Gallery of the City of Blansko

The Blansko City Gallery was founded atop an earlier foundation in the 1990s, but its activities have attracted wider attention only in the 2010s, when the curatorial team began to work here. The personnel have gradually changed, but they have maintained the continuity of the quality exhibition programme for contemporary art. Thus, it continues to present work by established and lesser-known personalities, from younger and older generations, which often comments on current issues. Over time, there has been a tendency to look into environmental issues, feminist thinking and generally topical subjects. Especially recently, curators have also paid more attention to local contexts; creators, stories and events. The most interesting gallery program in the South Moravian “countryside” is also a testimony to their efforts to introduce and defend contemporary progressive art in the predominantly industrial and working-class environment of a small city (20,000 inhabitants), which has little motivation to receive it. But positive changes are starting to appear, and also in some other cities in the region. The gallery tries to participate in this process through other activities such as camps, courses, festival events, cooperation with other city-established and independent actors in the cultural milieu of Blansko. The search for ways to functionally connect this “alien civilization” with the local community remains an ongoing and stimulating task.