Vernon was founded in 2001 by the gallery’s director Monika Burian Jourdan. Its objective was clear from the very start: support good-quality contemporary and classic art and present it to the public.
Vernon is in charge of several interconnected projects:
VERNON PROJEKT
Vernon Projekt is an atypical exhibition space for young people. Its space is the display window of a former shop on the corner of Janovského and Heřmanova streets in the Letná district of Prague. This unorthodox form of exhibition space allows passers-by to peek inside the gallery at any time of day and represents the main idea behind Vernon Projekt, the primary objective of which is to support young progressive artists and showcase new media art.
Vernon Projekt, which was opened in 2006, is conceived as a space of absolutely free experimentation, where artists can think through and create their works. The site’s location on a busy street allows the art to be open to anyone just passing by. Exhibitions in Vernon Projekt are therefore often planned with a view to attracting spectators’ attention as much as possible. At the same time these are projects that are able to make artistic use of all the specifics of the space. Consequently the artists Vernon selects mainly reflect its focus on young conceptual artists and through the Projekt’s installations Vernon showcases new art trends such as light design, site-specific projects, and more. In recent years a number of big-name artists have exhibited in the gallery, such as the Swiss artist Katja Loher and the Czech artists Lukáš Machalický, Linda Čihařová, Richard Wiesner, Jakub Nepraš or Alena Foustková.
Vernon Projekt is supported by the City of Prague and the District of Prague 7 and over the course of the year it hosts six to eight exhibitions of work by Czech and international artists.
VERNON DEPOT
In October 2011 Vernon Gallery will open a new exhibition space – Vernon Depot. It is located in lower Holešovice – an industrial neighbourhood that has changed dramatically in recent years. From a former industrial zone, it has now become a modern neighbourhood full of cafes, shops and galleries.
Vernon Depot will be based at U Průhonu 22, on the fourth floor of the building, which was previously used for storage, and that is the where the name of the new space comes from: a depot, an essential of any industrial neighbourhood. But a depot is not just a storehouse or a place for servicing transit vehicles; it is also adepository or treasure trove.
The brand-new Vernon Depot gallery will soon be putting on its first exhibitions. Contemporary art is thus gaining new and dignified space in Prague to show itself. The new gallery, with almost 200 square metres of floor space, is full of windows that give it the perfrect light conditions for preparing art exhibitions.
The first exhibition to bring the new space to life will be the Tina B. Contemporary Art Festival in October. At U Průhonu the public will have a chance to view two of the festival’s curatorial sections. Modern art fans can look forward to contemporary Swiss art, which will be selected and organised for Tina B. by the Swiss curator Oliver Orest Tschirky. Vernon Depot will also however be hosting Poland in the Polish section of the Tina B. festival, which is being prepared by the curators of Polish art projects Aleksandra Grzonkowska and Anna Zalewska.
VERNON EXHIBITION
Alongside supporting young artists and contemporary art, Vernon Consulting also organises large exhibitions of classic art and great masters. Our objective is thus to bring themes and authors to the Czech public that have not yet been exhibited or are still unknown in the Czech Republic.
For instance, Amedeo Modigliani exhibition at the Municipal House (9. 12. 2010 – 14. 3. 2011) was the very first exhibition of this great artist’s works in the Czech Republic. Vernon Gallery also organised the first Czech exhibition of the photographic work of the Swiss fashion photographer Michel Comte (18. 2. – 5. 4. 2011) prepared in cooperation with Leica Gallery Prague.
This year, again in cooperation with the Municipal House, Vernon Consulting is preparing a large exhibition called Tauromaquia (9. 12. 2011 – 9. 4. 2012), which will present the works of Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, and Fernando Botero, as well as the Czech artists Emil Filla and Karel Čapek.The exhibition’s fascinating theme –the bullfight –was again chosen for being altogether new to the Czech Republic.
ART FOR PUBLIC (TINA B. CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL)
Art for Public is a civic association that – as its very name suggests – aims to bring art to the public. The main activity of Art for Public will from 2012 be organising the Tina B. Contemporary Art Festival, which focuses primarily on showcasing new media work, light art, video art, and performance art, and each year it host as many as 100 artists and curators from around the world. This year the festival will be held in Prague for the sixth year and it will run from 20. 10. to 13. 11. 2011.This year Art for Public is organising the German section.
More information on the Tina B. Contemporary Art Festival can be found at www.tina-b.cz.
VERNON YOUNG ART
Vernon Young Art is a programme that focuses mainly on young artists and it is being prepared for 2012. Vernon knows that today it is difficult for young artists to establish themselves. Therefore, it is one of the long-term objectives of Vernon to help young artists and provide them with backing for their projects.
