Image: House of Photography, Milan
Galerie hlavního města Prahy is marking a major period of collecting with 'Expanze: Přírůstky 2013–2025', an exhibition at GHMP Knihovna in Prague that runs from April 29 to August 30, 2026. Curated by Magdalena Juříková, the show draws on the gallery’s acquisitions from the 13-year span between 2013 and 2025, when GHMP acquired 2,366 art objects. The institution says that in the comparable previous period it acquired just 375 works.
The exhibition is presented as a selection from that acquisition effort rather than a comprehensive survey. GHMP’s own material describes the growth as an expansion that makes it possible both to map the work of established artists and to capture activity among an emerging generation. The presentation includes work across a wide field of media, from painting, drawing and sculpture to photography, video, spatial installations and conceptual art.
The list of artists on view reflects that breadth. Among those named by GHMP are Vasil Artamonov, Adéla Babanová, Daniel Balabán, Mária Bartuszová, David Böhm and Jiří Franta, Michal Bielický, Josef Bolf, Erika Bornová, Pavel Büchler, Václav Cigler, Tomáš Císařovský, Jiří David, Milena Dopitová, Patricie Fexová, Milan Grygar, Ladislava Gažiová, Jiří Hilmar, Vladimír Houdek, Dalibor Chatrný, Richard Janeček, Věra Janoušková, Jan Jedlička, Magdalena Jetelová, Jakub Janovský, Ivan Kafka, Viktor Karlík, Krištof Kintera, Svatopluk Klimeš, Milan Knížák, Stanislav Kolíbal, Alena Kotzmannová, Jan Kubíček, Petr Kvíčala, Milan Kunc, Ján Mančuška, Jan Merta, Pavel Mrkus, Jakub Nepraš, Karel Nepraš, Petr Nikl, Květa Pacovská, Marian Palla, Michal Pěchouček, Jiří Petrbok, Ivan Pinkava, Daniel Pitín, Jiří Příhoda, Tomáš Rajlich, Lucia Sceranková, Pavla Sceranková, František Skála, Michal Škoda, Tomáš Svoboda, Jitka Svobodová, Zdeněk Sýkora, Skupina Podebal, Jiří Thýn, Margita Titlová-Ylovsky, Aleksandra Vajd, Jiří Valoch, Tomáš Vaněk, Petr Veselý, Lenka Vítková, Jitka Válová, Dušan Zahoranský and Josef Žáček.
GHMP says its acquisition work in recent years has focused especially on experimental art of the 1960s and 1970s, on the generation of the 1990s, and on contemporary art presented through the gallery’s Start Up series and later thematic projects such as 'Myslet filmem' and 'Enter the Room'. The institution also states that since 2013 it has been among the first public institutions to collect moving image as an important part of visual culture.
The exhibition is tied to GHMP Knihovna, at Mariánské náměstí 98/1 in Prague 1 – Staré Město, where the venue is listed as open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, and Thursdays from 10 am to 8 pm. The gallery notes that the building has barrier-free access. Alongside the display, GHMP lists a school-themed guided tour running for the duration of the exhibition, a Saturday workshop on August 8, and a guided tour with Magdalena Juříková on August 20.
Among the works singled out in the gallery’s materials is Karel Nepraš’s 'Přepadení králíkárny' ('Raid on the Rabbit Hutch'), dated 1968 to 1970 and acquired in 2016. GHMP describes Nepraš as a leading figure of the Czech grotesque movement and notes that the work’s enclosed structure, resembling a cage or rabbit hutch, creates a limited viewing space filled with mechanical forms and deformed figures. The gallery says the piece is often interpreted as an ironic reaction to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
