After last year's sensational success with a hundred thousand domestic and foreign visitors, an exhibition of spectacular decorative glass in garden architecture from the glassworks of Jiří Pačink, a leading glass artist in the Czech Republic, will be held again in Prague-Troja from 27 November to 15 February next year. Something like this is not seen in our country or in Europe, except in Kunratice in the Novobor region in northern Bohemia.
Unique tourist magnet
The unique show, which presents the work of the world-famous North Bohemian glassmaker Pačink and his team, will offer not only the sculptures that attracted the most attention in the last year, but also new objects. The glass installations created on the basis of winning designs by students of the Secondary School of Art and Industry in Kamenický Šenov will also be presented. All this fragile beauty will come to life with a unique musical accompaniment performed by the Prague Philharmonia Orchestra. A beautiful experience is prepared after dark by an audiovisual art project created in cooperation between the Botanical Garden and UMPRUM in Prague. The evening atmosphere can be enjoyed from Thursday to Sunday from 5 pm to 9 pm. Given the uniqueness of this cultural and social event, the Czech Commission for UNESCO has taken over the patronage of this year's exhibition.
Director's word
„The first year of the Crystal Garden exhibition exceeded our expectations - it attracted not only nature lovers, but also the general public who appreciated the connection between art and the world of plants. All visitors across generations enjoyed the enchanting atmosphere. The positive reactions from the public and the media have reassured us that it makes sense to develop this collaboration further. That is why we decided to approach Jiří Pačink and prepare a continuation of this unique event for Prague residents and tourists. I very much appreciate the support of the Czech Commission for UNESCO, which underlines its cultural and artistic importance...“ said Bohumil Černý, Director of the Botanical Garden of the Capital City of Prague, at the press conference. Bohumín Bohumín, President of the Prague Botanical Garden. The author of the project, Martin Jodas, briefly complemented his colleague during a discussion with journalists:
„Jiří Pačink's installations look as if they have always belonged to the garden. Each work is precisely placed in a specific exhibition so that the living and inanimate matter forms a harmonious whole.“
Welcome to the Crystal Garden
Visiting during the day, we can admire the beauty of the glass in the sunlight. After dark, let the play of lights, shadows and even music take over. A daytime tour is possible from Monday to Sunday between 9.00 am and 4.00 pm, and in the evening it is possible to visit the featured unique exhibition from Thursday to Sunday from 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Look forward to fantastic installations, colourful glass flowers and sculptures from the animal world that stand out in contrast to the winter landscape. The Crystal Garden exhibition is unique in that, as art historians agree, it does not try to cover up the plants, but to complement and enhance their beauty. The artworks thus become part of the environment, creating new contexts and offering visitors a different perspective on familiar corners. Fantastic plants have different names, such as the shining glasswort, anemone, opal flower or cobalt flower, even the legendary carnivorous Adela (don't touch, she hasn't eaten yet). Among the glassy flowers, leaves, tendrils and various shoots we can find colourful flamingos and lizards. Selected light installations are enriched by interactive elements, including a special audiovisual show.
Winter programme for the whole family
The Crystal Garden exhibition will enrich the expositions of the Ornamental Garden and will be newly expanded to the exhibition hall and St. Clare's Vineyard. As we have already indicated, it will offer visitors not only a visual, but also a musical and emotional experience. During the day they can admire the beauty of the glass in the sunshine, and during the evening tour they can be carried away by a spectacular play of lights, shadows and music. The proverbial icing on the cake will be the largest illuminated tree in Prague with glass decorations, interactive light elements, audiovisual show and magical transformation of glass during the day and evening. For the evening part of the exhibition, the Botanical Garden will open two entrances - in Nádvorní Street and at the Kovárna ticket office. Small creations and decorations will be available for purchase on site - a unique memento of the exhibition and a great Christmas gift, from family-run pacinekglass. More at: www.botanicka.cz
A representative of high-end handmade work
One of the most important contemporary art glassmakers not only in the Czech Republic, but also internationally, was born in 1972 in Litoměřice. He graduated from the glass apprenticeship in Nový Bor, and in 1990 he joined the legendary glassworks in Chřibská, which was founded in 1414, where he perfected the technique of shaping glass. After that he worked for many years in the AJETO LINDAVA glassworks, alongside such glassmaking aces as Bořek Šípek and Petr Novotný. Among other things, he completed a number of glassmaking trips and internships (USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and other glassmaking countries), where he not only presented his own work, but also took over various foreign experiences. In 2007 Jiří Pačinek founded his own glassworks in Lindava near Cvikovo and at the same time the family glass company PAČINEK GLASS.
In 2015, he then moved with the manufactory to nearby Kunratice, where over the next ten years he built an amazing glassmaking complex with a glassworks, a glass canteen, a museum-gallery and a small tourist area with accommodation in cottages, in close proximity to the widely known and visited Glass Garden, where there are not only flowers and various plants and animals, but also glass trees, vineyards and other interesting things. Pačink's glassworks is highly visited by domestic and foreign curious visitors as part of the so-called sightseeing tourism and offers experiences that will not be forgotten. From the glass blowing concert to the aforementioned glass garden. After all, we can currently see the beauty of the aforementioned with our own eyes in Prague's Troja. Pačinka's glassmaking area is complemented by the so-called Crystal Temple, a local church serving as an atypical gallery of Czech crystal and an exhibition hall of sacral artefacts from the Pačinka's arts and crafts party. Read more here
Jiří Pačinek creates technically demanding decorative sculptures of various forms and utilitarian glass objects - lamps, vases, bowls, plates and other objects. His works are part of private art collections at home and abroad, including design companies, museums and galleries. As we have already noted, his works in the field of garden architecture are unique, not forgetting his masterpiece, when he produced sixty monumental sculptures in crystal for the American dream film factory - Hollywood. Recently, Pachinek returned from a working trip to Singapore, where he excelled at the fourth edition of FIND - Design Fair Asia, where he stunned the public and experts with his monumental, over a metre high, glass orchid Vanda Miss Joaquim. In connection with the above-mentioned exhibition in Trojská, it should be recalled that while working on the glass orchid, Jiří Pačinek relied on materials from the Czech botanist Jana Škorničková from the Botanical Garden, who provided him with detailed photographs of Singapore's national flower, so that he could successfully reproduce it in Czech crystal.
Ivan Cerny
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