The Academic Research Centre of the Academy of Fine Arts (VVP AVU) is an institute for basic research that processes source documentation and critically evaluates and reinterprets Czech fine art from 1945 to the present day. It focuses on art history, theory and their interdisciplinary overlaps.
It is the first academic research centre of its kind established at university level in the Czech Republic. It operates in tandem with the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of the CR, the art history departments of Czech universities, and other public and private universities, museums, galleries and exhibition initiatives.
The Academic Research Centre was established in 1997 under the leadership of Jiří Ševčík with support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in order to promote research activities in tertiary institutions.
The centre aims to promote an awareness of the development of fine art in this country and to place this within a broader international context.
Students may study in the centre’s archive and library by arrangement.