All roads lead to Prague! Known for its art and design heritage, the city is the perfect destination for a short weekend trip (it’s four hours by train along a beautiful route). That said, you can also take a little Czech design excursion right here in Berlin: the current exhibition at the Bröhan Museum provides an overview of the most important movements of the country’s avant-garde. With over 300 paintings, graphics, collages, sculptures and photographs, the State Museum of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Functionalism shows the Czech contribution to European modernism. The exhibits are definitely modern: the floor lamp with table from Robert Slezák’s metal furniture factory “Bystřice pod Hostýnem” could have come straight out of the latest Salone del Mobile – and yet it is from 1930 (wow!) The graphic rugs from Villa Místecký by Josef Místecký would turn any living room into a contemporary Insta-dream, while Karol Teige’s collages evoke retro-futuristic dreamscapes. The objects in the show are testimonies of a certain time and offer inspiration, but they also tell the story and transformation of a country. A journey across national borders and through history – with ideas for the present.
Text: Milena Kalojanov / Photos: Martin Adam / Credit: Jiří Kroha, Arkudes Foundation, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023; František Muzika, National Gallery Prague 2023
Bröhan-Museum, Schloßstr.1a, 14059 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map
Hej Rup! Die tschechische Avantgarde until 03.03.2024 Tue–Sun 10–18h
@broehan_museum
