Sculptures in the Streets

Klatovy
30. 4. - 31. 10. 2023

A festival of contemporary art in the public spaces of the town of Klatovy.

Exhibition opening: Saturday 29 April 2023 at 3pm in Hostašovy Sady

The exhibition opening includes a guided tour of the exhibition with the curators and the presents artists, plus a performance by Lenka Klodová relating to the work Women in Transition.

Exhibiting artists:

EPOS 257, Kurt Gebauer, Lenka Klodová, Matouš Lipus, Aleš Novák, Rudolf Samohejl, Adam Stanko & Helena Sequensová, Dagmar Šubrtová, Diana Winklerová, Jan Zdvořák

Curators: Petr Krátký, Zuzana Kantová

Graphic design: Matěj Moravec

This year’s edition of Sculptures in the Streets of Klatovy expands on the organizers’ long-standing aim to once a year offer the public a different perspective on the subject of art in the urban landscape and to collaborate with leading sculptors and their students to present distinctive views on the question of public sculpture.

This year, we are following on an exhibition of works by selected graduates of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague, in particular students of the Studio of Universal Sculpture headed by professor Kurt Gebauer in 1990–2012. It is a representative selection of artists who are still active and who are continuously involved in creating works for the public space. At the same time, they have been chosen with a view to presenting the full range of approaches found among the graduates of this unique sculptural course.

Similar projects may be found in a number of towns at home and abroad and are popular among experts and the public alike, especially in the summer months. Sculptures in the Streets of Klatovy is among the smaller of these exhibitions, with around a dozen artists invited to participate every year. The main reason is the size of the city center where the event is held. This more intimate size nevertheless allows us to focus more on our particular selection of artists and, thanks to our knowledge of the local context, on more carefully incorporating their works in the chosen locations.

Our goal with this project is offer the city’s residents and visitors an unusual experience as they encounter works of art in the urban cultural landscape. In this way, we hope to present them with new and unusual impulses for thinking about the place in which we live. Our ongoing work with the city’s public space as part of this annual festival also offers inspiration for critically reflecting on the relationships within the urban space and for highlighting various issues that might seem daunting when approached in a more traditional manner (socially excluded localities, public amenities, street furniture, social interconnections, vandalism, etc.).

The exhibition is installed in public spaces in the city of Klatovy and is thus feely accessible throughout its duration.