Two weeks ago The City Interventions Prague 2010 exhibition started in the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX in Prague, Czech republic. Here are three projects by Collaborative Collective.
LIVING TREES
The National Gallery has a reputation of an inaccessible and rigid organization – we believe that among others the gallery building is to blame. The Exhibition Palace is hiding behind a number of walls, ditches and ubiquitous concrete flowerpots that generally shape the face of Czech squares.
Instead of an open and living institution the Palace is full of bland stores and the lonesome National Gallery. Despite of all the efforts it is still not a real center of public affairs.
Our simple intervention replaces the endless supply ramps with a large freight elevator and thus creates barrier-free square serving the visitors as well as the gallery. Network of supply connections woven into the pavement allows for variable use of the square. We design a free square with living trees.
LIVING TREES is an installation that tinkers with the audience. Each Tree has a set of embeded properties that give it an unique personality and define its behavior – I love the sun, I like space, I enjoy movement, I enjoy people and offer them shade. Principles that define the behavior of simple organisms force the trees to a steady swarming and thus pull the audience into the action. The installation creates a whirl of constantly changing interactive architectural environment. At the time of public events and temporary exhibitions the movement of the Trees is limited to a part of the surface and the Trees define the limits of the space.
HIGH-HEEL LANES
Is it legitimate to pave public spaces of the centre of Prague with cobblestone in the 21st century? The same stone that was used more than one hundred years ago? Since then, people and their way of life has changed. Scratched and broken heels, smashed baggage wheels and sprained ankles are symptoms of ill designed city.
Repaving all the streets and squares across the city is not feasible, that is why we propose to integrate a new layer into the existing street-scape – smooth stripes of seamless surface linking the most important social and commercial hubs. To show the possible solution we have selected náměstí Republiky. Clearly this is an area, that would profit of such an intervention.
FENCES
Construction sites are part of the urban life, it is a temporary state, which brings a number of limitations. Even in the very central parts of Prague a shabby fence is used to enclose a site. Fence covered with posters of construction companies or at the most with information about the project. These sites must be addressed with regard to their urban significance. The walls of construction sites are an opportunity to create a temporary intervention, which compensates obstructions caused to the residents. The square in front of the underground station Národní třída will be a construction site for at least 2 years. Every day thousands of people pass by, so Prague can not tolerate the protruding concrete bases and shabby fence.
It is not difficult to create a boundary between the street and the building site that brings extra quality. Construction budgets can easily bare such an investment. And it could easily earn back some money. It is not enough to poster “We are sorry…” In Spálená we build an interactive wall, you can sit on it, lie down, stand, lean, or find in it a shelter from the rain. We create an element that you enjoy, an element with which you spend your 5 minutes of waiting for the tram. The wall consists of screen of retractable elements, which can be modified according to your mood. You animate your town and remain in a constant dialogue with the occupied space.
Visit http://blog.collaborativecollective.cc/ for more info.
