David Černý has struck again. The enfant terrible of Czech art initially denied that he was behind the sculptures that are to be installed on the newly renovated Maj department store. But it soon became clear that the hybrid butterfly/Spitfires that flooded social media were indeed his work. Usually, the battle lines that form have the Club for Old Prague on one side and a developer on the other. This time, an interesting debate actually broke out over public space, and over the role of developers in it. But this potentially productive friction eventually dissolved into farce on live TV during a debate between Černý and Marie Foltýnová, a curator in the Prague City Gallery.
Černý repeatedly insulted Foltýnová during the live portion of the discussion, calling her “Comrade” and denying the relevance of her outdated (in his opinion) views on art. Sticking to the subject, Foltýnová argued that whatever the quality of the sculptures, they disrupt the facade of an excellent piece of architecture. In a sense, her point is that once built, a building’s architecture (including its facade) ‘belongs’ to the city and its residents. That means that any disruption to it should be a matter of public discussion. Černý had a rather more simplistic argument: the building is privately owned, so the owner should be able to do anything he wants to it.
If the producers had turned off the microphones as soon as the interview ended, the encounter would have ended as a debate. But off camera, Foltynová momentarily lost her poise was heard heard telling Černý to “eff-off”. He, of course, returned the compliment, ensuring that the exchange went viral.This created exactly the sort of media noise that Černý uses to promote his personal brand. I’m less sure if it was the sort of publicity the developer was after, though it can’t have come as a surprise. The whole affair will be forgotten once the sculptures have been hanging from the building for a few months.
Will they receive the same acclaim as Černý’s rotating Kafka in back of Quadrio, or draw the same sort of crowds? They look pretty cool, so I look forward to seeing them and finding out. But I’m also looking forward to a more cultivated discussion on the role of developers in creating art for public spaces. Giving a platform to new artists with a more cultivated approach to communication would also be a welcome innovation. Mind you, I write this as someone who loved Černý’s pink tank and adores the Žižkov tower babies.
As Iva Pacnerová wrote in Seznam Zpravy: “Doesn’t Czechia have other artists who could decorate Prague? Of course it does, it’s just that they aren’t offered the space. Or at the most it’s offered to Krištof Kintera. And yet the works of people like, say, Anna Chroma or Lukáš Rais are proof that the Czech artistic scene has a lot to offer.”
Photo: Seznam Zprávy
