Aleš Veselý: Retrospective – Alešville

The exhibition Alešville is the first comprehensive retrospective of the sculptor Aleš Veselý (1935–2015), one of the key figures of Czech post-war art. Veselý stood out in particular for his monumental works in public spaces, both in the Czech Republic, such as the sculpture Gate to the Irreversible (Prague-Bubny, 2015), and abroad, for instance in the German cities of Bochum (1979) and Hamm (1980). In 1970, he acquired a former mill in Středokluky near Prague, where he built a unique sculpture studio in the form of a complex land-art structure. Despite the repression of the then communist regime, he created a place of freedom there and developed his timeless ideas, making multi-ton sculptures. He placed sculpture models around the site, creating temporary installations and even making music with some of the sculptures. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, he became a well-respected teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. His most recent realisations include The Law of Irreversibility, created in 2015 and placed at the Jewish cemetery in Terezín. In the same year, he died prematurely, leaving behind an unfinished body of work.