2021 - wooden structure

The work of David Helešic and Jaroslav Sedlák is characteristic of a conceptual and theoretical approach to architecture, as well as a continual effort to revise industry stereotypes and value patterns. They can be labeled as architectural activists, as they systematically—whether through experimental authorial projects or critical texts—reassess the role of architecture in society. The view from the "urban vantage point" that they present at Brno Art Open focuses on a long-standing problematic site in the city center: the construction site of the Janáček Cultural Center, whose prolonged non-realization belongs to a series of unfulfilled dreams of Brno, or today more like nightmares, such as the location of the main train station, the revival of the stadium behind Lužánky, the transformation of Mendlovo Square from a confusing transport terminal into a true square, and many others. The preserved concrete surface serves as a resonant table of ailments arising from manipulation with public contracts, the inability to respect the results of architectural competitions, corruption scandals, legal disputes, and a strange political backdrop, resulting in a blind spot in the organism of the city absurdly fenced off by a wooden enclosure of almost western-inspired styling, which aims to create the impression that everything is in the best order. In this sense, the subtle wooden structure by David Helešic and Jaroslav Sedlák built on the roof of Café Praha in Brno is a direct institutional, and in a broader sense, socio-political critique. The surface treatment of the observation tower executed in blue is a response to current, albeit somewhat worn-out, trends of urban style and "quasi-functionalism".

Café Praha in Brno – the headquarters of the 4AM/Forum for Architecture and Media collective – is a specific type of public space: it is an open cultural hub that brings together not only the artistic and architectural community. The 2021 installation is a project that arose from the initiative of both co-authors as an independent activity out of the need to freely express themselves about the environment in which we live and also about the fact that the ordinary resident of the city has something to contribute to significant public topics. The Brno Art Open exhibition has become a suitable opportunity for the realization of the project and for its connection with another work – Marek Meduna's intervention into the construction site of the Janáček Cultural Center.