Institutions, surveys and fairs

An art fair is a place you go not only to look at art but to buy it (galleries sell their artists' work directly here). Picture a large hall full of stands where well-known names stand next to young discoveries.

Art in public space means sculptures and installations placed in the city itself, commissioned either by developers or through public competitions. Here the scene is dominated by prominent names such as David Černý — and by the debate about quality and selection that comes with them.

Censorship is the tension between an artist's freedom and the pressure of politics or institutions wanting to determine what may be shown. It ranges from interference with works to decisions about who will represent a country at a major exhibition.

Documenta and Manifesta are two major European surveys of contemporary art, attended for a sense of what the scene is currently concerned with. When a city hosts one, local artistic life usually comes fully alive.

European Capital of Culture is a title that turns a chosen city into a cultural centre for a year and gives its art scene a running start. Pilsen has held it here, and Graz in neighbouring Austria.

Institutional collections are the art holdings of major museums and galleries; entering one is a seal of quality for an artist. Acquisition into such a collection is usually a marked impulse for a work's market value as well.

A solo exhibition at an institution is a show devoted to a single artist at a prestigious house such as the National Gallery, the Rudolfinum or GHMP. Such an event significantly raises an artist's reputation and prices — with some names, by an order of magnitude within a single year.

The Venice Biennale is the most prestigious art exhibition in the world, held every two years. It is not a market but a selection of the best of what is happening in the art world right now.

A work of national value is an artwork of exceptional importance whose export the state blocks so that it stays in the country. It is a way for a nation to hold on to the most precious part of its own cultural heritage.