Kw

Questions

From the introduction
... at the end of the seventies the grey
lives, bad art, disgusting design and
gross architecture of late socialism
dealt the final blow to the already
suffering aesthetic visual sensitivity
of the majority of people here... 
and even today it seems that we 
do not even miss it... 
I am still persuaded that the
same majority is unconsciously suffering
from the lack of this particular
dimension  of understanding the world... 
it may be naive, but I still believe in 
a parallel between the aesthetics of the
surrounding environment and the
spiritual standard of the community...
when you look around and see
that you cannot expect anything
positive, you just don't want to 
give anything positive either... 
or even to try...

What I like
... I myself am always pleased when
walking along the street I see something
with special aesthetic qualities (if it
is useless this is certainly no mistake)
that can jolt me out of stereotyped
patterns...
... apart from the aesthetic aspect, I
find that the less expected such things
are on the street, the more pleased I
am... the way they can open a crack for
a tiny leak into a parallel space of
thoughts alongside the banality of daily
life...

About an ideal impact
... my (I must admit very personal) idea
of the ideal impact of a Òwork of art 
in the public spaceÒ:
those that are too self-assured get out
of concept, while the hesitant are
thrust ahead...

About the form
... I am a Òcity kidÒ, I was born in
Prague and the folklore of the city is a
natural part of me... 
old commercial signs and advertisements
painted directly on walls can, when
affected by the process of aging and a
change of context, at certain moments
break through onto Òthe other sideÒ,
becoming magic symbols, becoming art...
... a child's memory of the giant Bata
shoe painted on the facade behind the
former Central Railway Station had a
deeper influence on my project than
Richter's ÒBerlin candlesÒ or
Balkenhol's solitary figures
... at this particular moment I am less
interested in an art work which is
brought to a place and then taken away
again at the end of the exhibition, or
which is a piece of Òart for
architectureÒ... 
I am more into the kind of work which
becomes part of the ÒskinÒ of the city
and begins disappearing from the very
moment that it starts coming into being
(in this case according to the concept
itself)

About durability
... besides this evident parallel with
the folklore of a city, it's also a
reaction to all those works of art which
are ÒforeverÒ, which have to be
literally blasted away when the time or
ideas change... how much nicer it is
when the work lingers for a certain
period between existence and memory...
which lasts longer: a long day or the
short memory of it?

Why exactly this?
... ÒQuestionsÒ... well, it's just a
name for the work... actually I was
probably thinking about Richard Bach's
Illusions, where he says ÒIf you know
the questions, you know the answers as
wellÒ... 
the pop singer Matuäka used to sing
Òthat it would be so nice... to look up
in the sky and higherÒ, which could
refer to her looking in one sense:
should we search for energy and
motivation just within ourselves, and
can something higher than us benefit
from our efforts... or should we just
search for the meaning of ÒthingsÒ...
... trying to improve the quality of our
lives in the first place... as another
classic goes: Ò(such a perfect day)... I
felt like someone else, someone goodÒ

Again about the form
... even though, in theory, the
painting's size means it cannot be
overlooked, I would like its tones and
colors to become a part of the
building... like something that has
always been there, even though we have
just noticed it today... what is
important is the balance between the
content and context of the form used...
if a subtle reminder of the necessity of
regular emotional and mental maintenance
is not to become a kind of sectarian
eye-catcher, the poetic distance of an
improper combination is required... a
subtle joke in which a mannequin has
looks that will not sell anything at
all, and at the same time is connection
through her costume to the banality that
all of us are linked to...


(from an original text by KW, edited by
Igor Korpaczewski)
KW ÒQuestionsÒ, 1997
designed for Dóm Cz. Legi’, on the
corner of Legerova and Je‹n‡ Streets