Oblivion Party: Celebrating 20 Years of Trafačka

Free entry

When a group of friends met in 2006 at the site of the former Vysočany transformer station to utilize the potential of the industrial building and create a series of studios and exhibitions, none of them suspected that they would stay together and grow for twenty years. During this time, the group of founders – artists Jan Kaláb, Jakub Nepraš, Michal Cimala, and Trafo Gallery director Blanka Čermáková – moved through several other spaces until they settled in Holešovice Market ten years ago.

The first stage in Vysočany is summarized in the book Trafology with rich photographic accompaniment, which captures the genius loci of the no-longer-existing building and artistic life, where more than 200 exhibitions, performances, festivals, concerts, weddings, and other events took place. The building also provided facilities for 35 art studios, originally tenement apartments for factory workers.

The second, more professional phase of the already renamed Trafo Gallery began in 2016 in Hall 14 of the Holešovice Market, where 75 exhibitions have taken place to date. Here, artists of their generation and others exhibit on average six times a year. An important part of Trafo Gallery's work is also publishing – during its existence, it has published 59 publications supported by leading Czech curators. The gallery also engages in interventions outside its permanent spaces, such as the current exhibition at Vila Volman or the traditional pop-up in Karlovy Vary during the KVIFF film festival.

Trafo Gallery regularly expands its activities beyond the borders of the Czech Republic – it has presented Czech art at international fairs such as Vienna Contemporary, Art Market Budapest, Contemporary Istanbul, and Volta Basel, and this year it is preparing for the prestigious Art Cologne. In recent years, the gallery has also established a Patron Club, which has given friends and art lovers the opportunity to participate, even symbolically, in the direct support of contemporary visual art.

For its viewers and patrons, the gallery prepares a rich accompanying program, such as guided tours, studio visits, book launches, art lectures, workshops for children and seniors, and concerts. During its existence, Trafo Gallery has become a respected institution with a wide audience and significant media reflection.

Many artists have been long associated with the institution and community, for example, Daniel Balabán, Jiří Černický, Pavel Dušek, Siegfried Herz, Jakub Hubálek, Jakub Janovský, Alžběta Josefy, Alžběta Jungrová, Ester Knapová, Laura Limbourg, Jiří Marek, František Matoušek, Anna Neborová, Kateřina Ondrušková, Jiří Petrbok, Ivan Pinkava, Tomáš Rasl, Michael Rittstein, Jaroslav Róna, Lucie Rosická, Jakub Roztočil, Dana Sahánková, Martin Salajka, František Skála, Ira Svobodová, Michal Škapa, Jakub Špaňhel, Zdeněk Trs, Vladimír Véla, Jan Vytiska, and many others.

Regarding the circle of curators they repeatedly work with, it includes Petr Vaňous, Otto M. Urban, Radek Wohlmuth, Kristýna Jirátová, up to Thomas Oosterhof, Martina Mrázová, Máša Pivovarová, or Tomáš Pospiszyl.

Among the graphic designers with whom Trafo Gallery enjoys collaborating are Jana Vahalíková, Martin Pecina, Ondřej Šorm, Laura Hornák Morovská, Adam Uchytil, Robert V. Novák, and others.

The evening, which the founders together with the current Trafo Gallery team have prepared for free for their fans and artists, will include multiple musical performances on two stages, a rich art raffle, light and fire performances, a book launch, and a screening of Saša Dlouhý's documentary Trafačka: Temple of Freedom. All this with outdoor food trucks and several bars.