Open response of the OFFCITY association to the realization of the Jan Kašpar memorial

Dear Mayor, esteemed members of the Pardubice City Council,

this open letter is a response to your decision to realize the monument of aviator Jan Kašpar on the Míru Square on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his death.

Art in public spaces is certainly one of the things that Pardubice undoubtedly lacks, and we consider the cultivation of the public through art as key. The development and exploration of public spaces are among our main activity goals. However, we are concerned about how your decision was made. Therefore, we would like to inform you how decision-making in a modern democratic society should process and we call on you to adhere to and respect these principles.

As you surely know, in 2013, an architectural competition was held for the realization of the discussed monument, the winner of which was the design by architect Petr Pinkas. The competition was conducted according to the rules, and the jury consisted of experts who legitimately decided on the final ranking of the submitted proposals. The results of this competition should not be ignored.

In the press, Mr. Mayor, you state that you strictly separate the existing intention from the previous competition, claiming that the obligations towards the winning design of the 2013 competition have been settled. /1
This, however, means that a new, professionally prepared competition should now be announced, and it should not overlook the steps that the previous competition lacked, namely, a preparatory participatory phase in which the public will be involved.

For completeness, we present the basic steps and principles of how participation should be conducted and we also remind you that staff of the magistrate, including the Department of the Chief Architect of the Pardubice City Hall, have been trained in participation processes in recent years, who should coordinate the process with the help of external experts.

The initial participatory phase, which should involve as broad a public as possible, experts with various opinions, experiences, professional knowledge, and politicians, should help define the assignment for the architectural competition. Through personal contact, understanding or even an agreement can be achieved, even in situations where the starting point has been contradictory viewpoints. Based on a professionally led participatory phase, an architectural competition assignment may emerge, which may also reflect the fact that the local community is more conservative, and thus the monument should correspond to traditional artistic concepts. The competition assignment must of course also take financial aspects and placement into account.

The next phase is already reserved for experts, artists, architects, and a professional jury.
The results of the competition must then be communicated adequately, the winning design must be presented publicly and properly, and the chosen design should be supported. Although its form will be based on participative foundations, it would be vain to think that it will appeal to everyone.

Only then can the realization proceed.

In conclusion, we recommend reading the Participation Manual, which is the work of the Institute and Planning of the Capital City of Prague.

We also cannot resist quoting from a survey conducted by the online magazine Artalk on the subject of selection procedures for sculptures in public spaces: “A work in public space should not be decoration or fluff and should not use an artistic language that is thirty, fifty, or even a hundred years old.” /2

If you are interested, we are open to helping you establish a democratic path to the realization of the J. Kašpar memorial.

If you choose to disregard basic democratic principles, your decision will become another dangerous precedent that will push Pardubice to the periphery of Central European cities. We intend to continue monitoring the situation and will regularly inform the public at both regional and national levels about the actions of the city leadership.

Sincerely,

Offcity z.s.
www.offcity.cz

Members: Mgr. Josef Čevora, Mgr. Tereza Dvořáková, Ing. Jiří Dobeš, Mgr. Vladan Hanulík, Ph.D., Mgr. Vít Hoigr, Martin Hudec, MArchD, Mgr. Marta Misíková Kotecká, Mgr. Karel Krátký, Ing. Arch. Jiří Šafr, Mgr. Bohdan Šeda, Ing. Arch. Ondřej Teplý, MgA. František R. Václavík, Bc. Tomáš Votoček, BcA. Šárka Zahálková

Pardubice, March 3, 2016