Exhibition talk
ÚLUV Neverending Story and By the Head and by the Hands

We warmly invite you to a joint program with the Moravian Museum, which will take place on Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Participants will meet at 4:30 PM in the museum’s main hall. The program will begin with an exhibition talk at ÚLUV – Neverending Story at the Dietrichstein Palace, followed by a visit to the House of Art at Malinovského Square for a guided exhibition talk on By the Head and by the Hands.

The event will focus on the life and work of Karel Langer and the role of the Central Office of Folk Artistic Production (ÚLUV) in shaping Czechoslovak clothing and interior culture. The program will be led by Hana Dvořáková, curator at the Moravian Museum.

PROGRAM
16:30 Meeting and welcome in the main hall of the Moravian Museum
17:30 Exhibition talk on Head and Hands
18:30 End of the event

ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS

What is ÚLUV? What is Krásná jizba?
The abbreviation ÚLUV stands for the four blue letters that formed the iconic logo of the Central Office of Folk Artistic Production (ÚLUV). In the second half of the 20th century, the organization played a key role in shaping the lifestyle of Czechoslovak society, particularly in clothing and interior design. Its production was based on traditional folk culture, which ÚLUV designers developed in the context of contemporary fashion trends. In the monotony of the normalization era, this gave rise to the unmistakable “ÚLUV fashion,” which became a cultural term in its own right.

The Moravian Museum exhibition ÚLUV – Neverending Story aims to present ÚLUV’s work during a period of renewed interest in this now-iconic organization. Its influence can still be seen in contemporary design—and beyond. The impact of ÚLUV on everyday culture remains inspiring even decades later. The exhibition will be on view until June 14, 2026.

BY THE HEAD AND BY THE HANDS
How did modern art and design emerge in Brno? What were the methods used for arts-and-crafts education? And how did the former School of Arts and Crafts become today’s Secondary School of Art and Design and Higher Professional School in Brno? The present exhibition captures the century-long story of one Central European institution that combined local folkloric traditions with the experimental artistic avant-garde, servility to political establishments with daring intellectual freedom, and traditional craft skills with new media. In short, it presents the outcome of team research, published in greater detail in the book bearing the same title.

The exhibition is divided into six chronological sections. Each one is framed by specific historic events that often had a significant impact on the school and its activities. From the other side, the exhibition can also be understood as a report – although incomplete – on Brno’s artistic activity through the prism of a single secondary arts school.

The exhibition’s title By the Head and by the Hands refers to the unique traits of artistic work and artistic education. Specifically, it recalls several pedagogic approaches given attention in the exhibition. More generally, in turn, it implies the attempt to capture the ever-changing ideas of the social significance of art, or how someone can actually become an artist.

The School of Arts and Crafts (abbreviated as ŠUŘ), founded in 1924 by the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Brno, was established as a distinctly modern alternative to the predominantly German-language institutions of a similar type that had existed in Moravia since the late 19th century. It also aimed to stand apart from Prague’s Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) and comparable schools in Austria and Germany. During both the First Republic and the 1940s under the Protectorate, the faculty at ŠUŘ intentionally focused on cultivating a modern, locally rooted cultural identity—fostering artistic production that would bridge international modernism with Moravian regional traditions.

Over the years, ŠUŘ has been home to many prominent educators, including Emanuel Hrbek, Josef Vydra, Petr Dillinger, Božena Rothmayerová-Horneková, Viktor Oppenheimer, Jaroslav Král, Karel Langer, Jan Lichtág, František Kalivoda, Zdeněk Rossmann, Antonín Jero, František Malý, Josef Vydra, Bohdan Lacina, Josef A. Šálek, Jindřich Svoboda, Karel Otto Hrubý, Marie Filippovová, Dalibor and Ivan Chatrný, Pavel Dias, Vladimír Židlický, Pavel Dvorský, Jan Rajlich, Emanuel Ranný, and Petr Veselý. The school also counts many well-known former students among its alumni, such as František Povolný, Bohumír Matal, Ester Krumbachová, Teodor Rotrekl, Inez Tuschnerová, Jiří Pelcl, Josef Daněk, Blahoslav Rozbořil, Václav Jirásek, Kateřina Šedá, Barbora Klímová, and many others. Today, the former ŠUŘ is officially known as the Secondary School of Art and Design, which also includes the Higher Vocational School of Brno.

The exhibition marking the school’s centenary builds on the results of art-historical research conducted by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) in collaboration with invited experts in the field. It focuses on exploring newly uncovered or lesser-known aspects of the school’s history and present, drawing from the preserved works of its notable teachers and graduates as well as from ŠUŘ’s archival collections. These sources, which go beyond the grand narratives of art history, also shed light on the everyday workings of the school and its teaching methods—including textbooks, instructional aids, and meeting notes. Through detailed thematic digressions within their historical context, the exhibition opens up smaller, focused studies that contribute to a more nuanced and complete picture of the institution.

The research was partially funded by the Czech Ministry of Culture through the NAKI III program (Support for Applied Research in National and Cultural Identity), as part of the project Sites of Creativity: Arts and Crafts Education—Constructing Identity, Preserving the Past, Designing the Future (DH23P03OVV061). The grant recipient is the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague: mistatvorivosti.umprum.cz.

The main media partner of the exhibition is Czech Television.
The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Governor of the South Moravian Region Jan Grolich and the Mayor of the City of Brno Markéta Vaňková.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM, extended hours on Wednesdays until 8:00 PM.

Photo: Michal Cáb