Museum of Values – A Visual Report on Slovakia

Vernissage: June 16, 2026, 6:00 PM Curator: Alexandra Kusá Exhibition duration: June 17, 2026 – January 31, 2027 Alžbetina 22, Košice

This project, which originated from a successful presentation in Banská Bystrica, has arrived in Košice in an expanded form and poses a question that has become increasingly urgent in recent years: What is "Slovak" in our art? A question that is becoming increasingly politicized and forms the basis of a topic at the intersection of art, sociology, and current populism. We aim to offer an answer through art using a sober, critical, but above all, value-driven language. The exhibition's author deliberately chose a theme that, in recent months, has been constantly emptied and exploited for base propaganda and demarcation – despite being a theme with the potential to unite us all, and that is what we are building on. So, what will be the mythical essence of "Slovakness" and how is it manifested in the visual motifs of our art, what background does it have in collections and in the visual reservoir of our art? What is a cliché and what becomes a value? After a stop in Banská Bystrica, we move to Košice, which enriches the exhibition with new themes, such as the image of urban life or the industrial landscape. Slovakia is not just meadows and mountains, folk costumes and quiet prayer, but also a diverse urban society, sitting in a Košice cafe and pondering the broader meaning of existence. The collection of the East Slovak Gallery is one of the most cosmopolitan thematically and focuses on the increasingly valued authors of East Slovak modernism. To this, later came the reality of a factory the size of a small town – a completely new and modern phenomenon that transformed people's lives and the character of the landscape – not by destruction, but by adding a new layer of value.

"At a time when the concept of nation is being emptied and identity is misused as a tool of division, when THAT "Slovak" becomes a criterion for exclusion and not a common ground, the Museum of Values shows that THAT "Slovak" is multifaceted, contradictory, humorous, and painful – and certainly not the property of one group of people. We are situating the Košice edition of the exhibition in the building at Alžbetina 22, where since 2022 we have been actively testing themes shaping the profile of the East Slovak Gallery: inclusion, ecology, memory, war, human life. I am very glad that in cooperation with the team of Cultural Concepts – curators and gallery professionals who stood behind many fundamental exhibition projects in the "old" national gallery – we can open a temporary museum, I believe with a lasting legacy," says Dorota Kenderová, director of the East Slovak Gallery.

The curator chose the form of a thematic exhibition arranged as an experiential spatial composition, and the halls on Alžbetina Street will be an artistic model of Slovakia for half a year – an exhibition and an experience. The exhibition will be complemented by the Office of the Museum of Values, a new exhibition-educational genre – an exhibition, workshop, and studio aimed at deepening the experience and developing related themes for those for whom just looking is not enough. The Museum of Values is an exhibition that will show the Slovak story without pathos, historically and provocatively. It does not present history as a finished and given museum exhibit but as a living dialogue, asking what values we had and what values we pretend to have. Instead of the classic narrative of "great" history, it focuses on the intertwining of genres and approaches, commented clichés, but also exhibits that strengthen healthy pride and patriotism.

The exhibition includes the premiere of an interactive and experiential story of Professor Hamster. This popular figure, who has "eaten all the wisdom of the world," will this time tell the story of the history of the Slovak nation. This wise but somewhat grumpy rodent sometimes dares to ask an uncomfortable question, other times offers a game or a joke, and always reminds us that history can also be viewed with perspective. The extended workplace of the gallery – Alžbetina in the center of Košice – will transform into a place where people come to think, laugh, and leave their own legacy.

Directly for the project, a large-format composition Slovenská epopej by Ivana Šáteková was created. The author comments on collective ideas about our culture, which despite efforts always end up with traditional shoes, dumplings,...