Praha 9 announced a competition for a fountain design with a sculpture in Vysočany

Prague – Prague 9 announced a project art-architectural competition for the design of a fountain with a children's paddling pool complemented by a sculpture. The selected installation will be funded by the Prague City Hall program Art for the City. The total costs for creating the artwork and fountain on Sokolovská Street opposite the Vysočany hospital are estimated at 4.5 million crowns excluding VAT, according to the competition documents.

The new artwork is expected to be located at the site of the fountain from 1961, which was designed by sculptor Miroslav Jirava. The fountain is currently buried, but Prague 9 wants to revitalize the site. According to the competition assignment, artists are to propose a new sculpture and the revitalization of the existing unused paddling pool and possibly its surroundings.

The theme of the sculpture is not thematically restricted. Interested parties can submit their proposals by November 19. The evaluation of the submitted proposals is planned for the end of the year. The winner will be chosen by a jury that will include landscape architect Martina Forejtová, artists Katarína Hládeková and Jiří Plieštik, as well as the chairperson of the Czech Chamber of Architects and the chair of the City Council's Committee for Art in Public Spaces, Jan Kasl. The jury will be chaired by art theorist and curator Edith Jeřábková.

The Art for the City program began to operate during the previous electoral term under the name "2 percent for art in public spaces", based on the premise that two percent of the total annual investments of the city should go to artistic works in the streets. However, the program did not take off during the last term, and no permanent installation has yet taken place. Current councilor Hana Třeštíková (Prague Sobě) appointed a committee in 2019 that developed a new methodology for the program, along with its renaming.

At the beginning, around 135 million crowns were transferred to the Art for the City program fund. Municipalities can apply for contributions from the program’s budget for preparing their artistic projects. These are then evaluated by a committee that recommends their implementation to the city hall. Experts from the city hall and the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague help municipalities organize the art competitions. Municipalities are then responsible for the preparation and installation of the artwork.

Prague 9, which has approximately 58,050 residents, comprises the cadastral area of Prosek and parts of the cadastral areas of Vysočany, Hrdlořez, Střížkov, Hloubětín, Libeň, and Malešice.