Sculpture for Pilsen

(part of project City as Exhibit, curator: Rostislav Koryčánek)

“Sculpture for Pilsen“ is an object created by Matěj Al-Ali, Petr Dub and Tomáš Moravec. In April 2015, it was, as part of the City as an Exhibition project, sent to the German city of Regensburg. The city was selected at random from a network of partner cities, with the public present. The aim of the commenced diplomatic mission was to find an anonymous exhibitory organization which would make possible the immediate appearance of the Sculpture for Pilsen within its own exhibition space.

The sculpture has for us become a metaphor of the exhibition theme which seeks new ways of utilizing city space, and a symbol of testing the authenticity of interpersonal communication, unburdened by bureaucratic apparatus within the framework of official relations between two international partners. We attempted to express our conviction that there is no such thing as a universal sculpture for public space, and to spark a debate of the various parties involved, including the lay public and political representation.

After six months of the object being exhibited at the Historiches Museum Regensburg, the sculpture was returned to the proprietorship of the city of Pilsen. While in Regensburg it had found its place within mere hours, its fate in Pilsen remains, after the termination of the Pilsen – European Capital of Art project, surprisingly uncertain.