The conclusion of Friday’s Události, comments program was accompanied by a heated debate on Czech TV. The artist David Černý, whose works people often raise their eyebrows at, defended his butterfly sculptures in it, which are soon to decorate the Máj department store in the center of Prague. He called the curator of the Prague Capital Gallery Maria Foltýnová, who was sitting next to him, a comrade. And at the very end of the show, already off camera, she said to Černý: “Go to hell.” He answered her in the same way.
Prague
11:09 a.m. April 20, 2024 Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
Artist David Černý (archive photo) | Photo: René Volfík | Source: iROZHLAS.cz
At the beginning of the debate, Foltýnová criticized the vagueness of the intention of the sculptor Černý, who created a pair of blue-violet butterflies whose fuselages resemble Spitfire fighters for the facade of the Máj house.
She emphasized that Máj is a cultural monument and an architectural work in itself. And according to her, the question is “if it is necessary to add another layer to it”.
Trams at the Museum and repair of the underpass. Reconstruction of the upper part of Wenceslas Square in Prague will begin in the summer
Read the article
Černý reacted sharply to her first words. “I wonder how Comrade Faltýnková wants to criticize something…,” Černý garbled the name of the gallery’s curator. Moderator Daniel Takač interrupted him immediately. And he pointed out that Foltýnová is not a member of the KSČM. She herself added that she had never been.
“She reminds me of my communist teacher from elementary school. I apologize for that,” continued Černý. Later, the moderator had to warn him regarding the mutilation of the curator’s name.
The artist Černý subsequently objected to Foltýnová criticizing a statue that does not even exist yet. “I’m talking regarding the intention,” Foltýnová shook her head disapprovingly.
The debate finally heated up at the very end of the show Events, comments, already outside the TV cameras, when the presenter said goodbye to the audience with a smile. The last words were picked up by microphones in the distance. “Go to hell,” Foltýnová said angrily towards Černý. “Fuck you,” the sculptor replied.
According to Černý, the butterfly sculptures should only be on the facade of Maja temporarily, for a period of one year. According to the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, the installation is intended to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO and the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic joining NATO.
The Máj department store, the renovation of which began the year before last July, will open to the public in June. It should cost around four billion crowns. Originally the owner of Máje, the development company Amádeus Real considered that during the reconstruction changed significantly and the outer shell of the building. But in the end she gave up on the plan.
Attention focused on Černý
David Černý’s sculptures have been attracting attention for a long time. The Soviet tank in Smíchov is well-known, which the artist painted from green to pink in 1991. The clicking red double-decker, which stood in front of the Czech House during the London Olympics in 2012, also attracted attention.
David Černý’s Lilith is like a fig leaf of bad construction, it does not strengthen the genius loci, criticizes the sculptor
Read the article
Discussions were also sparked by the giant purple mediator on the Vltava river erected shortly before the parliamentary elections in October 2013 in front of Prague Castle, where President Miloš Zeman resided for less than a year at the time.
However, the biggest controversy was apparently aroused by his giant sculpture Entropa, which decorated the Council of Europe building in Brussels during the first Czech presidency of the EU in 2009.
The sculpture became part of the stereotypes associated with individual European states, some of which protested once morest the sculpture. The Bulgarians, whose country was symbolized by a Turkish latrine, probably made the biggest noise. And the Slovaks did not like that their country was represented by a package of cheese-like material wrapped in the Hungarian tricolor. Černý depicted Germany as a system of highways, but it was strikingly reminiscent of Nazi symbolism.
Giant Entrop sculpture by artist David Černý in Techmania Science Center in Pilsen | Photo: Libor Sojka | Source: ČTK
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
