"Quarks and Cracklings": Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+
About the exhibition
· Show originalI. MEMORY IS NOT AN ARCHIVE
The exhibition Memory is Not an Archive was created as part of the research and exhibition project Quarks and Cracklings: Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+. The project, accompanied by a professional publication, was supported within the NAKI III Olomouc in 3D grant program and is implemented in cooperation with Palacký University Olomouc. It presents the transformations of the Olomouc art scene after 1989, emphasizing personalities and works, as well as the activities of independent initiatives and galleries that shaped the cultural life of the city over the last thirty years.
The exhibition Memory is Not an Archive was created as part of the research and exhibition project Quarks and Cracklings: Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+. The project, accompanied by a professional publication, was supported within the NAKI III Olomouc in 3D grant program and is implemented in cooperation with Palacký University Olomouc. It presents the transformations of the Olomouc art scene after 1989, emphasizing personalities and works, as well as the activities of independent initiatives and galleries that shaped the cultural life of the city over the last thirty years.
Memory is Not an Archive maps the transformations of the Olomouc gallery scene between 1990 and 2020 and presents a selection of institutions, independent initiatives, exhibition spaces, and projects that influenced the cultural life of the city during this period. It focuses primarily on what we refer to as "artistic operation." On the conditions under which contemporary art was presented in Olomouc, on the establishment and demise of galleries, their programmatic direction, organizational background, and the personalities of curators, gallerists, and artists.
The exhibition's foundation consists of nine case studies dedicated to Galerie pod podloubím, Divadlo hudby, Galerie Caesar, Galerie Půda, Galerie 36, Vitrína Deniska, Galerie W7, Galerie XY, and Telegraph Gallery. Although they represent only a tiny fraction of the more than one hundred and thirty exhibition venues that, to a greater or lesser extent, made their mark on the city's memory over three decades, they illustrate a diverse and interconnected system of actors, where subsidized organizations, associative and private galleries, independent initiatives, artist-run-spaces, site-specific galleries, and commercial and semi-commercial entities operated side by side.
The project "Quarks and Cracklings." Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+ was created as part of the Program for the Support of Applied Research in the Field of National and Cultural Identity for the years 2023 to 2030 (NAKI III) of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of the project "Olomouc in 3D – A New Dimension of the City's Cultural Heritage: Past, Present, Future" (DH23P03OVV018).
The exhibition does not merely rely on data, information, and documents, but also presents original or updated installations that were displayed in selected spaces. It thus offers a narrow, partial view of the transformations of Czech art from the first post-revolutionary years to the recent past. The selection includes reconstructions of happenings, original and restored works or their precise copies, documentation of defunct realizations, and updates of works whose meaning has changed over the years.
The aim of the exhibition is not to capture a unified collective memory or a complete archive of the local art scene. It is one of the possible reconstructions, created at a specific time and from the sources available to the curators. Memory is not an archive – and neither of them is the past itself. The exhibition is an attempt to get as close as possible to the past, even with the awareness that only a partial picture can ever emerge between a preserved document, a personal memory, and a contemporary interpretation.
Exhibition Information
EXHIBITION: Memory is Not an Archive. "Quarks and Cracklings": Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+
VENUE: Museum of Modern Art, Gallery
DATE: October 22, 2026 – March 21, 2027
OPENING: October 22, 2026 at 5:30 PM
AUTHOR: Jakub Frank
CURATORS: Klára Jeništová, Olga Š. Staníková
SPATIAL DESIGN: Vlastimil Sedláček
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Petr Šmalec
TRANSLATION AND LANGUAGE EDITING: Zuzana Henešová
INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář, Radka Žáková
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
PROMOTION: Tomáš Kasal, Martin Šinkovský
