MeetFactory is a non-profit organization and contemporary art centre in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It has four departments (music, theatre, gallery, and artists-in-residence) and the rest of the program is focused on interdisciplinary and educational projects relating to

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

History of the building

MeetFactory was founded in 2001 by

David Černý David Černý (born 15 December 1967) is a Czech artist. His works can be seen in different locations around Prague as well as in his own, Prague-based museum, called Musoleum. Early life Černý was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. From 1988 t ...

. After the destructive floods of 2002, MeetFactory evacuated its original premises in

Holešovice Holešovice () is a district in the north of Prague situated on a meander of the River Vltava, which makes up the main part of the district Prague 7 (an insignificant part belongs to Prague 1). In the past Holešovice was a heavily industrial su ...

, re-opening three years later in an industrial building in

Smíchov Smíchov () is, since 1922, a district and cadastral area of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is on the west bank of the Vltava river. History It was only on 22 February 1903, that Smíchov was elevated to ...

, situated between an elevated road and a railway line. The program started after a substantial reconstruction in 2007. A board composed of the artist David Černý, musician

David Koller David Koller (born 27 September 1960) is a Czech musician and record producer. Career Music Koller started his career in the early 1980s as the drummer of Jasná Páka and has also played in various other bands, including Žentour, Pusa, an ...

and film and theatre director

Alice Nellis Alice Nellis (born 3 January 1971 in České Budějovice) is a Czech Filmmaking, filmmaker. Nellis first worked as a Western concert flute, flautist before studying English literature and American literature. In 1996–2001 she studied Screenwri ...

approved the long-term plan of MeetFactory.

Music program

In March 2010, in addition to residencies, galleries and theatre, a fourth space for music was added. The concert hall can accommodate 1,000 people and hosts 50–70 concerts per year, including regular and one-off events. In addition to its own music events, MeetFactory organizes around 40 co-productions with various local and national organizations each year, and collaborates with festivals such as Lunchmeat, Sperm, and Komiksfest, or with

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s such as

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

or with the Czech Association of Paraplegics.

Theatre program

The theatre program focuses on contemporary prose, as well as experimental interdisciplinary projects, often involving visual artists, musicians, or non-actors. The theater has an area of 150 square meters and 150 seats.

Galleries

MeetFactory has three galleries: the MeetFactory Gallery, the Kostka Gallery and the Wall Gallery.

Artists-in-residence

The international artists-in-residence program was established in 2007 and is the largest studio program in the Czech Republic. MeetFactory has fifteen studios, which host around 30 visual artists,

curators A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

, musicians,

theatre directors A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

or writers each year.

References