One of my favorite galleries in Prague is situated in Školská street, just a few meters above the Cafe Therapy restaurant (check the Café Therapy article). Leica Gallery Prague is run by a non-profitable company of the same name and its objective is not only organization of quality photographic exhibition, but also running workshops for public and other activities.

During the years that LGP was open, I have seen a number of great exhibitions held there. Besides their own showroom, LGP has been using various exhibition spaces (such as the Prague Castle in the past or Mánes). Until 17.6. there is an exhibition of Jan Lukas – The New York city diary – photos from NYC. 

LGP has an added value – the café which is part of the showroom. The coffee there is fine and if you are in the mood for something else, you can for sure to enjoy a glass of wine and browse some of the art books and magazines they have there.

If you want to bring home some real Czech made design, simply piece of well done work, visit the stationery shop Papelote. They call themselves ‘new’ but they truly represent the workmanship of the centuries. Papelote is a shop where you will find things manufactured mostly from paper. It sounds boring, but you would be surprised.

I love the way Papelote was founded, how it works now and what this manufacturer has achieved. And most of all I love the designs and products, which are both usable and beautiful. Papelote was first of all a dissertation of a graphic designer and illustrator Katerina Sachova, and later was developed into a living project and shop. Papelote works with paper and offers many kinds of notebooks, planners, cases and last but not least its famous binders. To have the gift unique, you can wrap it in the original wrapping paper. All products you will bring home are Czech made and from ecological materials.

Just as an interesting fact I wanted to mention that Papelote was awarded as Store of the Year on Czech Grand Design Awards 2011.

Club cinema Evald represents complete characteristics of a small, classy cinema – is in the very center, has stable program with three movies running each day, mixes extract from mainstream, well at least the movies suitable for small screen, and includes also art movies and tiny festivals The last festival I visited was Days of Norwegian film I think.

Generous front door invites you to more private underground, cozy with the carpets and classy with the cloak room, which is especially handy during winter. Now in summer you will be awarded by cool underground environment.

No drinks offered in this cinema, but you can get started before the film in the local restaurant, which is just at the end of the same corridor, and of course also discuss there later on the impact of the film you have just seen. I really like this cinema, there are not many of this type in Prague these days.

Always, when I am in a mood to see some nice art, but in a small quantity, I choose to go to gallery established in honor of one great Czech photographer, Josef Sudek, in his previous studio. The studio is located between two apartment blocks near Ujezd and Kampa and is not visible from the street at all. Luckily for us the doorbell lets you walk in the courtyard and after you pass three doors you finally see the studio set in the inside garden. Josef Sudek began to work here in 1927 and remained using the studio until the end of his life. More about the importance of his world-known work here.

The small space has limited possibilities, but looking at the overview of past exhibitions and schedule for this year, the curator of the gallery is not limited by the space at all. The exhibitions change every one, two months, and are a blend of new or established authors and the ‘master’ Josef Sudek.

Ujezd is a favorite location for walks and sightseeing, and these two activities usually involve crowds in Prague. Josef Sudek’s studio is always quiet and calming for your mind. After satisfying your mind, choose one of the great bars around, for example artists-concentrating Mlynska Kavarna (check the Mlynska Kavarna article) or to rocking Klub Ujezd (check the Klub Ujezd article).

Just by the river, near Klárov, there is a place many tourist guides will lead you to. It is a nice small square where there is the famous Franz Kafka museum. I haven’t visited it once, although I am a fan of Kafka’s work. Maybe it actually is worth visiting but I want to draw your attention elsewhere.

What I am talking about is the strange-looking sculpture in the middle of the square. You will find there two copper persons peeing into a strange bowl. Their waists move so that it looks even more life-like. The funniest part which a lot of people don’t realize, though, lays on the ground. Those guys pee into a bowl shaped like the Czech Republic. Once again, this proves David Černý‘s (artist of Entropa i.e.) skills and vision.

We Czechs aren’t a particularly proud nation. We are actually willing to make fun of ourselves quite often, which I find quite appealing. Artist like Černý who would elsewhere be considered very controversial thus have many fans here, me among them. But some others may surely find his work insulting. What is your opinion?