Educational Program:
School of Participatory Art Mediation
A series of six sessions where you can step into the role of an art mediator and try your hand at presenting art to others.
This experiential educational program offers inspiring encounters with contemporary art, developing the ability to think and speak about it freely and creatively. Individual sessions will offer a wide range of activities that support sensory perception, imagination, and playfulness, connecting thought with physical and emotional experience. Personal experience—rather than knowledge or professional commentary by art experts—serves here as the starting point for seeking one's own perspective on art and related questions.
The program is open to the adult public and to everyone who wishes to look at art creatively and engage in mutual dialogue—regardless of age, profession, or current stage of life.
Sept 11, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
1st Session: Opening the Circle
An introductory workshop designed to prepare the ground for our collective creation. By sharing our own expectations and needs, we will begin to lay the foundations of a safe and open environment. We will introduce the overall program and try out the key creative methods that will guide us throughout the course. This first session will not take place directly inside the exhibition spaces. However, we will start working with the themes raised by the artworks right from the beginning – just in a slightly different way, to spark our imagination and break down any initial hesitation.
Oct 23, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
2nd Session: Perception and Experience
During the second session, we will immerse ourselves fully in the exhibition spaces and begin focusing on individual artworks and exhibition units. In each block, we will focus on the work of one specific artist, exploring it in greater depth. We will develop forms of perception that go beyond the purely intellectual – engaging our intuition, emotions, and the whole body. We will experience what it is like to perceive space and artworks with all our senses, and through this bodily experience, we will seek new, unexpected paths toward a personal interpretation of contemporary art.
Nov 13, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
3rd Session: How to Talk About Art
In this section, we will focus on developing our communication and interpretation skills. We will try out diverse mediation formats – from classical dialogue and frontal approaches to open, performative formats. Together, we will search for and discover the language and style of expression that feel closest to us. This block will help you decide which direction you want to take with your own art mediation output, and whether you prefer working individually or forming an organic creative connection with others in the group.
Nov 27, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
4th Session: Crystallizing the Form
By the end of this block, we will have explored all the exhibited works and various forms of art mediation in detail. Its goal, therefore, will be to clarify which artistic position or specific artwork resonated with you the most, and in what form you wish to mediate it to the audience. At this stage, we will begin to focus on developing the actual outputs. Whether you dive into creating individually, in pairs, or join a larger creative group is entirely up to you – mutual inspiration and support will be key for us.
Dec 11, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
5th Session: Fine-Tuning and Collective Reflection
Our final session before the dress rehearsal will be dedicated to final preparations. We will showcase our outputs, fine-tune the last details, and provide feedback to one another. We will then combine the individual artistic approaches into a cohesive script – weaving our art mediation outputs into a single collective program. At the very end, we will set aside time to look back and reflect on the journey we have taken as individuals and as a group.
Jan 8, 2027, 3:00 pm–6:00 pm
6th Session: Dress Rehearsal
After the Christmas holidays and with the fresh energy of the new year, we will meet for a dress rehearsal. We will test how our individual ideas and approaches work together as a single, interconnected whole within the collective program. Our first test audience will be the PLATO gallery team, who will provide safe feedback and final support before the program opens to the public.
Program Grand Finale
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2027, Saturday, Feb 20, or Sunday, Feb 21 (to be specified)
This showcase of art mediation outputs will introduce this year’s graduates of the program to the general public, while marking the official closing ceremony. It is an opportunity to experience art mediation “for real” and to show the audience that absolutely anyone can get involved in art mediation.
The PLATO education department team—Jana Adamec Tkáčová, Iveta Horáková, Gabriela Pilařová, and Alice Sovadinová—along with Nikola Ludlová, curator and coordinator for inclusion and sustainability at the Jindřich Chalupecký Society, look forward to meeting you.
In preparation.
