Discover the city of galleries where you don’t need to wander very far

Museums and galleries are undoubtedly an inherent feature for the city of Košice. With their number and walk accessibility, one gets a unique chance to dive in the local or foreign artwork. We decided to explore five of Košice’s galleries – all within one single day and that together with our favourite local blogger Dominica. Our selection emphasizes the importance of the most well-known ones yet we also made some space for newly-opened galleries and their less famous artists. Come and take a look at five galleries of Košice which are just one reason why to visit this city. Stop by anytime. We’re starting now.

VUNU / Hlavná 20, Košice

For our first stop, we chose to visit a newly-open VUNU Gallery situated in the passage of 20 Hlavná Street. As the newest addition in the city of Košice, VUNU illustrates how the persistent effort of young talented people may lead to opening one’s own gallery. It is precisely the achievement of the guys standing behind VUNU’s production. In their twenties, they aspire to present the art of progressive less known artists who might struggle to make it into long-established institutions. Symbolic and funny rule of the gallery is to select those up to the age of 33.

The exhibition Living the Gimmick of Prague UMPRUM’s student Jakub Choma was taking place when we arrived. It captures the impression of illusion or unconsciousness which we attain via the over-informativeness of the contemporary era we live in. Four peculiarly hybrid pieces brought by Choma reflect the collision of painting genre with an object itself. Metal chains leading out of these objects direct the spectators towards other articles spread on the cork-covered floor. And so, such visually impressive exhibition with its vigorous legacy started off our artistic tour in the centre of Košice.

East Slovak Gallery / Alžbetina 22, Košice

We proceeded to Alžbetina Street which is one of the most beautiful as well as the busiest streets of Košice. There are two neighbouring galleries here – Vojtech Löffler Museum and a subsidiary of East Slovak Gallery. This one is actually a historical burgher’s house which selects pieces of local artists from Košice and eastern Slovak region. We went to see the exposition, XIX. – The art of the 19th Century in Eastern Slovakia. The exposition is divided into several sections according to the topic or the geographical position. The climax of the expo is demonstrated in the last room – impressionistically based landscape genre represents one of the most prominent authors in Slovak art history – Ladislav Mednyánszky and Ľudovít Čordák.

Vojtech Löffler Museum / Alžbetina 20, Košice

Located on the ground floor, Vojtech Löffler Museum portrays works of contemporary art. This year it celebrates the 25th anniversary of its foundation directly in the Löffler’s house on the Alžbetina street. The collection encompasses a variety of Košice’s artwork, ceramic and sculpture piece. Our goal was to explore the exhibition named Public Diaries by Tomáš Picha. Fortunately enough, we also met the curator of the exposition – Jozef Demeter.

Šopa Gallery / Mäsiarska 7, Košice

Šopa Gallery is situated on Masiärska Street just a few metres from the mentioned galleries. The former space of Pyecka Studio and Street Art Communication offers chamber concerts of experimental music, lectures, workshops and other off programmes apart from the traditional contemporary art presentation. We came to see the project designed by Jaroslav Kyša titled We see objects around us because of the light they create which metaphorically deals with deviations of reality. For that Kyša uses the sophisticated mechanism of turning sculpture stools which hold clay copies of the original model – a piece of real rock. The visitors may continue to work with these copies. The essential part of the exposition lies in the gallery’s windows. LCD foils decompose sun rays coming through the glass into the basic spectrum colours and, therefore, add the crucial feature for the creation of the artwork – the light itself. The result is an occurrence of some sort of rainbow cast of light and so a unique experience for its audience.

East Slovak Gallery / Hlavná 27, Košice

The main building of East Slovak Gallery with its immense space for art pieces became our last stop. The oldest regional gallery in Slovakia has been presenting expositions for almost seventy years now. A current number oscillates somewhere around 7000 pcs and the gallery also leaves some room for research in Košice’s modernism period and the art from eastern Slovakia in general.

And so, Status II. by Peter Demek was on our programme. It depicts the idea of form and time. On one hand, the form is presented in sculpture strictly limited by Demek’s minimalistic or simplistic design. Time is based on the period from thought-process up to the final realization of artwork as well as an actual spectator’s sensations given by the expo and the ultimate duration of such feeling.

Want to try out five galleries in a single day? Art&culture world of Košice offers so much you cannot possibly make it within such a short time. After all, you don’t need to rush anywhere. Stay at the gallery in an actual room Košice Modernism by The Invisible Hotel and explore art in the most intimate hideaway. Book it here.

For more info about Dominica see her Instagram.