Martins Kohout: Leaving the house with an open fire, but briefly

Martins Kohout’s solo exhibition at MeetFactory Gallery, titled Leaving the house with an open fire, but briefly is a study of orientation within a connected yet elusive world.

Kohout examines contemporary forms of solitude and sharing, and how global communication reshapes our relationships to time, space, and ourselves. They foreground states of impasse – waiting, being stuck, scanning for a signal – and the experience of these within thresholds, long corridors, and windows understood as interfaces that frame our gaze. Drawing on both new and earlier works, the exhibition assembles a concentrated environment that opens space to perceive a paradox of today’s experience – being permanently online and yet alone, caught on the threshold between inside and outside.

Martins Kohout (b. 1984, Prague) is an interdisciplinary artist working between Berlin and Prague. Their research-driven practice spans video, installation, performative forms, and publishing, focusing on how digital communication and technologies shape interpersonal relations, our perception of time, and contemporary forms of solitude. They studied at FAMU (Cinematography), Universität der Künste Berlin, and the Städelschule in Frankfurt. They founded and run the independent publishing house TLTRPreß; they collaborate with the gallery EXILE, and at UMPRUM (the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague) they served together with Alexandra Vajd as co-heads of the Photography Studio (Critical Optics). In 2017, they received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award.

Martins Kohout: Leaving the house with an open fire, but briefly
MeetFactory Gallery

30. 10. – 11. 1. 2026  
Opening: 29. 10., 18:30 | free event 

Curator: Ján Gajdušek
Production: Nikol Hoangová
Graphic Designer: Štěpán Marko 

Special thanks to Společnost Jindřicha Chalupeckého

Tickets: 

100 CZK at bar MeetFactory or GoOut
50 CZK students, seniors, ZTP 
The ticket is valid for both exhibition spaces. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.

For group discounts (over 10 people), guided tours of exhibitions or press accreditation, please contact polla.stankovianska@meetfactory.cz  

>>> valid for MeetFactory Gallery and Kostka Gallery; available for purchase at the bar (cash and card payment possible)
>>> opening of exhibitions is free of charge

Opening hours of the MeetFactory Gallery and Kostka Gallery:
Mon–Sun 13:00–19:45