Deutsche Telekom, a company active in the world of telecommunications, established its contemporary art collection in 2010. Due to its substantial presence in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, Deutsche Telekom began to build the collection primarily by purchasing artworks of artists coming from the Central and Eastern European countries. For instance, Czech artists who are markedly represented include Eva Koťátková and Vladimír Houdek. In recent years, exhibition activities and the efforts to make the works as accessible to the public as possible have become as important as the building up of the collection itself. After a number of exhibitions in Germany, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Austria and France, a selection from the collection is now being presented for the first time in the Czech Republic.

“The concept of the current decor of the former hobby-market building, which is at the same time the conclusion of a series presenting various types of artworks included in corporate or institutional collections, is primarily based on the orientation of the Deutsche Telekom activities in the field of contemporary art focusing on the work of artists from Central and South-Eastern Europe. The imaginary trip will take us from Poland through Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Moldova and Romania to Turkey. Today, the art scenes of most of these countries are well established in the international context or, respectively, they have been visibly represented internationally for many years by the artists now selected for the PLATO presentation.

Together with Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher we have selected two types of artworks that adequately characterize the collection: one large mobile three-dimensional structure by Slovenian artist Tobias Purith, and a series of videos. From the point of view of the space concept, it can be conceived of as a decorative invasion in 3D, with flat screens standing against it, upon which moving images animate and activate the visitors’ view. If the visitors concentrate on individual works, then they can experience quite an intimate encounter with some key works of established artists, grasping the form and subjects of contemporary art between 1997 and 2013.”

Marek Pokorný