Earlier this month, David Cerny completed the 鈥淟ilit鈥 sculpture in the Karlin District of Prague. This 35-ton sculpture reaches a breathtaking 24 meters tall, with a head that rotates 180 degrees every night at midnight. This is just one of many installations created by Cerny across Prague.
The production of this piece began in January 2021, costing an estimated 1.4 billion Czk. The sculpture is so large that it actually had to be delivered in pieces and assembled on-site. Cerny has previously completed two other pieces in this style, both of which are displayed in other districts of Prague, one in the shape of a hand and the other in the shape of a leg.
Cerny received a formal education at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. He continued his education as part of several funded artist residencies in both Switzerland and the United States. Most notably he was a resident of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York.
Cerny gained notoriety in 1991 when he painted a Soviet tank monument pink in an act of 鈥渃ivil disobedience鈥. The tank was placed as a memorial for the communist liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Nazis. He was arrested and briefly incarcerated for hooliganism, though he was released a few weeks later. Having received considerable attention since then, in 2000 he received the Jindrich Chalupecky Award for the most promising Czech artist under 35.
Widely considered a controversial artist, Cerny was involved in a further controversy with the Entropa installation. Originally supposed to collaborate with 27 artists from every state of the Czech Republic, Cerny actually created a sculpted map with little input from the other artists. This sparked a debate over his stereotypical depictions of the Czech people. Cerny鈥檚 installation 鈥楤abies鈥 is a fascinating installation as a representation of 21st Century children raised by technology.
Cerny has said, 鈥 I enjoy art because it 鈥榓ttacks鈥 its audience with the unexpected,鈥 which is evident in his boundary-pushing works. He has left a lasting physical impression on Prague that will not soon be forgotten.
Written by Kelsey McDade
Johnston, Raymond. 鈥楳assive new David 膶ern媒 sculpture holds up a Prague apartment building鈥, Expats CZ, 2022, , (accessed October 12, 2022).
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