Opening: 16. 6. 2026, 6 p.m.
Curators: Alexandra Kusá, Ondřej Horák
Exhibition period: June 17, 2026 – January 31, 2026
Alžbetina 22, Košice
Last year saw the development of the “Museum of Values” project, an initiative which sought to identify a visual code which expresses what it means “to be Slovak”; in essence, to locate a common ground on which we could all agree, to pinpoint “Slovak-ness” in terms of a language of visual communication which would be accessible to everyone who was born or raised here. In the modern era we are constantly bombarded by superficial nationalistic sentiments, and we thus found it interesting to explore how this played out in the history of our artworks and if we could tell the story of Slovakia without pathos, in both a historical and philosophical sense. The history of Slovak paintings should not take the form of museum exhibits but should be a vibrant dialogue in which we pose a number of questions: what values did we truly possess and which did we merely pretend to hold? Do we all hold the same values? Therefore, rather than conventional narratives about "grand histories" and documents, we focus on specific collections, commenting on cliches and examining exhibits which foster a healthy sense of pride and patriotism. The exhibition in Banská Bystrica confirmed the effectiveness of this approach, and so we decided to move forward and add “new values” in the project for the East Slovak Gallery. This exhibition will differ somewhat from the original because it draws on the collection of the Gallery and their own experience of what it means to be Slovak. We can now see that Košice has enriched our narrative through its city status, its urban culture and its associated ethnic diversity; we have also learned that the city’s inhabitants see the Tatras less as a symbol of nationhood and more as a specific site for contemplation and observation. In Košice, we can also strengthen our links to contemporary art, as the sophisticated acquisition policy of the East Slovak Gallery has borne considerable fruit in this field over recent years. Once again, we are preparing a combination of paintings, photography and contemporary multimedia installations, all of which is wrapped up in an appealing typographic arrangement. The Gallery’s collection expands the image of Slovakia and sheds light on the layered and multifaceted narratives of its history.
The project will once again include the interactive exhibition titled “The History of Slovakia”, which brings the history of the Slovak nation to a new audience through Professor Hammy, a loveable character who has gnawed his way through “all of the wisdom of the world”. This intelligent but somewhat bad-tempered rodent often poses uncomfortable questions, but he also offers quizzes and jokes, always reminding us that history should be taken with a grain of salt. The East Slovak Gallery will transform the exhibition space on Alžbetina Street into a place where visitors will not only peer into cabinets but will contemplate and leave their own legacy.
