Trafacka: Temple of Freedom (1. – 30. 5. 2014)
Trafačka
Temple of Freedom
Internationally regarded Czech art collective in Red Gallery London
Exhibiting: Vojtěch Adamec, Prokop Bartoníček, Tomáš Bařinka, Aleš Brázdil, Michal Cimala, Linda Čihařová, Markéta Dlouhá Márová, Saša Dlouhý, Epos 257, H3T architekti, Matěj Hájek, Terezie Honsová, Anežka Hošková, Matěj Hrbek, Martina Chloupa, Martina Chwistková, Jakub Janovský, Lukáš Ježek, Josefína Jonášová, Jan Kaláb, Anja Kaufmann, Martin Krajc, Tomáš Linhart, Iacobi Lopatis, Karel Masař, Linda Mikolášková, Jakub Nepraš, Bet Orten, Stanley Povoda, Pravá radost, Michal Pustějovský, Jakub Roztočil, Tomáš Skála, Robert Šalanda, Pavel Šebek, Michal Škapa, Matěj Šrámek, Martin Vála, Jan Vlček, Aleš Zemene
Curators: Blanka Čermáková, Michal Cimala
Thursday
1st May from 7pm
Private View
Michal Cimala live performance
djs Udo Kraft, Lazy Eye & Easy Die & B大gir大
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DJ-B大gir大/464866690295521
Saturday
3rd May from 7pm
Documentary Film Screening
‘Trafacka – Temple of Freedom’
followed by Q&A
djs B大gir大, Udo Kraft
Exhibition opens Monday till Saturday
1pm – 7pm
Thursday 1st May 2014 – Friday 30th May 2014
with support of the Ministry of Culture of CR, the Czech Centre London, Techo, BU2R, Seat a FreeSaM
Trafačka, an internationally regarded Prague art collective, comes to Red Gallery London this May to showcase 39 international artists exhibiting graphics, paintings, photographs, mixed media and installations.
Trafačka transformed the industrial space, once an old electrical substation, into what is now a legendary gallery operating as a civic association linking buildings formerly forgotten and overlooked. Trafačka and Red Gallery unite in this extraordinary collaboration sharing not only similar trajectories in their mission to use neglected space, but their mutual understanding of the power of offering unbridled creative freedom to young up-and-coming artists, making it only natural that Trafačka comes to Shoreditch.
A gallery, exhibition hall and multifunction space – Trafačka thrives off of reinvention and regeneration. Although it began with a one-year contract and sense of permanent insecurity – or perhaps security, it has year after year grown to amass seven successful years of programming and events to date with domestic and international acclaim. While urbanisation has left its mark on Prague, Trafačka no longer sits in a bleak suburb populated by rag-and-bone men and other such ne’er-do-wells. Surrounding car parks have become huge shopping centres and office blocks; old multi-storey buildings have given way to modern apartment blocks. So what was meant to take the place of Trafačka has now come to pass, but around it not instead of it. The hall, courtyard, gallery and the large wall – this strangely elegant patchwork on a triangular ground plan has remained stubbornly in place – a testament to its position as a bastion of cultural rehabilitation. A deserted space has become an independent gallery, an established fixture on the art scene, and people living on the other side of the planet have learned how to pronounce the letter ‘č’. And for the month of May, Trafačka and Red Gallery join forces to showcase how communities can revitalize – and reflect on the power of regeneration from below.
