Mission

The Central Slovak Gallery is located in the centre of Banská Bystrica. It is a regional gallery with program focused on presentation, research and creation of collections of modern and contemporary art. The gallery is an open-minded institution which, along with the professional work of the collection gallery, offers to the general public high-quality curatorial and educational projects with an expanded accompanying program, including artistic genres such as contemporary literature, dance, music, performance and film.

Exhibition and educational activities are realized in three historical buildings located in the city centre. Temporary exhibitions are organized in turns in the buildings of the former city hall Praetorium and Bethlen’s House. A permanent exhibition of Dominik Skutezky’s paintings is made available in the building of his family villa with the garden.

In addition to its focus on the region, the gallery has also specialized in research and presentation of graphic art in the last 60 years of its history. In an extensive gallery collection, the graphic art of the second half of the 20th century from Slovakia is represented almost in its full form, including the selection of foreign art. Among the prominent artists working in the Central Slovak region since the 19th century, there belongs the most outstanding personality of the painter Dominik Skutezky, who settled here after living many years in Vienna and Venice. He excelled in his painting style and formation, mastering the quality of traditional Italian painting, and later, in a specific approach to light in luministic (impressionist) painting at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. As part of the reflection of art in public space, the gallery deals with artworks created between the years 1945 and 2015 in the region of Banská Bystrica. At the same time, it opens discussion on the character of cotemporary art in public spaces, its role in the local context and need for protection. With respect to current orientation on modern and contemporary art, the gallery has acquired a large collection of works by Stano Filko, the author of the Slovak neo-avantgard generation of the 1960s. Filko has gained international recognition as a creator of installations and environments, and is considered to be a pioneer in the field of conceptual art in Slovakia.

In the area of ​​gallery pedagogy, the Central Slovak Gallery has developed a work programme with the public and schools in the form of short lectures, animation programs, creative workshops as well as specialized long-term educational programs. In 2016 it also revived the tradition of educational and presentation exhibitions, which first began in the Central Slovak Gallery in 1989. The aim of such diverse educational programs and exhibition projects is to teach the visitor to perceive, receive and interpret works of visual art.

The collection of the Central Slovak Gallery includes more than 13,000 artworks in the field of graphics, drawing, painting, sculpture, and other media. The digitalized collection of items can be found on www.webumenia.sk

History

The Central Slovak Gallery was established on September 1, 1956 by the Regional Museum of National History as a District Gallery. In 1960, it passed to the city administration as The Municipal Gallery in Banská Bystrica. In 1963, the Regional Gallery was assigned to the Regional Center for State Preservation of Monuments and Nature in Banská Bystrica. From 1991 to 2007, taking a break in 1998-1999 when the gallery was entitled The Banská Bystrica State cultural centre under administration of the Regional Authority, the gallery operated under the name of the State Gallery in Banská Bystrica. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic delimitated the gallery under the Banská Bystrica Self-governing region as The Central Slovak Gallery.

The collecting activity of the gallery is maintained continuosly thanks to donations of the authors and regular purchase. Funding for the acquisition and protection of collections is provided moslty through subsidies (currently by The Slovak Art Council).

When creating and organizing various accompanying artistic and educational programs, the gallery has long been involved in partnerships and cooperates with several artistic and cultural institutions such as ars_litera (author’s reading Anasoft litera with contemporary writers), Laputa and Záhrada – Independent Culture Centre.

Gallery Titles

1956 – 60 Krajská galéria/ District Gallery
1960 – 63 Mestská galéria / Municipal Gallery
1963 – 91 Oblastná galéria / Regional Gallery
1991 – 98 Štátna galéria v Banskej Bystrici / The State Gallery in Banská Bystrica
1998 – 99 Banskobystrické štátne kultúrne centrum / The Banská Bystrica State Cultural Centre
1999 – 07 Štátna galéria v Banskej Bystrici / The State Gallery in Banská Bystrica
Since 2007 Stredoslovenská galéria / The Central Slovak Gallery

Gallery Directors

1958 – 1967 Akad. mal. Viliam Ruttkay-Nedecký
1968 – 1985 Akad. mal. Ján Paľo
1986 – 1990 Paed. Dr. Stanislav Tropp
1990 – 1992 PhDr. Viliam Dúbravský
1992 – 1995 PhDr. Alena Vrbanová
1995 – 1996 PhDr. Viliam Dúbravský
1996 – 1999 Mgr. Branislav Rezník
1999 – 2006 PhDr. Alena Vrbanová
2007 – 2008 Mgr. art. Štefan Kocka
2009 – 2022 Mgr. art. Maroš Rovňák, ArtD.

current director                   Mgr. Miloslava Borošová Michalcová, PhD.