The two-day work meeting began with a tour of the newly renovated interiors of Semler's residence, which is one of three buildings under the management of the Pilsen Gallery. This apartment building is architecturally unique due to the fact that a three-story villa was built into it, the so-called Raumplan. The multi-storey apartment is formed by a continuous continuity in spaces of different heights. Behind this unusual realization was the prominent architect Adolf Loos, who also worked with the raumplan space in his previous commissions in Vienna and Prague (for example, in Müller's villa in Střešovice).
After the tour of the villa, we moved to the lecture hall, where colleagues from Pilsen presented their educational programs. It was followed by the discussion of the official KEP business. President Lucie Haškovcová presented us with the current situation regarding the Ministry of Education revisions. We also touched on other topics, such as the attendance of our institutions and the advantages and problems with the reservation systems of educational programs. Then we went on a guided walk along Klatovská třída (where Semler's villa is located), which used to be one of the most sought-after addresses in Pilsen. Every villa being associated with an important personality, a story or a personal memory of colleague Jiří Hlobil, who prepared the tour for us. After checking in a hotel, an informal meeting awaited us in the gallery premises in Pražská street. There we had the opportunity and space to share our observations, problems, but also the joyful moments of our profession.
On the second day, we met again in the gallery, where the curator Petr Jindra took us through the exhibition called The Art of the Very Long Century and the Memory of Human Walk. The exhibition brings several probes into the phenomenon of human walking, from a walk, a trip, an expedition to even forced exile. A very interesting theme, which started with vedutes, representatives of classical and romantic works and ended with objects of contemporary artists. The guided tour was followed by a presentation of educational activities, which we could try ourselves in the gallery halls. Due to work and time reasons, I had to skip the visit of another exhibition called Golden Years in Masné kramy. Even so, I enjoyed the meeting together and returned from Pilsen full of positive energy.
We meet regularly with fellow educators several times a year and I am already very much looking forward to the autumn meeting, which will take place here in Jihlava.
Pavlína Pitrová, May 2023
