Urban Interventions Bratislava 2008 and Prague 2010 in Brno

Architecture of Public Space.
130 solutions for 130 public places.

Organizer: Urban Interventions (Civic Association)
Project Authors: Matúš Vallo and Oliver Sadovský (Vallo Sadovsky Architects)
Curators: Matúš Vallo, Oliver Sadovský, Monika Mitášová (Bratislava 2008), Adam Gebrian (Prague 2010)
Cooperation: House of Art of the City of Brno

The exhibition takes place with the support of the Statutory City of Brno

Exhibition duration: September 17 – October 31, 2010
Opening: September 16, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Venue: Building of the former city jail, Soudní street
Open: Tue-Sun 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Shared urban space is public property. Urban Interventions present architectural projects that were not commissioned by anyone. All were created from the internal or professional needs of their authors. The need to point out what does not work in the urban space, even if there is a solution for how it could work; the need to reveal the potential of the places we walk by daily and often do not even perceive.

The idea of the "urban interventions" project originated in Bratislava in 2007. Matúš Vallo and Oliver Sadovský (Vallo Sadovsky Architects) brought their idea of civic-professional initiative to life: they decided not to wait for external commissioning and asked several of their colleagues and architectural studios to first select and then design - without claiming a fee - solutions for architecturally problematic public places in the wider center of the capital city of Bratislava.

The project received an unprecedented response from the authors themselves (mostly architects), who were eager to respond to the challenge that not only allowed them to resolve problems in the public environment that they had been thinking about for a long time, but also demonstrated that an architect is not a selfish builder of their own monumental monument. The themes of individual interventions were not restricted in any way. The designers chose them themselves. The exhibition of projects in Bratislava became the most visited exhibition of the Slovak National Gallery and was widely reflected in Slovak national media.

Because the idea of Urban Interventions is universal, it was only logical that its Prague variant would not take long to emerge. In both cities, the task was uniform: to identify problematic spots in the city and create proposals to improve these areas. The visualization of the proposal was to follow a relatively simple principle of representation "before" x "after".

In Prague, the exhibition took place at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art and was extended for a month due to public interest. In both cities, the project also engaged city officials: in Bratislava, one of the proposals is being prepared for implementation (reconstruction of the Jewish Street - Vallo Sadovsky Architects), in Prague, two projects were commissioned for further development (Hanging Park over the Malovanka Tunnel - Opočenský Valouch Architects, Humanization of the S-J corridor - Atelier K2), and one has already been realized (Picnic of the New Scene - Roháč Stratil architectural studio). Authorial activism also manifested as viable: in Bratislava, a barbecue was organized according to the project "Grilling as Personalization of Public Space" (n/a Benjamín Brádňanský, Víto Halada), in Prague, a cherry tree was planted (Pinkas Žalský Architects), an event "The Street is My Place for Action" took place (MOBA), and there is active promotion of the pontoon bike path project A2 (Jan Kadlas).

The civic association Urban Interventions, which was established to support the idea of MZ and promote quality architecture as such, has now prepared a joint exhibition of Bratislava (a total of 49) and Prague (a total of 81) projects and would like to announce the upcoming Urban Interventions Brno 2011, which will be announced at the opening of the exhibition on September 16, 2010, and the results exhibited in the first half of 2011. Both projects are taking place thanks to the support of the Statutory City of Brno.

The exhibition will take place in the premises of the former jail between Cejl, Soudní, and Bratislavská streets (entrance from Soudní street). This offers a unique opportunity to explore this area, which is to be transformed into a Creative Center in the future.