Finissage
By the Head and by the Hands. The School of Arts and Crafts in Brno 1924–2024

We cordially invite you to the finissage of the exhibition By the Head and by the Hands: The School of Arts and Crafts in Brno 1924–2024, which will take place on Sunday, 8 March 2026, from 2:00 PM. The programme will include a guided tour, lectures and discussions expanding the context of the exhibition, an art workshop for children, and the ceremonial launch of the exhibition catalogue.

PROGRAMME

2:00 PM The Exhibition Up Close
A new format of guided exhibition tours at the House of Arts led by educators. Presented in an accessible and open manner, it introduces the exhibition Head and Hands and its broader context. Led by Gajane Achverdjanová and Romana Horáková.
Meeting point: Entrance hall of the House of Arts.

3:00 PM Art Workshop for Children and Accompanying Adults
The making of simple puppets inspired by Ajdivadlo, a theatre group active at ŠUŘ in the 1950s. Led by Helena Šedá and Olga Piperová Taušová, conservators from the Department of Theatre History, Moravian Museum.
Venue: Entrance hall of the House of Arts.

4:00 PM Photography Education at ŠUŘ in the 1930s and André Breton in Brno
Curatorial lecture and guided tour within the exhibition by Lada Hubatová-Vacková.
Venue: Jaroslav Král Gallery and the first floor of the House of Arts.

5:00 PM ŠUŘ and the Teaching of Folk Art during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Lecture with projection. Valérie Bláha, author of the chapter of the same title in the book By the Head and by the Hands.
Venue: Jaroslav Král Gallery.

6:00 PM Current A Cross-Section of the Brno Secondary School of Art and Design
Presentation and ceremonial launch of the catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, held in autumn 2025 at the House of the Lords of Kunštát. The catalogue will be introduced by curators Marika Svobodová, Jennifer Helia DeFelice and Lenka Dolanová, together with Monika Šimková, author of the survey, and Tomáš Rybníček, director of the school. Other collaborators and participants of the exhibition will also be invited to join the discussion.
Venue: Jaroslav Král Gallery.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Lada Hubatová-Vacková: Photography Education at ŠUŘ in the 1930s and André Breton in Brno

In the academic year 1930–1931, a new programme focused on advertising was introduced at the School of Arts and Crafts in Brno, led by Emanuel Hrbek (1897–1975), a popular teacher open to modernist trends and experimental approaches. At the request of his students, Professor Hrbek arranged for them to work in the external photographic laboratory of Jaroslav Bouček, a specialist in photography and optics who taught at the Brno University of Technology.

From 1933 onwards, Hrbek’s students began exploring various photographic techniques, including photograms, photomontage, typophotography, solarisation, structural interventions in negatives, and other experiments with photochemical processes.

The core group of these students, known as the Group of Five Photographers (Jaroslav Nohel, Josef Jiří Kamenický, František Povolný, Bohumil Němec and Hugo Táborský), established contacts with Czech surrealists. On 4 April 1935 at 8:00 PM, André Breton, a leading figure of international Surrealism, delivered a lecture at the Hus Hall in Brno. This lecture, which ŠUŘ students most likely attended in person, had a significant impact on their photographic experiments, particularly in the field of staged and manipulated photography.

ABOUT EXHIBITION