The River Bank under Letná is Again Transformed into a Gallery (Portal of Prague)

After a three year break the Artwall outdoor gallery on the river bank at Letná tunnel has reopened with the Voina Wanted project. The Russian artists’ collective, Voina (War), which was established in 2007, has become famous primarily for events criticising power relationships and breaches of civil rights and freedom in Russia. Their art project, created directly for Artwall, comprises of photographs showing the public execution of representatives of “undesirable” social groups such as homosexuals or foreigners.

The fight against silencing methods

“The Voina Wanted project is a gesture expressing solidarity with two members of groups charged with assault and offence against a public official. This incident is alleged to have taken place during a demonstration against restriction on rights of assembly in Russia,” says Petr Motyčka, one of the project curators. The face of the campaign, and wanted “criminal”, is Oleg Vorotnikov, who in the past has fallen victim to the brutal investigation methods of the Russian police and who was wrongfully imprisoned for three and a half months on the basis of a false accusation of incitement of hatred towards a group of citizens.

Censorship even in a democracy

The photographic material used in the current project is a record of a 2008 event commemorating the Decembrist revolt, in the form of the “execution” of five representatives of “undesirable” social groups – homosexuals and foreigners – in a Moscow hypermarket. “Nowadays, with growing influence of intolerance towards ethnic and other minorities in Czech society, we regard the Voina Wanted project as being very contemporary. In this way we also want to draw attention to the fact that, even in a democratic society, critical artistic expression can become a pretext for persecution and censorship,” explains Artwall project curator Zuzana Štefková.

Newborn gallery

In relation to this we can recall the unfortunate fate of the Artwall gallery itself, whose existence was threatened by censorship in the past. The closure of the gallery became the first post-revolution case where political decision led to a gallery actually going out of operation. “After a three-year battle the Artwall gallery has finally reopened under the patronage of the Mayor of Prague, MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda,” adds Markéta Dolejšová, project coordinator. “I’m 100% in favour of livening up the streets of Prague in this way. I see the idea of Artwall and its open gallery as one of the most interesting exhibition projects of recent years,” says Mayor of Prague, Bohuslav Svoboda.

Further information at www.artwall.cz.

The River Bank under Letná is Again Transformed into a Gallery

The fight against silencing methods

Censorship even in a democracy

Newborn gallery

Voina group