For the fourth time, Prague became the host of the Prague Art Week, drawing all contemporary art lovers to its galleries, museums, and many other unique spaces across the city. From September 25 to 28, attendees had a chance to explore the event’s diverse programme – an abundance of exhibitions, performances, workshops, and guided tours.
The Mánes Exhibition Hall opened its doors with the exhibition HAC#2. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Havrlant Art Collection, curated by Katerina Havrlant, features paintings, spatial objects, and video art installations. With a goal of supporting up-and-coming artists, the collection was seen for the first time during Prague Art Week in 2022. In the past ten years, the Havrlant Art Collection has grown into one of the Czech Republic’s leading collections of contemporary art. Its sequel included works by Czech and international artists, such as Anna Uddenberg (Sweden), Zsófia Keresztes (Hungary), Pakui Hardware (Lithuania), Klára Hosnedlová, Igor Hosnedl, and Anna Hulačová (Czechia). This time, the focus moved to video art, exploring themes of digital transformation, corporeality, personal identity, and environmental crisis.
Across the first district of Prague (Praha 1), several galleries invited this year’s attendees to enjoy their new exhibitions. The C12 gallery was hosting a group exhibition, Interlude, that merges drawing, sculpture, and painting into a cohesive visual conversation. The show, structured around a dialogue of contrasts, featured three distinct and unique perspectives: Eva Maceková excels at precise exploration of earthy themes, Kateřina Ondrušková puts focus on lightness and vibrant colour, while Tomáš Roubal expands the exhibition into a metaphysical realm with sculptures resembling alien forms. At HYB4, the exhibition IT introduced the viewers to three unique artists from different generations with different approaches to contemporary art.
Other participants of this year’s art programme included Lenka Glisnikova’s solo exhibition (at NoD) and We Bleed Gold (at Galerie Weinberg), a project blending art and fashion. Apart from visiting exhibitions, guests had a chance to participate in guided tours and artist talks – Galerie Kodl offered a guided tour of the Artslimit Online 10 auction exhibition, featuring a balanced collection of art, spanning from the nineteenth century to the present, while Galerie AMU asked us to join them for a tour of the exhibition Fifty Years of the FAMU Photography Department.
But the true focus of the PAW’s second day was on Prague 7. At the Polansky gallery, one could join a guided tour of Stanislav Zábrodský’s solo exhibition, led by curator Livia Klein. Then attend the Jindřich Chalupecký Award exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery, which included an Artist Talk by guest artist Kinke Kooi or visit the exhibition With Feathers and Flesh at Holešovická Šachta, led by curator Eva Slabá.
PAW 2025 was an opportunity to see an array of different themes. The works presented in Zábrodský’s Rule of Thumb simulate time-spanning geological processes; the artist uses composite materials to underline the fact that we are living in the geological layers of the future. At the Jindřich Chalupecký Award exhibition, visitors encountered a range of dynamic installations, from ceramic sculptures and paintings to spatial objects from this year’s laureates, exploring themes of ecological awareness, anti-patriarchy, human-nature relations, and spirituality. The duo exhibition With Feathers and Flesh featured artists whose work centres on the theme of the technological transformation of organic bodies.
During the weekend programme of the Prague Art Week, visitors could attend the second edition of the special exhibition Young Selection 02. After last year’s highly successful debut, the continuation once again chose ten outstanding talents without gallery representation. The exhibition covers diverse media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, glass, installations, and new media. On Saturday afternoon, visitors had a chance to explore the resident artists’ studios, see their working environments, as well as to meet the creators themselves, including Dominika Vyskočilová, Johana Novotná, Max van Olffen, and many others.
This year, the programme wasn’t intended only for contemporary art lovers. For those who enjoy classic art, the National Gallery prepared a guided tour of their exhibition Women, Mistresses, Artists 1300–1900, where the main focus is on women and the story of their creativity, ambition, and resilience in the face of obstacles. The Prague Castle Picture Gallery opened its doors to those who wanted to admire works of old masters. During the art festival, visitors were given free access to more than 4000 works of art, including those of Rubens, Titian, Veronese, Cranach, and others.
With around 40 exhibitions spanning museums, galleries, and unconventional spaces, complemented by guided tours, lectures, and artist meetings, Prague Art Week proved once again that the modern art scene in Central Europe is alive and thriving. Art lovers clearly seek spaces where they can be surrounded not only by the art they love but by people who share their passion.
Contemporary Lynx was a proud media partner of Prague Art Week 2025.
