It's one o'clock at night and I'm going to write an article for the Telegraph because I promised my colleagues I would. They want me to write something about the Telegraph as it celebrates its five-year anniversary in November. And it's supposed to be interesting and readable. So, please, here's a midnight attempt at something at least a little interesting. I'll mention things I haven't mentioned many times, so as not to repeat myself too much. And I'll forewarn you, it's very long for today, so I don't really expect anyone to finish it.
BEFORE IT STARTED
I've been collecting art since 2007. Sometime in 2013, I started thinking about getting a space to display my art collection. I thought about Olomouc, Brno, but also Prague. There were three specific places I was thinking about even before I bought the building on Jungmannova Street, where the Telegraph is today. In Brno, my favourite was the gallery on Veselá Street, which was run by Mr Chloupek in those years. But then I thought that the chosen space should be in Olomouc. Here, at one time it looked like Salzer's redoubt, then the fort in Chvalkovice. But in the summer of 2015, Martin Minář from the real estate agency contacted me out of the blue, saying that a building on Jungmannova Street was available. I had to decide within two days. I decided on the first day that I would go for it.
PREPARATIONS
I don't remember the exact timing of it all, but I remember that I knew from the beginning that I wanted to rebuild the house with architect Lukáš Blažek from Studio ječmen in Olomouc. We worked on the project for almost 3 years, and then we physically started the reconstruction at the end of 2018. And I remember that in the meantime there were some pretty interesting events in the building. In particular, a three-day exhibition in September 2016, when we put up a lot of paintings and sculptures around the building. Or one Pecha Kucha Night, when it was so cold inside that I felt really sorry for all the performers and spectators. The Pecha was organised by Alžběta Smejkalová, who coincidentally became the Telegraph's house manager a few years later.
WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND SHOULD NOT
The Telegraph was never meant to look like it does today. The gallery was to be two storeys, with one floor housing the permanent exhibition and the other housing temporary exhibitions. But everything was originally going to be focused on art from the collection only. This, of course, has since changed radically. We also wanted to have a hostel with 6 rooms in the building. There were going to be workshops, photographic chambers, a graphic studio, a design shop and so on. There were no plans for coworking at all. What happened with that was that one day fresh graduates from Hejčín high school approached me and said that they thought coworking could work well in the Telegraph. And that they would take care of it. It seemed like a pretty good idea, so we went for it. The students dispersed, everyone went somewhere else, but we have a coworking space at the Telegraph. And I don't regret it at all. I love it and I have an office there myself. Feel free to stop by for even one day, you'll experience a very nice atmosphere.
CONSTRUCTION
As I wrote, we started the remodel sometime towards the end of 2018. The goal was to have the entire building remodeled by November 2019. It was an ambitious goal and, as it turned out later, not entirely realistic. That we were under time pressure was palpable on site. There was quite a bit of nervousness, but there were some cool moments, like the Christmas-decorated crane. That was a nice thing and it resonated quite a bit on Olomouc social media.
Sometime towards the end of the summer of 2019, it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to finish the whole building by November. In particular, the extension that now houses the Telegraph Loft was much delayed. There it was lagging a lot. By the way - the initial inspiration for the Telegraph Loft came from two spaces in Berlin. The private view space of the gallerist Michael Haas and one of the large rooms of Berlin's SOHO House. Because of the aforementioned schedule delays, we decided to open the individual floors gradually.
OPENINGS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
It has been announced that the first Telegraph exhibition will be Heart in Tongs by Olomouc native Václav Stratil. The opening fell on 17 November, exactly on the day of the 30th anniversary of the November 1989 events. We were finishing the gallery space a few hours before the exhibition started. During the opening, we experienced the first and, so far, the last demonstration against the Telegraph. Or rather, against me. For me personally, the demonstration was a surprise. I was sorry that the curator of the exhibition, Jiří Ptáček, knew about it but did not see fit to draw my attention to it. That disappointed me a lot.
ABOUT NAMES AND TITLES
Before I move on, a brief mention about names and names. For a long time we couldn't figure out the name of the whole thing. But I remember that it came to me in a flash when I was sitting with Lukas Blazek at Cafe New One and we were discussing the editing of some designs. I said it would be the Telegraph - written in English. And it was. The current Telegraph coworking space was formerly Telegraph Hub, Telegraph Loft started out as Telegraph Lounge. We've continually changed the signage, the current one certainly works better.
COVID
A few months after the gallery opened, covid struck. It then plagued us, now more, now less, for two years. Of course it was not ideal for the start of a new institution, but there was nothing much we could do about it. Together with a few other galleries, we developed the Open Galleries initiative, but we didn't achieve much success. To this day it still strikes me as a great nonsense that galleries and museums had to close while shopping centres were open. Probably the biggest blowback was one of the most beautiful exhibitions ever at the Telegraph, Ivan Pinkova's Double Bind. Hardly anyone saw that one, even though it ran for nearly 5 months afterwards. A great pity.
EXHIBITIONS
I put together the original dramaturgy of exhibitions with Honza Kudrna. The exhibitions went at a hellish pace at first, each lasting a maximum of two months, which with the consistency of the preparations could not be sustained for long. Sometime after about two years we slowed down so that each exhibition lasted about 3 to 3 and a half months. Honza Kudrna was then replaced as chief curator by Mira Macík, whom I watched doing excellent work in Prostějov, for example. But Honza remained in the team that decides on the dramaturgy.
RESIDENCY
It was a great idea to set up an art studio in the Telegraph and run a residency program. Czech and international artists usually come for two-month residencies. And we repeatedly get great feedback from them, not only on the Telegraph, but on the city as a whole. Especially foreigners quickly take a liking to Olomouc. I think every artist who has been through the Telegraph takes a little part of the Telegraph with them in their heart. At least I hope so.
WORTH
We generally want and strive to make everyone feel comfortable at the Telegraph. Everyone who joins must feel welcome here. The Telegraph is not aimed at any particular group. Neither age, nor social, nor any other. It's a space where everyone should feel comfortable and free. Freedom is a core value at the Telegraph. We don't want to restrict artists, whether exhibiting or in residencies, in any way whatsoever. We honour the principle of artistic freedom. I believe you can hopefully feel that.
TELEGRAPH PULSE
From the beginning, there has always been one single thing I never wanted to do at the Telegraph myself. That was the coffee shop. Gastronomy has been a huge challenge in the Czech Republic, at least since the days of covid. We originally had two tenants at the Telegraph, but we ended up running the café ourselves. We also renamed the original Telegraph Cafe to Telegraph Pulse - cafe, restaurant, bar. It's just not just a cafe anymore. We strive to offer visitors the best possible service 7 days a week from morning to night. And I think it's working quite well, with visitor numbers and sales still steadily increasing. Right now, since November, we've extended our opening hours so that we're open until 10pm every day except Sunday. And if I'm honest, I personally like Telegraph Pulse best in the evening. Maybe because I can listen to the music I like. I shouldn't, since I put all the music playlists in the Telegraph together myself. So if you have a problem with the music, you have to complain to me. As the owner, I am strict about this; the staff is told exactly what music is playing and at what volume at any given time of day. The same applies to lighting intensity and other things. If it doesn't suit someone, they can tell us, but it still stays as it is. The Telegraph simply has its own specific atmosphere, its own expression, and it wants to keep those. If it tries to please everybody in this respect, it will result in a neutral and totally uninteresting environment. And we really don't want that.
BETTER THAH WE EVER EXPECTED
When the Telegraph was born, we knew we wanted a smaller venue where we could have a lecture, a film, a small event, a musical performance. I had no idea that we would get to where we are today, offering about 20 events a month. We don't do the mainstream, we go more into smaller genres, but even here it's true that the audience and visitors are constantly expanding. I'm quite proud of our team for what we can offer people.
MONEY AND THE TELEGRAPH
I said when the Telegraph was first started that I didn't want public money, such as grant aid, going into it. This is still the case. There has never been any public money involved in the creation of the Telegraph or its activities. We try to be as self-sufficient as possible. If we make a loss somewhere, I will cover that loss. It's not easy to run a business like this, but on the other hand it gives you the maximum amount of freedom. That's something we value at the Telegraph. We think every thing has its value. That's why we charge admission to most of our events. People should know that things aren't free. And since our operation doesn't cost taxpayers a penny, we think it's fair to charge admission to visitors who choose to attend a particular program event at our facility. I believe this is something the vast majority of people can understand.
TELEGRAPH PEOPLE
It is clear to me that the people on our Telegraph team may not always find it easy to work under me as owner. I am, unfortunately, the most senior of the entire Telegraph, but it's hard to do anything about that. Most are in their 20s and 30s, with a little older here and there. I like the people at the Telegraph, even if I do occasionally swear at them and still don't like something. The way the Telegraph is a personal thing for me, I often slip into micro-management. I just care about these things, even the details. People have got used to it, they might say I'm crazy sometimes, I can't see inside their heads. But maybe they've also had a chance over time to see and understand that these things make sense. That it works. I believe that they are reasonable people and that they understand that we can enrich each other quite well.
IT HAD TO LIVE
Institutions like the Telegraph make sense when people come to them. When it's alive. A nice, beautiful, designer box that gets ten people a day is useless in my opinion. I enjoy the Telegraph when things happen there. Ideally more at the same time. When there's a hustle, a bustle, a buzz. At the cinema, at the Pulse, at the Loft or on the roof. Then I look at it and I think, it all makes sense. Without the people, the visitors, the public, I wouldn't enjoy it. Then it would be better to make it an office, make it work and make something out of it. But the Telegraph's mission is different. I don't think it's done a bad job at all in five years. And I believe it's going to be here for at least another 5 years and it's going to be even better. That's my wish. And believe us, we're going to work honestly and strive for that. Keep your fingers crossed for us, come and join us, that's the way to support us the most. And become a member of the Telegraph Club:-)
