The Next Palace recalls the existence of the Trade Fair Palace in the last 90 years in the form of a narrative bend. The palace has had a troubled life. It is an epitome of modernistic arcades in the spirit of transparence, glass and iron, as Walter Benjamin points our in his Passagen-Werk. The palace designed for the Prague Sample Trade Fairs was built in 1925–1928 as the largest structure of its time, with long hallway-like arcades lined with glass windows to attract the craving look of a viewer on a leisurely walk. It was the architecture that even Le Corbusier admired. A devastating fire in 1974 caused by lack of care by varnishers was a turning point, but also heralded a new future, because the authorities decided that the palace would serve for the National Gallery. This art institution uses the palace’s frugal modernist architecture to present modern and contemporary art – the glamour of commodities was replaced with the glamour of art of the present.
Prepared in cooperation with Kolmo and Loom the Moon. Foto: National Gallery Prague
Curator: Helena Doudová
Shown in programme with European Architect Bohuslav Fuchs.