In these days art education and art galleries, including university galleries, in the Czech Republic, found themselves "on the margins". It is encouraging that there are different technologies and digital tools through which we can create a bridge between people and art.
It is a great challenge and opportunity to learn how to use technologies in mediating art and in art education and examine how they affect the ways of looking and perceiving visual art. And it is necessary to critically reflect on the fact that these technologies are not available to all of us.
We looked back at the exhibition practice in our institution, we described and critically reflected ways of exhibiting students' artwork during COVID-19 pandemic and observed ways how students of Art Education at the Charles University independently started to use different technological media and on-line platforms to present their artwork and collaborative artwork. Typically, the position of visual arts, whose study programs are seated in small departments which are not affiliated to their own school of art, remain neglected at Research Universities.
The social benefits of visual art and art education programs are still on the margins of educational discourse and its potentials remain unrecognized. The Department of Fine Arts and Culture of the Faculty of Education of the University of Hradec Králové organized an international conference on the topic of university and university galleries and their role in the culture of university education.
The conference opened a discussion on the operation of these galleries, their curation, development and strategic planning, institutional anchoring and educational potential for other taught disciplines and university culture.