House Sign

(installation from The Cycle Artefacts from the Saloon of Class Strugglee, mixed media, 2015)

Petr Dub creates with his installation an imaginary link between both cities through the theme of „architectural heritage“, particularly of functionalism and international style. The selected tenement house in Brno’s Kotlářská street is a model example of insensitive, and in its final outcome damaging, interventions to historical buildings which are in the present being heat-insulated by a thick layer of insulation, while at the same time being “decorated” by a garish palette of “happy colors”. Similar approach (unfortunately) connects centers such as Prague and Brno with many other cities in the Czech Republic.

Architectural sediment built upon the arbitrary use of a wide spectrum of stone paint changes our public space into a colorful palette of emotions, which, however, as a result blend into one another. Given the majority absence of municipal regulations, yellow and pistachio are slowly becoming the dominant colors of our landscape and the phenomenon of „suburban smurf homes“ thrives also in historical centers of our cities. The social framework of the resulting situation, among other things, illustrates the clash between private ownership and collective responsibility toward commonly shared space.

More by the exhibition curator Tereza Jindrová