This article is part of our weekly series “Plattenbau stories”, introducing the topic of plattenbau districts in Europe and the world. ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK 2016 will be held in Trakiya, a plattenbau districts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from September 30th until October 9th. The main focus of the festival is the topic of“citizen participation in the creation of the urban environment”.
An article from Tomáš Džadoň’s website, for the full version click here.
Today’s article focuses on Tomáš Džadoň’s work.
He’s a visual artist from Poprad, Slovakia born in 1981, but now working and living in Prague. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and was later a doctoral student at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. Tomáš was nominated and has won a few awards, such as Essl Award in 2007 and Oskár Čepan Award 2012 and was a finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2009 and a laureate of the Young Artist Award 2012 of the Tatra Banka Foundation.
One of his most interesting projects began in 2006. While working on it he gradually came to the idea that his work should be set up in a public space in Košice.
The project itself consists of three classical log cottages that were placed on the roof of a prefabricated socialist housing block in one of the city’s larger housing estates. Most of the Slovaks now live in such prefabricated buildings, but this art installation reminds us that things were different in the recent past.
The people living in the building, where the project took place were actively involved. It was a highly attractive work of art for the public at large, too, not just for a small circle of design and building professionals. It even attracted much attention of the passersby.
The project “Folk Architecture Monument” is unique. It’s not a monument of a historical person or event and it is not situated in the city’s historic centre. It is a project that shines a spotlight on the common people, on their way of life, on their past and present. The project propagates the idea that even a pre-fab building is actually made of the people who inhabit it.