design and Visual Communication headed by Professor Rostislav Vaněk carried out not only academic projects but also created e. g. visual styles for various institutions. The book More Work contains a large range of visual and textual materials and tracks the past seven years of the Studio activities. It won a prize at the Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2013 competition and at the European Design Awards 2014, too. 

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Title: National Style
Subtitle: Arts and Politics
Original title: Národní styl
Original subtitle: Kultura a politika
Book language: Czech-English bilingual edition
Author: Vendula Hnídková
Designed by: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-62-7
Selling price: 150 CZK
Binding: paperback
Number of pages: 192
Annotation: The National Style entered the Czech art scene at the end of WWI, when the feeling of victory was so intense that it stimulated and confirmed new content in one branch of Czech art, craft and architecture. The ambition to establish a kind of Czech national culture on the state platform was motivated by the effort to give the Czechoslovak Republic a fundamental and predominantly Slavic character. Pavel Janák, Josef Gočár and František Kysela, Czech architects and the main personalities behind the National Style, aimed at developing specific features and ways of expression which would be inspired by the local temperament. However, the artists did not attempt at direct “quotation” of the motives one can find in ethnographic materials; their pursuit was to translate the essence of folk art into their own work using their personal style. In the first half of the 1920s, the original enthusiasm for the National Style was beginning to be attacked and criticized by the followers of the international avant-garde centered around Karel Teige. The National Style´s short existence was ended by the Paris Expo after which Janák and Gočár abandoned the ornamental approach, which at that point was surviving only at certain state schools and in the work of some regional architects.

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Title: … and the Chinese Cliffs Emerged out of the Mist
Subtitle: Perception and Image of China in Early Photographs
Original title: … a z mlhy zjevily se útesy čínské
Original subtitle: Obraz Číny v prvních fotografiích
Book language: English edition
Authors: Filip Suchomel, Marcela Suchomelová
Designed by: Štěpán Malovec
Publisher: UMPRUM
ISBN: 978-80-86863-19-1
Selling price: 100 CZK
Binding: hardcover
Number of pages: 296
Number of illustrations: 124
Annotation: The book introduces the reader to the topic of depictions of China, its inhabitants and life and customs in the 19th century in photographs and in illustrations in contemporary magazines and books. The essays track in detail the gradual transformation of this documentation in the usage of the new media of photography and the establishment of its role as a model for improving the recording of daily life and customs. The book deals at great length with the boom of photography in several Chinese open ports as well as in other important Chinese locations where, apart from views of the landscape and cities, posed images of local people were taken. Foreigners, namely Europeans and Americans, focused on the production of photographs but soon the first local photographers also started their own thriving photographic studios. The authors also discuss the contemporary travel literature, mainly that which was available at that time in Central Europe. One part of the book is a comprehensive catalogue with detailed descriptions of 124 photographs from the collections of the Moravian-born Erwin Dubsky and Heinrich Wawra who visited China in the 1860s and 1870s and acquired important collections of Chinese albumin images in the local photographic studios from European and Chinese photographers. The book has an index of names and places and an extensive visual documentation accompanying individual chapters. The book is produced in separate Czech and English editions.