FOUNTAINS SWIRL CITY

At the end of July, fountains were ceremoniously unveiled in two cities in the Czech Republic. The return of the historic fountain from 1823 in front of the Liberec town hall gained little media attention. The press and local residents did not question the installation of a modern replica of the realistically described statue of Neptune standing on a dolphin, the slightly elevated position of the fountain above the terrain with the help of several steps - and thus inevitably limiting convenient access, the placement of benches in school-like rows on the sides, nor perhaps the most significant moment, namely that this elevated position deprives passersby of the desired view of the water surface.
However, two days earlier, when the Plzeň fountains were unveiled, many media outlets seized upon the mere fact that a contemporary work had entered the historic space of the square near the Gothic church as a reason to extract sensationalism and the ignorance of the public.
We recorded an interview with their author in Plzeň the day after the ceremonial unveiling. Ondřej Císler confirmed on this occasion, among other things, that he had ended a long-term architectural collaboration with his colleague Pavel Hnilička (since 2004), considering their most successful joint achievement to be the house in Roztoky and the Sladovna Olomouc project. For the future, he is interested in cooperation on a looser basis, which brings great freedom: “For each project, you create a new team, much like you create an orchestra for a certain composition...”
The interview, however, logically touched mainly on the three new fountains given the place and time. We were therefore pleased to also welcome the opportunity to clarify the technological aspects of their gilding directly with David Blahout, a former classmate of Císler from the AVU and primarily a collaborator on the Plzeň project.