Studio heads: doc. MgA. Benedikt Tolar, doc. MgA. Luděk Míšek      

The curriculum of the Sculpture and Space studio is based on the traditional sculptor training, which includes dealing with form as well as developing the ability to perceive spatial implications, volume-related proportions and structures. We put emphasis on mastering the entire range of classical and modern sculpting techniques and technologies.

The essence of the training lies in experimenting. The students are free to choose the materials, topics and genres to work on, producing figures, installations, stationary or mobile works, land art etc.

The head of the studio, Benedikt Tolar, focuses on found objects, be it ready-mades or fragments, drawing on the tradition of Czech grotesque sculpting. Luděk Míšek, on the other hand, represents the legacy of constructivism and minimalism, supplemented by metaphysical thinking of the relation between the material and the soul. During their studies, the students will become familiar also with more sophisticated technological procedures, such as metal casting.

Applicants – who we look for

Anyone interested in working with materials. Experimenters as well as fans of classical technologies. Students who enjoy seeing at the world not only as an easily understandable cliché. Thinkers, who need to learn how to work with materials. Craftsmen, who need to free themselves from the limiting rules.

Examples of the studio’s projects:

Specific LandArt

In the project Vanished and Endangered Churches, the students created artistic installations that resurrected, emphasized and reflected the genius loci of several extraordinary places in the region. The best-known creations include the Believers by Jakub Hadrava in the Church of St. George in Luková near Manětín and Drop, or the Surface of Depth by Kristýna Kužvartová in the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk close to Loreta near Klatovy.

Freak Show

One of the studio’s products is a concrete sculpture inspired by Goya’s painting Saturn Devouring His Son. Located in a residential area among blocks of flats in the Pilsen district Lochotín, it is one of the first sculptures installed in a public space after 1988. Two polls have been conducted as to whether this “rabbit sculpture” should remain in place and the locals have decided both times to keep it.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to give up the search for a balance of the body and soul. The wisdom of our ancestors is based on hundreds of years of experience. I would like the students of the Sculpture and Space studio to be able to search for themselves and their place within the hidden meaning of the world and the life in it.”

Prof. Jiří Beránek, founder of the studio