The summer edition of Soirée, a party organized by the art section of the Smíchov factory, will take place on Thursday, August 13. The program includes an opening reception at the Kostka Gallery, guided tours of the exhibitions and artists’ studios on the factory’s residential floor, and an art workshop.
 

Julius Reichel: Legacy of Blood / exhibition opening at Kostka Gallery

Artist Julius Reichel will fill the former glass melting furnace rooms with several hundred kilograms of discarded textiles. This monumental mass, which embodies the wear and tear and memories of many lives, is surrounded by walls covered with the artist’s paintings and calligraphic texts. The installation Legacy of Blood recycles matter, symbols, and blood—a legacy that cannot be set aside, only rewritten over and over again. The exhibition will open with a guided tour featuring Julius Reichl and Ján Gajdušek, co-curator of the exhibition. 

Cezary Poniatowski: Deep House / guided tour with curator Ján Gajdušek 

A surreally ghostly apartment abandoned by its original inhabitants. A microcosm of insects, bacteria, and viruses taking over objects. Coiled rugs, their shapes reminiscent of staring reptiles or the shrouds of human spectres. Insect-like creatures playing with objects like children learning how a household works. The solo exhibition by Polish artist Cezary Poniatowski will be presented by its curator, Ján Gajdušek. 

Guided Tour of the Studios & Open Studios 

A guided tour of the artists’ studios will take place during the evening. The residency team will present their work as well as the concept behind the entire A-i-R program. 

Open Studios

Zuzana Markéta Macková
Andréa Le Guellec
Rita Koszorús
Natália Sýkorová
Alžběta Bačíková
Roza Igzaw
anto_nie
Urban Space Epics

Rita Koszorús: How to Connect the Unconnectable (art workshop)

Following the guided tour of the residency floor, resident artist Rita Koszorús will lead a workshop titled How to Connect the Unconnectable. 

The collage technique allows us to create formal and visual connections that would never arise in reality. By reusing paper, photographs, texts, and colored surfaces, participants will create an original work on the theme of “still life,” understood not as a collection of objects but as a situation. We invite you to become the directors of your own collages, in which what you combine with what will be just as important as the way you create a dialogue between the individual elements.

Workshop capacity is limited to a maximum of 12 people. You can reserve a spot by emailing sona.mikulasova@meetfactory.cz by August 13 at 3:00 p.m. Reservations must be confirmed.