REAL ESTATE NEWS

Changes in Holesovice

The DOX Center for Contemporary Art located in Holesovice is hosting a photo exhibition offering an insight into the transformation of this Prague quarter from a rather unattractive industrial part of town into a modern hip area attracting numerous artists as well as investors.

Significantly, the DOX art center itself is an embodiment of these far-reaching changes. A former factory has been sensitively transformed into an inspiring avantgarde art gallery, just like in the case of the popular Tate Modern gallery in London. The exhibition called DOX & Holesovice: Mista v pohybu (Places in Motion) documents this particular transformation but also suggests that it should only be taken as a tip of the iceberg or perhaps as a symptom of the rich and inventive gentrification that has been happening in Holesovice within the last few years.

Some of the other proofs of Holesovice's metamorphosis are the A7 Arena, M Factory and the La Fabrika Art Center. The A7 Arena is a result of a transformation of a former Holesovice brewery, projected by world-renowned architects Frank O. Gehry and Jean Nouvel. It currently hosts among other things the headquarters of the Ringier media group and an Albert supermarket, and offers plenty of attractive commercial as well as residential space.

The La Fabrika art center is another former factory which has been turned into a fascinating gallery / theater / music venue. M factory, on the other hand is an attractive commercial space whose transformation from a former meat-producing factory, which allegedly used to make ham for the communist functionaries, has been projected by the Olgoj Chorchoj architectonic studio.

The good news is that all of these transformations respect and appreciate the original character of the buildings, while managing to inject the much needed new life into this up and coming Prague quarter. You can witness some of these changes at the DOX art center exhibition until April 4, 2009. The exhibition is accompanied by lectures and discussion evenings, which complement the photo documentation.