Arts Thread

Above: Adéla Zlámalová, UMPRUM / Syrena Xueyi Ma, RCA / Barbora Žentelová, UMPRUM / Stanislav Palát, UMPRUM / Arina Siryk, UMPRUM / Eduard Babák, UMPRUM

Students from the Royal College of Art, London and Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague UMPRUM, are exhibiting a collection of works that highlight the need to rethink how we design and perceive public space.

More than twenty students took part in the Highway Mindway project, which is being shown at the Vitrinka Gallery in the Czech Centre London. The project drew inspiration from a talk by architect Josef Pleskot which discussed the future of the Prague highway. Students then considered the reality of their own cities and the highways that cut through them, acting as both vital thoroughfares but also creating barriers for pedestrians and nature.

Four teachers from the Royal College of Art London (Wiebke Leister, Gary Clough) and the Studio of Photography II at the Prague UMPRUM (Alena Kotzmannová, Tomáš Souček), together with Ukrainian architect and photographer Alex Bykov, have prepared a multimedia exhibition project in collaboration with curator Michal Nanoru. During the semester-long online meetings, discussions on the topic were conducted, resulting in photo series, videos, photographic zines, and especially site-specific installations that were created in dialogue directly for the gallery space. The young artists were inspired by Josef Pleskot's lecture held on the 20th of October last year, during which he presented his vision of the future of Prague's highway.

For several years now, the issue of the Prague highway has been one of the topics discussed not only in professional circles. The highways generally "connect" or "cross" linearly, sometimes creating an unbreakable barrier. Part of the title of the exhibition Mindway, (flow of ideas) is based on sharing the students' knowledge and purposefully accentuating the importance of being aware of the environment and how it can (not) be influenced individually. Students from diverse backgrounds came out of the lived reality of "their cities" on different continents. The exhibition explores life (not only) around motorways but also permeates the environment of large urban agglomerations alongside London, Prague, and the Chinese port of Yantai.

"Based on the vision presented by architect Josef Pleskot, we are aware that the highway can be perceived in different ways. The thoroughfare, which divides the city center into two areas and has been a barrier for pedestrians so far, does not have to be only negative in the future. It points to the potential for new uses and the ability to view the issue of the "highway" through the reverse view of the "mindway", e.g. as a future urban boulevard, a cultural leisure zone. Highway Mindway is a challenge to think differently about public space and its shaping through interventions that can build on and reformat the existing structure," said Alena Kotzmannová, Head of the Studio of Photography II, UMPRUM.

Participating students from UMPRUM include: Adriána Ingeli, Lukáš Hlavín, Miriam Pružincová, Mizuki Sukagawa, Stanislav Palát, Ondřej Kubeš, Tatiana Zvolská, Lukáš Skála, Radka Čejdíková, Barbora Žentelová, Arina Siryk, Adéla Zlámalová, Eduard Babák, Šimona Němečková and Kristína Opálková.

The participating students from RCA are: Athena Wang, Vlado Nedkov and Syrena Xueyi Ma.

Highway Mindway is free to visit and is open now until 30 June 2023 at the Vitrinka Gallery in the Czech Centre London.