The pexeso Ostrava Interiors has been released

Pexeso was published by the civic association Fiducia in an edition of 5000 copies, with the concept authored by architectural historian Martin Strakoš and the photographs by Roman Polášek. The graphic design of the Pexeso was done by conceptual artist Jiří Šigut.

It is a unique collection mapping selected public buildings in Ostrava in the form of pairs - well-known exteriors and corresponding images from the interiors of individual buildings (see photo attachment). A range of both well-known objects and buildings that are not yet generally perceived by the public as exceptional architectural works has been chosen for the Pexeso, although they are significant examples of, for instance, Brussels style - thus, in addition to churches and town halls, the Vítkovice train station is included, a building whose fate is now being discussed in connection with the intention of Czech Railways to sell it, and the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava, where an insensitive reconstruction threatening the qualities of this valuable object was previously at risk. We have selected, among new buildings, for example, the completion of the Puppet Theatre, the interior of the Chamber Scene Arena, or St. Spirit's Church in Zábřeh.

Pexeso is available from today not only at the Antiques and Club Fiducia but also at all branches of the Ostrava Information Centre. The price of the Pexeso will be 30 CZK.

Pexeso could not have been created without the contributions of these institutions: Open Society Fund Prague, Statutory City of Ostrava, Municipal District of Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz, Czech Architecture Foundation, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and OKD Foundation.

"At the beginning, I had the idea to present Ostrava not only from the outside but also from the inside. This was realized in collaboration with photographer Roman Polášek and with the club and antique shop Fiducia. This Pexeso under the title Ostrava Interiors follows previous activities - in 2010 we prepared an exhibition of photographs of the same name at the Fiducia club, accompanied by a series of postcards. The following year, this was supplemented by a book of the same title, presenting the richness of Ostrava's interiors in the most extensive overview so far. This year, Pexeso follows, but not in a way that you usually know. In this case, it is a more complicated Pexeso. It is made up, as usual, of thirty-two pairs of images depicting significant public buildings in Ostrava: churches, town halls, theaters, galleries, technical monuments, sports halls, and railway stations. The uniqueness and difficulty of this Pexeso lie in the fact that the pairs are composed on one side of images of the exteriors of selected buildings and on the other side of images of their interiors. Therefore, I recommend that players study the individual pairs before starting the game, thus familiarizing themselves with the architectural wealth of Ostrava. This can be done, among other things, using the aforementioned book Ostrava Interiors..."

PEXESE OSTRAVA INTERIORS
Published by the civic association Fiducia, Ostrava 2012
Concept, text and editing: Martin Strakoš
Photography: Roman Polášek
Design: Jiří Šigut - CONCEPT
Printing: Tiskárna Schenk, Ostrava/ Edition: 5000 copies
Published as a special standalone supplement to the book Martin Strakoš: Ostrava Interiors (Fiducia, Ostrava 2011).
Pexeso Ostrava Interiors was created with the support of: Open Society Fund Prague, Statutory City of Ostrava, Municipal District of Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz, Czech Architecture Foundation, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and OKD Foundation.

Report by Czech Television on the launch of Pexeso at St. Wenceslas Church.