The exhibition explores the scenographic potential of Villa Tugendhat, examining the relationships and stories staged and presented through it, not only to its human visitors. Nine artists were invited to approach the villa as a stage of sorts. Their contributions loosely reflect on how this listed cultural monument places and situates them as individual visitors, and the ways in which it directs their attention. The result includes five unique artistic interventions that consider the views, perspectives, situations and stories offered by the villa in its conventional guided-tour format, while also responding to those that remain outside the focus of most visitors. The works thus engage, in different ways, with what is perceived as the main stage and what as the secondary setting in Villa Tugendhat, the kinds of atmospheres it creates, and what, by contrast, is conceived of as its metaphorical backstage.
The exhibition project investigates the kinds of orientations – both physical and social – that Villa Tugendhat generates, and how it reinforces or, conversely, disrupts them among its visitors and inhabitants. It asks what norms and hierarchies this space represents, and what alternatives to them can be imagined through contemporary art.
Villa Tugendhat is not viewed as a static stage – a historical building or architectural artefact – but as a performative environment that organises the attention, movement, bodily experiences and social roles of its visitors.
The artistic interventions, which engage indirectly with the scenographic qualities of Villa Tugendhat, offer an additional layer to the rich interpretative framework that visitors take away from their tour. Whether through speculation, reinterpretation or what may seem to be no more than a slight shift in the way we ordinarily view the presented object, these works create subtly dislocated situations and atmospheres that bring to the fore relationships between body and space that have until now remained largely implicit.
The exhibition REINTERPRETATIONS 2.0 – A Staging of Views continues in the format of the Possibilities of Space Interpretation exhibition projects, which, through seven research and exhibition projects realised in 2021–2022, offered new perspectives on the villa’s iconic spaces.
Opening & commented tour:
Wed 18. 11. 2026, 18:00
Exhibition
19. 11. 2026 – 16. 5. 2027
(accessible without reservation Tue–Sun, 9.00–17.00)
The exhibition is situated on the technical ground floor of Villa Tugendhat.
Accompanying program:
12. 12. 2026, 10:00–12:00 workshop for kids with Eva Koťátková (in Czech language)
11. 12. 17:00, 13. 12. 10:00 special tours with Amálie Bulandrová (in Czech language)
Authors: András Cséfalvay, Eva Koťátková, Ruta Putramentaite & Jonáš Richter, RAKOB Research Group (Jakub Klíma, Petr Klíma, Lucie Sasínová), RUINA (Magdaléna Uhlířová, Adéla Vavříková)
External curator: Amálie Bulandrová
Team of the Villa Tugendhat: Barbora Benčíková, Neli Hejduk, Michal Kolář, Veronika Svobodová (SDC-VT)
Exhibition architecture and design: 2plus1 (Jindřiška Mikešová, David Mikeš, Jan Uiberlay)
Proofreading: Neli Hejduk
Translation: Kateřina Báňová
The project was implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.