Department of Communication, Events and Publishing

The endeavours of the Department of Communication, Programmes and Editorial Activities (formerly the Department of PR and Marketing) are based on the assumption that, unlike businesses where profit or other economic indicators are the measurable indicators of success, the main mission of a visual arts gallery, with all due respect for the need for economic sustainability of a cultural institution, is to provide information about the art field which has always reflected and still naturally reflects and shapes the cultural level of society and its further development.

This also corresponds to how GHMP communicates to the general public, which is based on, among other things, the conviction that a well-conceived accompanying programme is an integral part of communication alongside traditional PR tools. That is why the PR department was expanded in 2016 to include the position of the accompanying programme manager whose activities have suitably complemented the well-functioning education department that had been in place for several years previous. In cooperation with both internal and leading external collaborators, a number of programmes were thus created, bringing those interested in various artistic disciplines to GHMP and interconnecting them. Some of the most successful results include the Sonic Circuits series, the Bio Troja project, and the Dancing Museums international research project.

In the context of the above-mentioned reflection on the meaning and form of communication of the gallery as a public institution, the Qartal magazine was also created, which has been publishing since the end of 2020 and which includes contributions by renowned cultural publicists, art theorists, cultural managers and artists in addition to contributions by editor-in-chief Petr Vizina. Qartal was not intended as a marketing tool nor as a professional periodical for only the academic public. We are also not trying to replace the work of the public media. On the contrary, Qartal should be a suitable complement to those other forms of media, providing an informed critical view of the art scene from the inside, from the point of view of the institution. In this sense, it is a unique concept of visual art gallery communication in the Czech environment.

We are aware that one of the criteria through which a well-functioning gallery can be judged is the returning visitor. With this in mind, the Member and Member Plus benefit programmes have recently been created. The Member and Patron programme was conceived for art lovers who are interested in financially supporting our exhibitions, editorial activities, and accompanying and educational programmes, thus becoming part of one of the most important cultural institutions of the metropolis. For all three categories we are preparing a programme offering extraordinary excursions into the world of contemporary art and artistic endeavours.

The GHMP produces several publications each year, reflecting its exhibition and research output, which we regularly present at book fairs. In 2021, for the first time we held our own GHMP Art Book Fair at Troja Château which focused exclusively on art and art history literature. Due to the successful reception of the festival by the professional and general public, we are preparing further editions, including an accompanying programme focused on current events which will also include foreign participation.

The activities of the GHMP, which take place in seven buildings including a historic palace and a château managed by the gallery, have recently been unified by a new visual style, for which an open competition was announced in 2017 in collaboration with the Czech Design organisation. In a competition of ninety applications, a jury of experts and representatives of the gallery selected the Anymade Studio of Petr Cabalka and Filip Nerad, who have been taking care of the unified visual style of the GHMP to this day.

The staffing of the Department of Communication, Programmes and Editorial Activities is based on the assumption that the communication of a cultural institution must be based on erudite work with content, while at the same time it should be able to use all means of its quality communication for a wide range of the public. Our team consists of university graduates in art history, curatorial studies, philosophy, and graphic design, as well as arts management experts from the University of Economics. Out of the need to more intensively connect these disciplines in gallery practice, our department has created professionally supervised internships for graduates of the University of Economics in Prague. Their successful output includes, for example, the GHMP Art Book Fair described above and an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to the possibilities and limits of gallery activities transferred to the online environment, not only for the lockdown era. Link to the proceedings