The exhibition Public Space Lab seeks to show that temporary functions can give places new cultural, social and economic benefits. The project will include eight expert performative sessions (called Labs) that will showcase the intersection of interdisciplinary approaches combined with unique simultaneous data processing using AI - visualizing words and terms used directly during the sessions. In the gallery, we will find objects not only in the exhibition hall, where visitors will see footage of public space exploration, AI data processing or books on temporary uses of places. The exhibition continues in the courtyard, where visitors will be able to play ping-pong on specially designed tables.
"For our next exhibition, we teamed up with artist and urban planner Jan Trejbal and the creative collective Public Space Lab. It is an interdisciplinary team that includes experts*ice from the fields of urban planning, (landscape) architecture, pedagogy and art. Together we are working on how to apply different artistic strategies to work with unused or neglected sites," says Karolína Plášková from Jaroslav Fragner Gallery.
The Labs, which are held on selected Thursday afternoons, are open to architects, artists, municipal officials, mayors or owners of vacant properties. At the meetings, they will gain a theoretical foundation of temporary use and then be able to actively engage in solving local challenges - whether within the municipality, the property or the association. They will then have the opportunity to imagine other ways of using public or private property that has been lying idle.
"In creating the concept, we were loosely inspired by the 1983 text Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Raise the World by French sociologist and philosopher Bruno Latour. This emphasises the importance of the laboratory as a place that constructs our reality and subsequently has the power to change the real world," explains urbanist and artist Jan Trejbal.
Public Space Lab exhibition
Galerie Jaroslava Fragnera, Betlémské náměstí 5a, Praha 1
exhibition: 4. dubna 2024–9. června 2024
opeing hours: wednesday–sunday, 14:00–19:00
voluntary admittance
On selected Thursdays, eight Labs will be held at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, with free registration required at publicspacelab.cz. Other accompanying programmes are free of charge.
Accompanying programme:
TH 4. 4. 13:00 General Laboratory of Public Space #1
TH 4. 4. 18:00 opening
TH 18. 4. 13:00 Architectural Laboratory of Public Space #2
TH 18. 4. 18:00 discussion Temporality of artistic intervention with the possibility of transforming places
TH 25. 4. 13:00 Non-profit Public Space Laboratory #3
TH 25. 4. 18:00 lecture: M-US-T – Master in Temporary Uses, Politecnico di Milano (in english)
TH 2. 5. 13:00 Architectural Laboratory of Public Space #4
TH 2. 5. 18:00 discussion Prague examples of temporary use
TH 4. 5. 17:00 workshop Viktor Fuček: Performative exploration of space - explore the architecture of Jaroslav Fragner Gallery with your own body, senses, movement
TH 16. 5. 13:00 Municipal Public Space Laboratory #5
TH 23. 5. 13:00 Public space laboratory for landowners and land managers #6
TH 23. 5. 18:00 lecture by Tereza Raabová: Measurable and non-quantifiable impacts of temporary use/urbanism projects
TH 30. 5. 13:00 Municipal and Architectural Laboratory of Public Space #7
TH 6. 6. 13:00 Non-profit and Municipal Public Space Laboratory #8
TH 6. 6. 18:00 christening of the magazine ERA21 issue #141 03/2024