Installation 2021

The work of David Helešic and Jaroslav Sedlák is characterized by a conceptual and theoretical approach to architecture, as well as a persistent effort to revise disciplinary stereotypes and value patterns. They can be described 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 roost," which they present at Brno Art Open, is directed toward the center of a long-problematic site in the city center: the construction site of the Janáček Cultural Center, whose protracted non-realization belongs to a series of Brno's unfulfilled dreams, or rather by now nightmares, such as the location of the main railway station, the revitalization of the stadium at Lužánky, the transformation of Mendel Square from a confusing transit terminal into a genuine public square, and many others. The preserved concrete surface serves as a sounding board for ills rooted in the manipulation of public commissions, the inability to respect the outcome of an architectural competition, corruption scandals, lawsuits, and a peculiar political backdrop—whose result is a blind spot in the organism of the city, absurdly fenced off by a tidy wooden enclosure of almost western appearance, meant to create the impression that everything is in perfect order. In this sense, the subtle wooden structure by David Helešice and Jaroslav Sedlák, erected on the roof of the Café Praha in Brno, constitutes a direct institutional and, in a broader sense, socio-political critique. The blue surface treatment of the observation tower is a response to current—but already somewhat worn-out—trends of urban style and "quasi-functionalism."