We would like to inform you that, due to technical reasons, we must postpone the opening of the new collection exhibition “Art of Asia Across Space and Time.” Originally scheduled to open at the end of April in the Salm Palace, the exhibition requires more time to prepare.
We will announce the new opening date in the first half of May.
Thank you for your understanding.
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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The Collection of Asian Art of the National Gallery in
Prague presents a selection of 520 artworks from Asia and the Islamic world,
spanning 5,000 years, in a new exhibition at the Salm Palace, including works
placed in the context of cultural relations with Central Europe.
Divided into two main parts, the exhibition focuses on
themes related to the cultural history of the Czech lands and highlights the
qualities and significance of works from Asian and Islamic visual cultures in
their original context. It will also reveal the collection provenance of the
works, including the manner of their acquisition into the NGP collections.
The introductory section will recall the historical
context of European orientalism and colonial politics that helped spread
knowledge about Asian and Islamic artistic traditions, as well as art collecting
practices in the Czech lands from the 16th to the 20th centuries. In addition
to the historicising presentations of Asian and Middle Eastern countries at
world exhibitions, shop window displays with “goods from the Orient”, or
private interiors with “oriental” decoration, the exhibition will showcase
significant Czech scholars, collectors, and artists from the turn of the 19th
and 20th centuries who reflected Asian and Islamic art in either scholarly or
creative ways.
The second, larger section of the exhibition presents the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Tibetan, and Islamic cultural areas from the 3rd millennium BCE to the present, viewed through the lens of contemporary interdisciplinary approaches in art history, Asian and Islamic studies, and museology. In thematic contexts, it explores spiritual traditions, writing and calligraphy, decoration and ornamentation, and the world of nature and people in individual visual cultures. Given the nature of collecting in the Czech lands, the representation of cultural areas and historical periods in the collection is uneven.
The second, larger section of the exhibition presents the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Tibetan, and Islamic cultural areas from the 3rd millennium BCE to the present, viewed through the lens of contemporary interdisciplinary approaches in art history, Asian and Islamic studies, and museology. In thematic contexts, it explores spiritual traditions, writing and calligraphy, decoration and ornamentation, and the world of nature and people in individual visual cultures. Given the nature of collecting in the Czech lands, the representation of cultural areas and historical periods in the collection is uneven.
The exhibition offers a space for exploring
intercultural connections and critically revisiting historical approaches as
one of the goals of decolonisation in museum practice. It aims to bridge
stereotypical Eurocentric views and consider the perspective of Asian experts
in the interpretation and presentation of artworks, in order to achieve a more
comprehensive understanding. The exhibition will include audiovisual and
interactive elements, spaces for rest and meditation, a teaching studio, and
tactile artworks for visually impaired or blind visitors as well as anyone
else.