2024-09-07 02:24:16
On Thursday, the Czech municipality of Sokolská presented a statue of Czech gymnast and seven-time Olympic champion Věra Časlavská, created by artist David Černý. The work decorated the Český dům at the recent Olympic Games in Paris. It is now located in front of Tyrš’s house in Prague’s Újezd, where people can see it for at least a year.
The statue was financially supported by the investment group Rockaway Capital. She ensured its production, transport and installation.
In the past, David Černý discussed with Věra Čáslavská whether or not to place the installation at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. “We have known each other for quite a long time. A great woman. She liked the idea of putting a statue in Tokyo permanently, she even wrote to the Emperor of Japan about it, who he replied that he would support it. It looked very promising. However, Věra got pancreatic cancer and died within half a year of an incredible fight,” says Černý. Čáslavská died in 2016, she was 74 years old.
Černý and the chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee, Jiří Kejval, did not know how to proceed for a long time. “I proposed a change of concept in honor of Věra. But then came covid and the Olympics without people. We decided that we will implement our idea only in 2024 in Paris,” adds David Černý.
His works have already become part of Czech houses at the two previous Olympic Games: the so-called clicking bus was placed in London in 2012, and four years later for Rio de Janeiro, the author devised an installation called Zátopka’s feet. Černý has long been one of the most famous Czech artists, although he is also known for his controversial statements and provocative sculptures.
The new statue is movable, almost ten meters high and weighs 7.5 tons. The work made of stainless steel symbolizes gymnastic movements and refers to Čáslavská’s sporting achievements and life attitudes. Individual parts traveled from the Czech Republic to Paris in three trucks.
“We worked for a long time on a rather complex motion technology,” mentioned Černý. The piece moves thanks to a system of electric drives with a complicated program. “The movement of the sculpture uses the principle of the Cardan hinge, where the central part has the freedom to rotate in all three axes of the Cartesian system,” he explained.
“It is a beautiful mechanical game, in its own way as charming as the figures that Věra was able to conjure up with her body,” thinks the sculptor.
The mayor of the Czech municipality of Sokolská, Martin Chlumský, stated that he is very pleased to exhibit the work. “We are very pleased that the statue is dedicated to the person of Mrs. Věra, who was not only the best Czechoslovak and Czech sportswoman, but also a huge moral icon, which is especially important nowadays,” he reminds.
Čáslavská joined political life in 1968 and signed the Two Thousand Words petition. In 1971, she was expelled from the Czechoslovak Physical Education Association because of this. We didn’t hear about her again until after the Velvet Revolution, when she became an advisor to President Václav Havel. “It was a hectic three years for me,” she admitted in an interview with Aktuálně.cz.
Sports gymnast, trainer and sports official lived from 1942 to 2016. She was a seven-time Olympic champion, four-time world champion, eleven-time European champion and four-time Sportswoman of the Year of Czechoslovakia. After November 1989, she chaired the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee for six years. She was also a member of the International Olympic Committee between 1995 and 2001.
Video: Czechs had gray taste, now we live in confusion, says Najbrt and also comments on Černý mótyly (May 2, 2024)
Renowned graphic designer Aleš Najbrt also commented on David Černý’s design for the Prague department store Máj in the Spotlight show. | Video: Team Spotlight