Prostějov ultimately did not select any proposal for the Husserl monument

Prostějov - The Prostějov town hall ultimately did not select any of the ten proposals for a monument to the significant German philosopher and founder of phenomenology Edmund Husserl, which were submitted to the competition at the end of summer. "None of the submitted proposals will be realized at this time and no other proposal will be realized," said Mayor František Jura (ANO) to the council today. The town hall faced criticism from expert members of the selection committee due to the way the competition for the monument was organized. Husserl was born in Prostějov in 1859.

According to Jura, the competition conditions included a clause that allowed the city council to decide that none of the monument proposals would be realized, which it utilized. "It is their right," noted Jura, who criticized the activities of the selection committee and the quality of the proposals recommended to the city in the regional press in October.

According to expert members of the committee, the conditions of the competition for the monument proposal were non-standard and were likely designed to increase the chances of one bidder for this contract worth up to 2.5 million crowns. The councilors strongly denied this accusation today.

The town hall announced the competition in mid-July, and the deadline for submitting bids ended in mid-September. Ten proposals were received. The city had counted on installing the new artwork in the spring of next year in the square named after the philosopher.

However, according to expert members of the evaluation committee, some stipulations of the competition deviated from standard practice. They were surprised that the authors had only two months to submit proposals and that some requirements for the proposal parameters were also very complicated. "The deadline for the realization of the statue also seemed almost unrealistic," stated the members of the committee, including the artist Kurt Gebauer.

According to the Deputy Mayor Alena Rašková (ČSSD), the planned March installation date for the monument was chosen because Prostějov will host an international conference of phenomenologists in April.

As the winning proposal, the committee ultimately selected a work called Glasses with E. Husserl's Eyes. The author's proposal, which was allegedly favored by the competition conditions, was not among the top three works according to the committee members. Two of the winning proposals were voted for by two councilors who were members of the committee, according to experts.