Transparency

Have you seen that big white torso looking thing sitting in front of the Rudolfinum? Or how about the swaying girl in a window on the side of Národní divadlo? These aren´t some guerilla art tactics; but a showcase of outdoor contemporary art in conjunction with the Czech EU presidency.

“Prague is such a wonderful city, but we are missing international contemporary art in public spaces,” says Gisela Winkelhofer, CEO of w.art projects, the exhibition´s organizer. “So we decided, for a special period like the EU Presidency of the Czech Republic, to illuminate these extraordinary squares and facades with unique artists.”

Winkelhofer says the artists were chosen based on the exhibitions theme of “transparency.” She says they looked for light artists who had been working in this medium for a number of years and had lots of experience in the various techniques.

German artist Stephan Reusse has set mice loose on the façade of the academy on Dušní near the Spanish synagogue. From 8pm to 1am nightly neon mice appear and disappear before your eyes. No sooner do you think you saw something; than it is gone – only a remembrance. Which is what Reusse was hoping to accomplish with his installation. “Naturally hectic, anxiously hesitant and restless movements characterize this light show, while representing human every day life” is how his work is being described. In actuality a laser is projecting traces of the mice´s movements and their silhouettes onto the wall. Reusse´s goal however, is that they are only drawing on the reminiscent level of our reality in an abstract way. The artist has done many such “art on buildings” exhibitions, including ones in Vancouver and Shanghai. He likes to involve the audience in his art; hopefully by allowing them to put the abstract lines together in a meaningful image for themselves.

As the sun goes down (and until midnight) you will find the word TACET lit up in the Vltava River near the Old Town Bridge Tower and across from the Smetana Museum. Austrian Ulla Rauter took acoustical pauses (tacet is a command; usually in music, to be silent) as her inspiration. This piece serves to make people stop and listen; either to the busy sounds around them; or if they are lucky, the quiet.  The illumination is meant to act as a visual command to the pause; forcing the viewer to notice a moment of peace amidst the urban noise levels that are often a constant backdrop to our daily lives.

From April 20 to May 6 American artist Jenny Holzer will use as her canvas the front of the National Museum. Known for her work of projecting text across large monuments; here in Prague Holzer will present extracts from Franz Kafka and poems by Wislawa Szymborska. The effect is produced by running a giant film through a projector equipped with a 6,000-watt lamp. She has illuminated buildings around the world, such as the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin and I.M. Pei´s Pyramide du Louvre in Paris, as well as signed up natural elements like rivers and mountains.

So far, Winkelhofer says public feedback on the exhibit has been encouraging.