Sídliště (Housing Estate)

The exhibition Housing Estate unfolds as an intricate meditation on the phenomenon of the Czech pre-fabricated housing estates, tracing their myriad incarnations—from intimate childhood memories lived within concrete walls to contemporary artistic and architectural reflections. At its heart lies a central inquiry: how these monumental panel structures, known in Czech as paneláky, have shaped the lives of generations, what challenges they confront in the present moment, and how they now emerge as fertile ground for inspiration across disciplines of art and thought. A particular spotlight is cast upon South City, one of the most vast and emblematic housing complexes in the Czech Republic. This “city within a city” stands simultaneously as a symbol of anonymity and as a place marked by its own history, social pulse, and austere aesthetic resonance.

Over time, the terrain of South City has become a wellspring of inspiration for a multitude of artistic undertakings—ranging from installations and photographic cycles to participatory projects with local residents. The exhibition unveils a wide constellation of approaches. Artists Tomáš Svoboda and Zbyněk Baladrán, in their projects, return to the avant-garde visions of Karel Teige, refracting the question of living space through the prism of our contemporary moment. By contrast, Kurt Gebauer has explored the possibility of transforming the housing estate into a playful arena of public life. Alongside his work, one encounters unrealized projects of cultivation and refinement by Vladimír Študent, Vladimír Charvát, and Magdalena Jetelová. Strong representation is also given to those who approach the housing estate as a theater of social relations: Tomáš Ruller and the Ládví Group among them. Kateřina Šedá has probed the potential of symbolic gestures to draw panelák residents together, while the duo Eva Jiřička and Eva Koťátková, in their current project for Galaxie, turn their gaze toward the anonymous “interspaces” that shape the cadence of everyday life. The housing estate, in turn, becomes a field for artistic interventions that challenge its supposed uniformity. Tomáš Džadoň absurdly fuses the panelák with the traditional wooden cottage, confronting modernist ideals with vernacular traditions. David Böhm and Jiří Franta, through their installations for the festival Street for Art, reanimated the terrain of South City with site-specific works that braided together community and art. A similar spirit animates the interventions in Brno by the artist known as TIMO. The photographic lens, too, casts its gaze upon panelák life: Jaromír Čejka, František Dostál, Květoslav Přibyl, Sylva Francová, and Patricie Fexová map the intimate interiors of apartments and the life lived between concrete walls, while Viktor Kopasz deconstructs the visual fragments of South City into free-floating constellations.

The historical stratum of the exhibition is embodied in the work of Jiří Rathouský, whose wayfinding system for South City II testifies to an effort to resolve the practical dilemmas of urbanism through the language of graphic design. Yet history does not stand alone: the exhibition also embraces interventions created expressly for this occasion. The artistic duo CONVICT has transported their open-air murals from the housing estate into the cavernous space of the former Galaxie multiplex, their canvases capturing both the atmosphere and the lived stories of its inhabitants. A participatory dimension unfolds in the South City Háje Project, where local residents, through their own photographs and drawings, inscribe their everyday experiences into the exhibition’s fabric. A special space is devoted to painting, drawing, and illustration by Josef Bolf, Lada Gažiová, Michal Brix, Vasil Artamonov, Jakub Bachorík, Jan Šrámek, and Veronika Vlková, alongside objects and sculptures by David Možný and Jakub Janovský. Thus the exhibition reveals the housing estate as a layered phenomenon, where personal memory intertwines with architectural vision and artistic experiment. It invites us to behold a space so often flattened by stereotype, now opened anew as a site of inspiration—where past and present converge, and where fresh forms of artistic and communal life are born.

Curators of the Project: Denisa Václavová and Ondřej Horák (Fuczik)
Exhibition Architect: Tomáš Svoboda

Exhibiting Artists:
Vasil Artamonov, Jakub Bachorík, Zbyněk Baladrán, David Böhm & Jiří Franta, Josef Bolf, Michal Brix, CONVICT (Conrad Eric Armstrong & Viktor Valášek), Jaromír Čejka, František Dostál, Tomáš Džadoň, Patricie Fexová, Sylva Francová, Lada Gažiová, Kurt Gebauer, Vladimír Charvát, Jakub Janovský, Magdalena Jetelová, Eva Jiřička & Eva Koťátková, Jan Šrámek, Viktor Kopasz, Manželé, David Možný, Květoslav Přibyl, Jiří Rathouský, Tomáš Ruller, Ládví Group, Street for Art, Tomáš Svoboda, Kateřina Šedá, Vladimír Študent, TIMO, Veronika Vlková, South City Háje Project, and others.  

Production: Four Days
Special Thanks To: Moravian Gallery in Brno and SbírKa s.r.o.

Supported by:
Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, City of Prague, PPF Foundation, State Fund for Culture of the Czech Republic, National Recovery Plan, Financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU

Media Partners:
Czech Radio Vltava, Aerokina

With financial support: Ministerstvo kultury ČR, hlavní město Praha, Nadace PPF, Státní fond kultury ČR, Financováno Evropskou unií NextGenerationEU, Národní plán obnovy