Permanent line

Martin Steinert is a guest of the residency programme of the Goethe-Institut. He will stay in Prague for three weeks and create his work at the occasion of the Sculpture Line festival. During his stay, he is going to create the Prague version of his “Wooden Cloud”.

For several years, the work of sculptor Martin Steinert has included spatial installations made of ordinary wooden laths. It was people’s great interest in mostly several-week processes of creating objects in public space which has led Martin Steinert to the idea of involving people directly into his work.

In June 2015, Martin Steinert built a monumental sculpture of almost 2,000 meters of wooden slats in the apse of the church of St. John (Johanneskirche) in Saarbrücken. During the four-week creation of the installation, visitors to the church were invited not only to watch the sculptor's work, but even to take part in it themselves. Approximately 1,200 people wrote their personal wishes on prepared wooden slats which Martin Steinert then incorporated into his installation. Their wishes, formulated on the slats as individual manifestos of dreams, hopes and expectations, branched out into thousands of synapses. In this way, an art project called Wooden Cloud – Die Architektur der Wünsche (Architecture of Wishes) was created and set out on its journey.

The wooden cloud floats from Saarbrücken through selected cities of the world and it is always created in a new form in prominent public places. Temporary installations made of wooden slats with inscriptions on them become snapshots of social atmosphere. So far, the wooden cloud has stopped on its way in St. Petersburg in 2016, in Berlin in 2017, in Paris in 2018, and the fifth “Wooden Cloud” was created in Al-Istiqlal Park in Ramallah in 2019. Two more wooden clouds are going to be created in 2020 in Prague and Tirana.

Chairs for the city is a series of bright ceramic sofas and chairs installed in busy city streets for permanent or temporary periods of time. Stop for a moment at a random location in the street, sit down, touch the shiny smooth shapes, feel and enjoy the colours. Nestle down for a while and look around you or close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the street. Allow yourself to be present in
the moment.

Coloured glazed ceramics on a reinforced concrete shell. This is a new approach to street furniture. An unconventionally conceived utility sculpture is an inspiration for both architects and city councillors. A ceramic chair does not look dull and it is not a serial product, either. Thanks to its rounded shapes it is playful and original, and rightfully attracts the attention of passers-by.

It is the third horse from the sculpture called Rider. I finished the whole sculpture in fibreglass castings a few years ago. It consists of three horse statues and one horse with a rider. In order to be able to exhibit the sculpture in the exterior, I gradually began to cast the statues in bronze. During that time I have exhibited the statues separately. I hope to see it once exhibited as a whole, for example in one of the Czech towns, possibly as part of the Sculpture Line festival.

“I created the sculpture called “Corpus Angelicus“ as a part of an exhibition of the same name which I had at Prague Castle in 1997. An angel is a constant theme for me, this mysterious being is actually present in all religions. It is a sort of a positive, ecumenical symbol and I am enticed to shape it and give it various forms and constantly retransform it. An angel has probably never been seen before but we may believe that it exists in some form and this always stirs my imagination. That is why “Corpus Angelicus“, a sculpture made of robust cast steel, in contrast to the notion of a totally unknown and elusive ethereal being. A sort of shell of the Angel, it can be understood like this. But I leave it to the viewer. I am glad that the object be installed in Břežany near the monastery and I hope that it will give joy to the citizens and maybe also a reason to pause and think.”

The author focused on the space and size of the object in space. A scale chosen for Hyena allows the viewer to perceive the object as a whole, and, at the same time, at a closer look the viewer is forced
to perceive individual segments and parts of the sculpture. Its openness offers insight into the interior
of the object. The sculpture tries to capture the ferocity of hyenas as accurately as possible with metal. An organic form of a living hyena is transferred into a geometric form of the sculpture while enlarging the animal’s proportions. Complex structures that create individual parts of the animal’s body are gradually composed of the 2D parts. The resulting sculpture takes advantage of the distribution of light and shade on metal surfaces, and using its nuances it creates the overall spatial volume.

The origin of this artwork is an intuition. The sculpture reveals the polarities caused by a human being and his desire. It illustrates the dilemma and balancing act of conscious existence. Enlarged and modified hand tools interfere with common perception and create symbols for transition from an industrial to digital era. Avarice is a critical review of the greed of our commercial being.

Coloured glazed ceramics on a reinforced concrete shell. A utility ceramic sofa with organic shapes brings playfulness and optimism into a given public space. In the busy street full of hustle and bustle, the sculpture gives an impression of an island of peace and good cheer, a place where you can “recharge your batteries” with a brief rest.

Chairs for the city is a series of bright ceramic sofas and chairs installed in busy city streets for permanent or temporary periods of time. Stop for a moment at a random location in the street, sit down, touch the shiny smooth shapes, feel and enjoy the colours. Nestle down for a while and look around you or close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the street. Allow yourself to be present in
the moment.

Coloured glazed ceramics on a reinforced concrete shell. A utility ceramic sofa with organic shapes brings playfulness and optimism into a given public space. In the busy street full of hustle and bustle, the sculpture gives an impression of an island of peace and good cheer, a place where you can “recharge your batteries” with a brief rest.

A composition made of wooden logs. It is a kind of ready-made from logged wood resembling scattered crayons. The object can also be used for sitting.

Working with metal, Vladimír Škoda uses a variety of processes and techniques and introduces multiple degrees of interactivity through magnetism and polarity. During his career, he held a long-time position of Professor at École nationale Supérieure des beaux-arts in Le Havre and Marseille, and later also at École nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Strassbourg. Vladimír Škoda is represented by the galleries Cermak Eisenkraft, Prague; Jaroslav Krbůšek, Prague; Catherine Issert, Saint Paul; Mathieu, Lyon; Wittenbrink, Munich; Hoffmann, Friedberg. His work is included for example in the collections at Centre Pompidou and Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, National Gallery in Prague, Central-Bohemian Gallery in Kutná Hora (GASK) or Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister in Dresden, as well as in many public and private collections in France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic.

A statue, running or speeding off, is a symbol of the premises on which it is located. A fragment of the bobsled is transferred into a surreal level where it is carried to the intended destination (the track?) by two pairs of legs.

Pieces of art have been commonplace in parks and gardens since anyone can remember. They may be a discreet accessory, an extravagant jewel, a guide or a centrepiece of the garden's design – and the main reason for its existence. An art piece and its placement in the garden can have a deeply personal meaning, or it can be the result of a meticulously focused architectural intent.

The creations of Alexandra Koláčková are immediately recognizable and her style unmistakable. And yet despite this – or maybe precisely because of this – they set the narration line of the area in motion in so many different ways... They serve as a decorative piece or a climbing frame; they can be the centre of the universe or a tiny surprise hiding under the bench... And that is why I personally value Alexandra's work so much. 

Most gardens are not meant to be just observed, but rather used in active ways – their space waiting to be touched, sat on, jogged through... Everything is permitted – even welcome. The same applies to Alexandra Koláčková's sculptures. Their simple, rounded and approachable shapes as well as their larger than life size outright beg to be climbed on. This has a tremendous benefit for a garden architect like me. A garden, with everything in it, should be inviting, welcoming and open to visitors – it should encourage exploration and discovery. In case of Alexandra's sculptures, this is often literally the case, with hands or even whole bodies inviting visitors to sit, lie or rest on them. Whatever they want and whatever they can think of, be it children, their parents or their imagination.

 Kateřina Pospíšilová, garden architect

Václav Havel: Truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred.

This legendary statement of Havel's continues to carry not only a moral imperative, i.e. a form of recommendation or example of commitment, but despite its seemingly utopian message, it is a fundamental human idea and aspiration.

The vision for the building itself was conceived in 2012 and was not realised at the time for many reasons. However, its basic idea has remained unchanged, i.e. when the human (Havel's) voice metaphorically, but in its 3D representation, penetrates impermeable walls, concrete barriers, etc. That is, through some kind of internal and external barriers, misunderstandings.

This symbolic process of breaking down the walls of evil with the power of the voice, with the power of non-violence, with the power of understanding, with the power of togetherness, thus carries the ethos of freedom and value responsibility. It also evokes the capacity of human good will not to shrink from evil and, on the contrary, to help resolve the misunderstandings that arise, to be heard. Negate aggression, humiliation, contempt, or various surviving evil atavisms in their extreme forms.

It is a message that holds our civilization against all manifestations of hatred past, present and future.

Prof.ak.mal.Jiří David