"Quarks and Cracklings": Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+

The exhibition convolute and scholarly publication present the transformations of the Olomouc art environment after 1989. The research of the Olomouc Museum of Art, created within the NAKI III Olomouc in 3D project (in cooperation with Palacký University Olomouc), frames the view of local artistic creation within a narrative formed by the activities of galleries, independent initiatives, and personalities who shaped the city's cultural life over the past thirty years. In addition to works, it also identifies and tracks the transformation of relationships, meeting places, and events from which the Olomouc scene grew – from painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography to architecture and design, action art, graffiti, and overlaps into music or festival culture. Olomouc is presented in the context of Czech and Central European art, as an environment open to external impulses and the search for its own identity.
1989 brought about a fundamental change in the conditions of artistic work. The opening of borders, the establishment of new galleries and associations, and the development of independent activities transformed the possibilities of creation, exhibition, and mutual cooperation. The "Quarks and Cracklings" project asks how these changes manifested specifically in Olomouc, which personalities and initiatives managed to create a lasting background, how different generations met or differed, and what role local cultural institutions, the university, independent centers, and specific communities played. It also pays attention to short-term projects and personal ties, whose significance often exceeds the informational quantum preserved in archives and memory "banks," including those operating online.
The title, taken from the contemporary reflection of artist Vladimír Havlík, recalls the diversity of this environment and the tension between what we consider essential and what remains on the periphery of our attention. "Quarks and Cracklings" deliberately follows up on the long-term research of the Olomouc Museum of Art and on the exhibition and publication projects Announcement of Icarus's Flight, Greenhouse, and Meditation on City, Landscape, Art. This time, they turn to the recent past, which is still part of the living experience of its actors.
The project "Quarks and Cracklings": Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+ was created within the Program for the Support of Applied Research in the Field of National and Cultural Identity for the years 2023 to 2030 (NAKI III) of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of the project "Olomouc in 3D – A New Dimension of the City's Cultural Heritage: Past, Present, Future" (DH23P03OVV018).
I. MEMORY IS NOT AN ARCHIVE
2026 – 21. 3. 2027 | Museum of Modern Art, Gallery exhibition hall
The exhibition maps the transformations of the Olomouc gallery scene between 1990 and 2020 through a representative selection of galleries, exhibition initiatives, and key projects that shaped the city's cultural life. In addition to authentic artworks and archival materials, it will offer reconstructions of selected exhibition situations and audio testimonies of witnesses – curators, artists, and gallerists. The exhibition will connect documentation with the personal memory of the actors and invites visitors to discover the cultural history of Olomouc as a living network of people, spaces, and ideas.
Information about the exhibition
EXHIBITION: Memory is not an archive. "Quarks and Cracklings": Olomouc Art Scene and Related Zones 1990–2020+
LOCATION: Museum of Modern Art, Gallery
DATE: 22. 10. 2026 – 21. 3. 2027
OPENING: 22. 10. 2026 at 5:30 PM
AUTHOR: Jakub Frank
CURATORS: Klára Jeništová, Olga Š. Staníková
SPATIAL DESIGN: Vlastimil Sedláček
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Petr Šmalec
TRANSLATION AND LANGUAGE EDITING: Zuzana Henešová
INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář, Radka Žáková
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
PROMOTION: Tomáš Kasal, Martin Šinkovský