The books are Czech translations of the original French editions and are published for Czech readers by the Pink Box platform as part of its Monáda series.

The exhibition was created by Pink Box with the support of the French Institute in Prague.

Exhibiting Artists: David Böhm and Jiří Franta, Veronika Šrek Bromová, Sarah Dubná, Barbora Fastrová and Johana Pošová, Anna Hulačová, Lenka Klodová, Samuel Kollárik, Kateřina Komm, Marius Kotrba, Tadeáš Kotrba, Marie Lukáčová, Mothers and Fathers, Michael Nosek, Lucie Nováčková, Klára Samcová, Zuzana Svatik, Tereza Talichová

Curators: Eva Bláhová and Nina Moravcová (MUD)
Opening: February 14, 2026, at 4 pm

​Keyvan Paydar (*1984 Teheran, lives in Graz) studied painting and anthropology of art in Iran and sculpture with Markus Wilfling and ceramics with Irmgard Schaumberger in the master classes at Ortweinschule, Graz. Since 2013 he works as a freelance multimedia artist, art educator, musician and independent curator among others at „Atelierhaus Schaumbad Graz“ where he is working also as a board member since 2021. Paydar took part in international exhibitions, symposiums and residency-programs, ran a pop-up gallery in Graz and organized regional and international art projects.

It is said that the surface of the fourth planet of the Solar System was once covered by water. The Borealis Ocean left traces on the body of the planet in the form of vast deposits of salt and minerals, without altering the way Martian time is otherwise measured—one day there is 39 minutes longer, and a year lasts 687 days. Yet everything drags unbearably slowly due to the low temperature, at which toes and noses freeze—on average minus 63 degrees Celsius—and due to an atmosphere as thin as a layer of ice on a river in the first days of winter.

Curator: Piotr Sikora

Just as a photograph preserves traces, so too does the museum’s collection represent imprints of memory—formed not only by images but also by the people who stood at its inception. The genesis of the MUD* collections is linked to its first director, artistic photographer and curator in one, TOMÁŠ FASSATI (1952–2025). Fassati’s ambition to create a representative cross-section of Czech and Slovak photography, with occasional international overlaps, resulted in an extensive gathering of photographs and photographic devices, laying the foundations for today’s sub-collection of photography and sub-collection of design at MUD*.

The exhibition is conceived as a passage through the photo studio and the depository—spaces where photography is created, preserved, and rethought. It is at the same time a journey through time, guiding visitors through the building of the collection. The first room, titled Chamber of Light, draws on Fassati’s idea of developing the educational potential of the collection and actively involving the public. Through equipment for optical and light-based experiments, it offers interaction with the magic of photosensitivity as well as other principles of photography.

In the second room, titled Machines of Light, Iveta Schovancová transforms photographic devices from the design collection into a site-specific installation that links their function with visual reflection. The third room—First Imprint—recalls the daguerreotype, an early form of photography that preserves a unique moment with extraordinary intensity. In the section Book of Images, a selection of works recalls the beginnings of MUD* and the exhibition Nestors of Czech and Slovak Photography. Memory of the Depository reveals the background of the collection, turning the walls of the room into an open archive.

The current exhibition does not focus exclusively on the presentation of collection artifacts. Above all, it is a visual reflection on what photography can show us, what we wish to preserve in it—and how it can speak to us. Not only as an individual image, but also through the reflection of the building of the collection of the Museum of Art and Design.

On the contrary, through many years of research, the artist constantly returns to the medium in order to reevaluate its often problematic position. Through his work, Thýn speaks to the audience in a contemporary visual language and opens up current topics that directly affect it.

Photographer and visual artist Jiří Thýn graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 2009, where he studied under Pavel Štecha, who at the time focused mainly on documentary and classical photography. His work was influenced by the university’s cre­ative environment, but above all by the rapid rise of the internet and digital photography at the end of the 2000s. This led not only Thýn, but an entire generation of photographers, to reevaluate their relationship to classical analog photography. A year later, Thýn came to public attention with photographs presented at a group exhibition aptly titled Mutating Medium at Rudolfinum Gallery in Prague. In one interview at the time, the artist stated:
„I try to perceive things in the broadest possible context, not just as a sum of individual parts. I look for symbols around me that, rather than offering answers, inspire further questions and serve as a guide to a better understanding of my own existence.“

Looking at Thýn‘s work over the past fifteen years, we find that these words accurately capture its essence, and in the last three years, they seem to apply twice as much. In the exhibition Saturn’s Shadow, the artist presents his digital photographs in the form of a large-format curtain that guides visitors through the Šíma Hall, or adjusts them into a monumental lightbox without attempting to obscure its original function as an advertising banner. But what is it supposed to draw our attention to? Thýn also presents generated images activated through digital drawing and more intimate prints on glass. He examines how to enter the technical image with an impromptu gesture that would deepen the experience and convey emotion. However, gesture in his work does not only concern form, but also content. For Thýn, it lies within a decision of which images he turns our attention to. The former harmony and calm have been replaced by motifs of destruction and pulsating accumulated energy. Photography as a record of reality seems to have lost its informative value and does not allow for precise articulation of meaning. Perhaps this is why Thýn uses references to well-known works of art or, on a more general level, established iconographic themes that allow him to formulate a message that transcends specific space and time. There is no need to talk at length, a hint is enough. It seems that this unease is common to us all.

As part of the project, Nami nami studio also intervenes in the public space – by modifying part of the open area of the Na Bezděkově housing estate in Benešov. They temporarily transformed a grassy patch using simple elements (podium, slide, textile screen) into a space for free play. Children's Place thus shows that quality environments for children do not arise from regulations, but from courage, trust, and openness – and that the question is not just how to protect children, but also how to enable them to engage with the world around them.

Nami nami studio consists of architect Klára Koldová and designer Eduard Herrmann. Their work is about play, experimentation, and responsible approach to the environment. They use local and recycled materials, prefer low-tech solutions, and often manufacture objects by hand. One of the main lines of their work is play installations for children, which they designate as Nami Play – open structures supporting free play without given rules. These include, for example, the Nami Play Pavilion in Žižkov (Landscape Festival 2024) or the interactive playroom made from recycled materials presented at Designblok 2024.

PHOTO: David Peltán

Although at first glance it may be understood as a reference to a cheerful and carefree childhood, soon it becomes obvious that the motive also carries something unsettling. Through personal narrative, it conveys both joyful and somber (even traumatic) experiences deeply embedded in memories. Anna’s sculpture Slunečné dědictví synům a dcerám (Sunny Inheritance for Sons and Daughters) reflects not only the joy of the play, but also the sculptor's re­lationship to the land forcibly confiscated from her family during the collectivization period. Together with a pair of solitary sculptures, it enters into a dialogue with Klaudie’s large-scale collages, in which the painter explores the remote corners of personal and collective memory.

We would like to thank the Gočár Gallery and the Hunt Kastner Gallery for the loan of the exhibited sculptures.

Curator: Nina Moravcová
Graphic design: Onkubátor / Klára Zahrádková and Ondra Trnka
Photographer of the Exhibition: Radek Dětinský

ANNA HULAČOVÁ (1984) finds inspiration for her sculptural work in ancient cultures, folk traditions and Christian symbolism. Through numerous references to the art production of the past, she explores the historical context and causes of the situation we currently find ourselves in. Anna focuses on man’s impact on the landscape and the conflict between the natural world and the world of technology. In her work, she combines concrete with natural materials in an unusual way, completing it with photos and drawings, but also using traditional craft techniques such as ceramics and intarsia.

Anna studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in Jiří Róna's sculpture studio and in Jiří Příhoda's inter­media studio. In 2016–2018, she worked as an assistant in Tomáš Hlavina's sculpture studio. Her work is known to the Czech cultural public not only thanks to her participation in the final of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award in 2016, for which she won the Audience Award. She regularly presents her work to domestic audiences as well as in many renowned institutions and at contemporary art shows around the world.

In her work, KLAUDIE HLAVATÁ (1992) depicts the issues of intimacy and explores its limits and boundaries in relation to her personal perception of this topic. She interprets subjective life experiences through a combination of figurative painting and a combination of classical and digital collage. In her work, the figures are legibly recognizable, but often reworked or deformed. The surface is supplemented with photos or newspaper and magazine clippings. Through this technique, a multi-layered image is created that represents layers of the psyche, life events that recur or traumas that are rooted in the core of the human personality.

Klaudie graduated from the studio of Vladimír Skrepl and Jiří Kovanda at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and was a finalist for the Prize of Art Critique for Young Painting (2020) and the STRABAG Art Award (2021). Her works combine classical and digital techniques with an emphasis on physicality and introspective themes.

The climax of such an object’s existence may be a moment of interaction, presentation, but also destruction or transformation into another artwork. Another common aspect is the emphasis placed on the material which the objects are made from. The aim of the exhibition is to convey the unbroken connection between the creative process and the finished artwork, to communicate its impact on the viewer, and to suggest its potential demise once its function has been fulfilled. Each work carries a message about the experiences and thoughts of its creator, but also about the viewer’s act of looking and understanding.

Exhibitors: scenographer Zuzana Sceranková, designer
Tadeáš Podracký, designer Jana Trombíková, artistic duo Alex Selmeci and Tomáš Kocka Jusko, designer Daniela Barochová, painter Filip Dvorák, set designer Natálie Rajnišová, and textile artist Tereza Dvoráková.
External curatorial team: Tereza Havelková, Iveta Schovancová, Robin Havlík
Curator from MUD*: Nina Moravcová
Architectural design: Ruina office
Graphic design: Matouš Design Studio

The artist emphasizes the transformation of the image, which continues even after she finishes painting. She also thoughtfully shapes the environment in which she exhibits, aiming to engage the body and perceive through movement. This time, the visitor is invited to rest and introspection, because not only the garden but also the gardener gathers strength for spring.

Tereza Tomanová defended her diploma thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts in 2024 in the Painting Studio of Robert Šalanda and Lukáš Machalický. During her studies, she completed internships in the Intermedia II and Painting II studios at the Academy of Fine Arts and in the Glass Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM). She spent her foreign stays in Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

• AVU (Academy of Fine Arts)
• UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design)

Curator: Karolina Varvarovska
Photographer of the Exhibition: Radek Detinsky
Photographer the Opening: Tereza Culkova

The first stage, focusing on industrial and craft production, is showcased in a section dedicated to prefabricated glass and its use in architecture. The second stage highlights the possibilities of play through the reinterpretation and disruption of the original purpose of objects, as seen in the design-focused section. The final stage is represented by the interactive Workshop space, where the aforementioned principles converge and evolve into a new phase in the objects’ life cycle—marked by their obsolescence, transformation into waste, and systemic or unique methods of repurposing. The Workshop features objects made of diverse components and materials (wood, metal, silicone, concrete, etc.), inviting visitors to engage in open-ended, creative play.

The exhibited works, which explore the interplay of prefabricated forms, content, and meaning, are primarily made of glass. Many of them utilize the unique properties of borosilicate glass produced by the nearby Kavalierglass factory under the SIMAX brand. Known for its durability and versatility, this glass has inspired designers since the mid-20th century, particularly for use in chemical production, laboratory equipment, and complex architectural applications. This legacy is illustrated by the exhibited pieces, including works by studios such as Olgoj Chorchoj and Dechem, as well as the distinctive glass tile created by Jaroslava Brychtová and Stanislav Libenský for the New Stage of the National Theatre. Additionally, artist Lukáš Kalivoda presents a unique installation crafted from prefabricated glass tubes, housed in the exhibition’s lar­gest hall.

The project was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Central Bohemian Region.

FOTO: Radek Dětinský

Frantisek Janula created art for over fifty years in the city on the Seine, where he developed the legacy of the avant-garde from the first half of the last century, building upon the discoveries of European post-war art. In France, he met another Czech living in exile, Zdeněk Kirchner, whose works form a significant part of the graphics and painting sub-collections of the Museum of Art and Design Benešov (MUD*). In 2023, MUD* acquired ten artworks from František Janula's estate into its collections, and this gift became the initial impulse for organizing Janula's solo exhibition in Benešov.

Curator of the exhibition: Irena Masikova

The exhibition is held with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. It will present works from the collections of Museum Kampa and Gallery Klatovy / Klenová.

Photographer of the exhibition and opening: Tereza Culková

Since the 1970s, Silvia Billeter has been redefining graphic art, producing works ranging from small-scale pieces to large-format and three-dimensional prints. By layering diverse materials such as Japanese paper, foils, and gauze, and employing techniques like stitching, bending, or tearing, Billeter transforms two-dimensional images into spatial works. Her artistic practice transcends traditional graphic printing techniques, emphasizing materiality and form.

To contextualize Silvia’s work within its contemporary setting, the exhibition will also include pieces by Ladislav Čepelák, her professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, as well as by students who studied alongside her between 1969 and 1972 (Marie Blabolilová, Zuzana Nováčková, Michal Ranný, and others).

An extensive accompanying program has been prepared in collaboration with the Museum of Literature and Château Petrkov. Events will take place both at the Museum of Arts and Design Benešov and in Petrkov. On Tuesday, June 11 (starting at 6:00 PM), the Šíma Hall at MUD will host a screening of the documentary Petrkov 13, followed by a concert by songwriter Karel Vepřek featuring musical adaptations of Bohuslav Reynek’s poetry. Later in the summer, an excursion from Benešov to Château Petrkov will be organized in collaboration with Silvia Billeter, including a theater performance about Suzanne Renaud (scheduled for August 24).

The exhibition is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

Opening: June 6, 2024 (Thursday) at 7:00 PM

Photographer of the exhibition and opening: Radek Detinsky

In August 2024, visitors can explore, for example, the expanded edition of the book Prague’s Birds 1800–2020 (Birds – City – Hero’s Story), whose core was written in the 1940s by ornithologist and resistance fighter Veleslav Wahl. News from the world of fungi for children and youth will be brought by the illustrated book Myko from the popular publisher Baobab. In the category of Fine Literature, the top prize went to Daniel Flazsa’s novel Muklové a Šlajsny, inspired by the real-life story of a drug dealer. Also worth mentioning is the unique methodological tool The Career Counselor's Toolbox (Vercajk kariérového poradce) by the Center of Competencies, designed (not only) for high schools.

Visitors can immerse themselves in the world of books using a reading corner located directly within the exhibition. This reading area was created in collaboration with the Furniture Bank of the Central Bohemian Region, based in Benešov. This initiative represents another effort to reduce costs and waste in exhibition production while also highlighting the important work of a local organization.

The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Literary Memorial of the Nation and with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

The VR film, subtitled „Scream Out Your Inner Demons,“ offers not only a deep insight into the „dark night of the soul“ but also hope and a path to coping with illness. On this journey, viewers are guided by the main character, Ondřej. We share his feelings during his first depressive episodes on a family trip in childhood, at university while striving for perfect results, and later at work during daily battles with depressive „darkness.“ Together with him, the viewer moves through an interactive story, can literally touch his world, and lend the hero a helping hand.

The film allows viewers to briefly experience and understand what it's like to live with this illness and what mechanisms people with depression can use to feel better. Ondřej discovers that his path to fighting depression is through his own voice. The film „Darkness“ opens up discussion about mental pain, offers therapeutic effects, and hope that even with an illness like depression, one can lead a fulfilling life.

The interactive film „Darkening“ is controlled by voice and movement. It was selected for the Venice Immersive competition section at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the Czech Lion Awards 2022. We screen it on the hour, with the last screening at 5pm. Capacity is 4 places per time slot.

Film Producer: Frame Films
Co-producers: NowHere Media, Brainz Immersive
Financial Support: State Cinematography Fund, Unity for Humanity, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Filmtalent Zlín, O2, O2 Smart School, Next Generation EU, National Recovery Plan of the Czech Ministry of Culture.

The previous multimedia exhibitions (encompassing painting, sculpture, design, and other media) will be replaced by a more focused approach. Going forward, exhibitions of design and applied art will alternate with shows of regional independent artwork. These changes will enable deeper exploration of regional nuances in their historical context.

This year's focus on product design brings some of the region's best-known pieces to the exhibition halls. While exact geographical origin isn't the primary criterion, the exhibition includes Sedlčany kitchen knives from Kovodružstvo Sedlčany. The tools produced by Narex in Bystřice have long shaped everyday life on both national and international scales. Týnec's Jawa represents technological sophistication and traditional cooperation with transportation designers. The „product“ section also presents the Displaay type foundry established by Benešov native Martin Vácha, graphic design by Pavel Procházka, commercial photography by František Provazník, and innovative everyday objects by artist and designer Miroslav Stibůrek.
The second section maps individual artworks that bridge craft and applied art. Visitors can admire silk paintings and tapestries by UMPRUM graduate Brigita Krumphanzlová, diverse woodwork by Jan Amos Vaněk, Jan Lamr, and Ivan Balata, and works by Karolína Auzká that play with form and concept while challenging material conventions. Vladimír Rozkovec exhibits small leather works, while designer Oldřich Sládek presents jewelry. Multidisciplinary artist and designer Jan Čihák shows fused glass plate tables made from recycled materials. The exhibition halls also proudly present works by Kateřina Zadáková and a special piece by Václav Vlk.

The 2024 Benešov Salon not only showcases artwork selected through an open call and pieces by significant regional producers but also depicts the city's visual atmosphere through the „Looking for Graphic Design in Benešov“ initiative. The exhibition's grap­hic identity and accompanying activities rely on regional support.

Curators: Anna Sejková, Karolína Varvařovská, and Pavel Liška

Every organism exists in a delicate entanglement with the life around it. Humans are no exception, yet they live with a naive notion of their own resilience. They bear a certain responsibility to their environment, which dissipates in a sea of perceptual noise, in the whirl of daily stress, and in the systematic illusion of individualism. The exhibition Critters uncovers our planet's fate through the memories of future generations, which are inevitably selective and distorted by nostalgia. It thus invites viewers on an imaginary journey through time to an Earth shaped by our current way of life.

SEBASTIANO TOMASSO (1996) graduated in Visual Communication from Leeds Art University. Through abstraction, asemic writing, and post-vandalistic installation, he captures the transience of everyday life and discovers its subtle beauties. He offers a certain perspective: a plastic bag floating in the wind is waste, but also reminds us of a translucent jellyfish's dance. Tomasso works with traditional media as well as a range of urban and natural findings, treasures, and waste.

AIDAN ZUKOWSKI (1997) is completing his master's degree in Industrial Design at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM). In his free time, he also engages in painting, photography, and music, through which he explores, among other things, the role of technology in late capitalism.

The exhibition, both in its theme and production, loosely connects to the topic of care and the degrowth movement, which MUD* has been focusing on more intensively since the end of 2022.

Curator: Karolína Varvařovská

Opening: Thursday / 15 February 2024 / 7:00 pm

Through numerous small-format occasional prints, the exhibition follows Jiří Šetlík's theo­retical approach, maps the collection's con­nection to Benešov, and traces the history of its display. Special attention is paid to the relationships between the recipient and various circles of senders – his friends and acquaintances primarily (but not exclusively) from the art scene. Visitors can see, for example, Ivan Kafka's three-dimensional PF cards, Karel Nepraš's depressive New Year commentaries, Olga Čechová's psyche­delic illustrations, and Miroslav Horníček's au­tobiographical satire.
An important component of the exhibition project is the contemporary update of the theme through the work of music composer, organologist, programmer, and performer Milan Guštar, who brings the collection data to life through software-controlled musicalization of graphic scores. This composition accompanies visitors throughout all exhibition halls while also serving as MUD's wish for 2024.

The project represents one of the first steps in the Museum of Art and Design Benešov's con­tinuous effort to create a permanent exhibition dedicated to Jiří Šetlík's legacy.

While glass is Kristýna Pojerová's home territory, other materials also occupy an important place in the exhibition. Especially paper, which the artist shapes so that the resulting form can carry the addressed idea and provide insight into the designer's in­tention. These cutouts represent the beginning of a long journey sometimes lined with dead ends and occasionally abandoned ideas. Through various vicissitudes, through technological challenges and parameters needed for successful realization, the design process eventually moves toward its goal – the intended object.

Kristýna Pojerová graduated from the Glass Studio under Rony Plesl at UMPRUM in Prague. For her multifunctional Greenhouse, which is the central artifact of the exhibition, she received several awards (the Designblok Editors' Award 2011 and the Department of Applied Arts Award at UMPRUM). Now, after a season of maternal care for three young children, she builds upon her successful projects. For MUD*, she has prepared a collection of works reflecting not only the productive period of an emerging designer but also the challenging journey toward creative expression within the limits of parental care. This is manifested in a greater emphasis on the design process, a decrease in glass implementations, and an orientation toward the educational potential of design.

Curator of the exhibition: Anna Sejková

Entitled „Weak Season“, the exhibition summarises key moments of the artist's work to date, which includes photography, performance, textile work, drawing, music and art-research projects. The exhibition will include works from recent years as well as entirely new or previously unseen works exploring mental health, queer identity and contemporary political and social issues.

The exhibition was created in dialogue with curator Barbora Pavliš. In five exhibition halls, it offers the audience different worlds full of visual and emotional sensations based on the artist's personal experience. In addition to photography, which is a significant part of Durin's artistic practice, the exhibition also presents a large part of his textile work to date. In this, he artfully combines traditional techniques (such as hand embroidery) with a contemporary artistic language.

After his studies, Jan Durina lived in Slovakia and Poland and for a long time in Berlin. He is currently continuing his doctoral studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. The exhibition at MUD* offers the first opportunity to see a comprehensive overview of his work in the Czech Republic. The opening will take place on 14 September 2023 at 7 pm. It will feature a performance by French musician and performer BORA.

The exhibition will also be accompanied by a publication that captures the broader context of Durin's life and work. Its launch will take place at the end of the exhibition in November 2023.

Curator: Barbora Pavliš
Graphic design: Lukáš Dobeš
Production: Lenka Vlčková
Educational programmes: Martin Vlček, Nicole Langrová, Anna Hůlková

The project's external curator PETRA WIDŽOVÁ selected ten outputs. The works deal with the need for care, relationships (both social and human-nature), purposefulness, handling of unevenly distributed resources in society, and exploring what „we“ means. The exhibition will gradually grow throughout not only the museum building but also Benešov's urban and social space, with the addressed themes intersecting with MUD's direction both visually and conceptually.

Artists incorporate a wide range of media into the exhibition. Reflections on current crises – social, economic, and environmental – concepts and visual models based on degrowth ideas are embodied in drawings, paintings, objects, videos, installations, and public actions. The accompanying program closely communicates with the exhibition's struc­ture, in some cases representing direct components of the projects, and its outputs may continuously influence the exposition's form.

For example, Agronauts Collective* places strong emphasis on eliminating barriers between the exhibition hall and surrounding environment. This international group of artists and researchers from various fields follows a basic principle: „this is not a gallery space, this is a research body.“ At MUD, alongside other activities, they will prepare several workshops reflecting Benešov's social and environmental situation. Some other exhibitors also work within the local context, considering the specifics of this Central Bohemian town – such as Viktor Prokop in his intervention based on local energy smog.

Nicolas Prokop's insta­llation will present an interesting metaphorical view on the importance of community and human interconnection with natural phenomena. His work revealing often hidden connections will include a functional vermicomposter with live earthworms.

Artist Markéta Kubíčková combines music and light in an object inspired by cultivation boxes, and under the name Lila Tesla, she will perform a sound performance during the exhibition's o­pening. The vernissage of Logic of Growth will take place on March 16 at 19:00 in the MUD building.
Degrowth and related themes will also be presented to the public through lectures, workshops, and debates. An introductory presentation of basic principles is being prepared by Ondřej Kolínský, an analyst from the non-governmental Association for International Affairs. His lecture combined with discussion will take place on April 4. In collaboration with exhibition curator Petra Widžová, Kolínský is also contributing to the selection of publications available for browsing in the newly opened Degrowth Reading Room of the MUD* library.

Curator of the exhibition: Petra Widzova

In 2017, part of Cidlinský's work was entrusted to the museum's care, where it awaited processing. Most of the presented works come from the artist's estate and are being shown for the first time or after a long interval. The selection comes from his creative period of the sixties and especially the eighties. As exhibition curator Pavel Liška states: „The exhibition will present paintings, drawings and graphic works. Among them are poetically colored drawings capturing new panel buildings with original buildings, fantastical natural phenomena from trips to Crimea in the 70s, or landscape paintings of the Podblanicko region typical for Cidlinský's work.“ Several copies of the Benešov (Cultural) Calendar, a monthly magazine that informed about events in the city, whose graphic design Cidlinský worked on for over three decades, were also borrowed from the Benešov Municipal Library. Through these, visitors will be able to leaf through the recent past or follow the visual and social transformations of the city through the author's drawings on the covers.

The Šíma Hall will display works characteristic of his oeuvre along with drawings documenting the construction of panel housing estates and the urban-architectural transformation of Benešov. The exhibition includes a bilingual catalog that provides more detailed information about Cidlinský's ac­tivities in their historical context.

At the opening, Ctirad Sedláček, who works at the Josef Suk Art School in Benešov, will perform. Writer, lyricist and publicist Jan Krůta will share personal memories of the painter Cidlinský.

MUD's collections primarily focus on works by Czech artists and designers from the second half of the 20th century to the present. Notable collections include Jiří Šetlík's donation and the extensive legacy of letterist artist Zdeněk Kirchner. Both collections are represented in the exhibition, with an open module installation allowing visitors to view even the reverse sides of the artworks. This approach reveals typically hidden parts of the works and sheds light on the museum's activities that are often unnoticed by exhibition visitors.

“All the exhibited items have recently undergone treatment by restorers, which was the criterion for their selection. For once, the spotlight is not on the artist but on the wear and tear of time, issues of humidity, material types, various restoration processes, and the ideal methods for storing objects,” explains Anežka Kořínková, one of the curators and the collection manager of the Benešov museum.

The installation includes large-format photographs showcasing details requiring restoration and charts marking zones of damage.

“In shifting the structure of the information presented, the exhibit labels prioritize material details, professional interventions, and only then provide the artist's name, creation date, and title,” notes Anna Sejková, a collaborating curator and coordinator of MUD's accompanying programs.

The MEZISTAVY exhibition features two large-format letterist paintings by Zdeněk Kirchner and a plaster relief titled Akt by Karel Hladík, which is part of Jiří Šetlík's donated collection. A plaster cast of Jaroslav Bejček's sculpture Girl / Boy with Bread is presented alongside Olbram Zoubek's sculpture Muse, representing the sub-collection of Czech sculpture. The restoration process also included Jiří Javůrek's chair, part of the design sub-collection on view in the Archeology of Design exhibition (November 16, 2022 – February 26, 2023) in the ground-floor halls of MUD, as well as Aleš Lamr's sculpture Flirty Dancer located in the museum's outdoor spaces.

The unusual connection between design and classical archaeology in the exhibition's title highlights inspiration drawn from archaeological methods used to reconstruct the stories hidden within often-overlooked, mundane, or seemingly banal objects. Visitors to the exhibition will move along a conceptual axis between design as a dynamic, living process and design as a passive part of our environment. Along this journey, they will adopt two perspectives: that of the designer, experiencing their unique creative thinking and processes, and that of the user, who appropriates, transforms, and eventually discards the design.

Curator Kryštof Hejný, along with his collaborators – exhibition architects Jindřich Traugott and Adam Trefil, and graphic designer Ľubica Segečová – created an artistically striking installation that illustrates the relationship between designer and user. The medium of this relationship is the design object itself, shown throughout its life cycle: from conception and realization, through use, to the depletion of its function and eventual physical decay.

This current exhibition is loosely connected to the previous project Everydayness, which marked MUD's first systematic presentation of part of its extensive design collection. Exhibits include small appliances, such as the ETA Jupiter vacuum cleaner designed by Stanislav Lachman and the AEG hairdryer by Peter Behrens; everyday items like plastic baskets from Plastimat Liberec by Jiří Hofman or the NOVITO porcelain cup by Jiří Pelcl; artistic artifacts by designers Jakub Berdych Karpelis and Gabriel Vach Jr.; and larger furnishings such as Jiří Kočandrle's car­dboard stool and an original fireplace designed by architect Jaroslav Vaculík for a cottage camp near Nespeky.

The accompanying program will include guided tours with museum professionals, offered on announced dates, as well as thematic lectures featuring interesting guest speakers. The first lecture in the series, titled Enchanted Matter: Design and Material, will take place on Tuesday, December 13, at 5:30 PM.

The Archaeology of Design exhibition is held under the auspices of and with financial support from the Ministry of Culture.

Akin to memory, culture consists of wild ideas and things that we have let to live their own lives and on second encounter find them just as natural and objective as the extra-human natural world. However, they arose from human deeds and therefore their contours remind us of ourselves. We reaffirm our convictions about the place of humans in the world, of the individual’s po­sition within society, and of gestures within culture through the recognition of wild ideas and things. Our lives consist of often unseen rituals, involuntarily repeated actions. By way of giving subtle variations to these actions we mark our past presences through which we each identify ourselves as an individual member of society. The rituals themselves though barely ever change.The I is one with that of thousands of years ago.

Markéta Kolářová’s pa­inting, Tomáš Černý’s ceramics, and the photography of Natálie Hájková all depict wild ideas and things in various states of unmediated discovery. In an effort to represent this complex process of intuitive abstraction, MUD established a collaboration with graphic designer Matej Vojtuš who created for this exhibition a series of symbols in lieu of a traditional verbal interpretation. Matej rendered concepts, such as dance, treasure, plurality, fellowship, or heritage, by means of reference to long-established and commonly used imagery. The symbols guide the viewers through the exhibition, but also enable them to project their particular experiences onto the suggested broader relationships. The exhibition opens with a pair of spatial symbols representing fire and forest by Martin Vlček, artist and educator at MUD, wherein the fundamental cultural tension between the domestic and the wild is concentrated.

Curators: Barbora Pavliš, Kryštof Hejný
Graphic design: Matej Vojtuš
Artistic collaboration: Martin Vlček