An Intro to David Černy

74 Days In, 37 Days Out

My resolution to continue seeing as much of Prague as possible is falling to the wayside, little by little. The way I set up my semester, most of my international traveling falls in November, coincidentally also when most of my project work falls. Rome's looming for this weekend (my level of excitement is not coming through, I tell you). And during the week, I coop up frantically doing all of the work I can't do while traveling. The little side trips I made all throughout the first half of the semester aren't happening right now. And I'm really sad about it. Going away every weekend has made me feel out of touch with Prague. I'll start doing some of them again after this weekend--promise. And then you will have stories.

Sandeep was awesome enough to send me an NPR story about David Černy--quirky Czech sculptor extraordinaire--and his newest work. Černy is infamous in Prague for doing quirky statues and sculptures. Close by my dorm, his interpretation of Europe hangs in the DOX gallery (Entropy, I think it's called). His "babies" crawl up and down Zizkov TV tower. I've been meaning to do a Černy tour for a while. There's plenty to visit.

Finally got a picture of his work in the Lucerna passageway between Stepanska and Ve Smeckach--and no scaffolding this time. It's a man on an upside-down horse, hanging precariously by ropes tying the horse's feet together. The thing actually swings. I believe (I could be totally wrong) that it's a parody of the horse statue at the top of Wenceslas Square. The one of St. Wenceslas, where I have been told Prague-ers love to meet--under the horse's tail.

On another note, all (most) of the news circulating Prague right now is about the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which is coming up next Tuesday, November 17th, 2009. Dissident stories. David Černy. Vaclav Havel. Etc, etc, etc. Germany had their 20th anniversary celebrations for the fall of the Berlin Wall on Monday.

Now it's Prague's turn. Get ready. Mick Jagger's coming. Although I will be in Rome... gosh darn.