A General Moment
Sam83 Gallery is opening the fifth year of the house project 4 Windows and its theme this year is the general moment. The sum of limits related to a common point in time is one of the aspects that determine the form taken by completed work. To what extent can we influence the effects of this phenomenon? We will try to find an answer to this question by examining the personal experiences of our guests during the course of four late afternoons devoted to architecture.
1. Guest / Jiří Zábran video
2. Guest/ H3T architects Štěpán Řehoř / Vít Šimek video
3. Guest / Alena Foustková and Kristýna Plesková video
4. Guest/ Sam
Sam83 Gallery expanded its exhibition program last year by including the theme of architecture. The theme was launched by the H3T Architects’ exhibition of photos depicting already-completed buildings and a real sauna that was constructed in-situ and then functioned at the gallery for two months. This year, the fifth year of the 4 Windows Project is dedicated to architecture and its related branches; to take place in the external space of the gallery – in Komenského 4/4, in Klatovy.
The series of late-afternoon talks opened in early March with Jiří Zábran, who presented his thoughts on architecture using a model of an atrium house that he designed with Tereza Nová for Tymákov. A substantial part of his work, he says, consists of home-making. He dedicates his time to designing comfortable and affordable family homes; taking into account the clients’ needs. Apart from family houses, he also designed an apartment block in the Rokycany na Šťáhlavské neighborhood and in a vacant lot in Modřínová Street. He is currently working on the design of a hotel for the old quarter in Mariánské Lázně. He participates in urban and architectural competitions. Jiří also prepared a ground plan for the area by the Borské dam - České Údolí, where he put forward the suggestion to plant orchards. He is often forced however to demonstrate his disagreement with the absurdity of public competitions by deliberately withdrawing his candidacy.
The H3T architects Vít Simek and Stephen Gregory base their work on two human criteria. Their projects are "human friendly" and they judge the nature of their construction based on the number of days and the number of pairs of hands required for completing a project. They create small structures: saunas, latrines, tea houses, swings—which, other than their utilitarian function, contain further invisible value. Even though they are architectural in nature, their projects have much in common with site specific art. They placed their Floating sauna (2009) by the pond of Poděbrad and used an old chamber in Obříství nad Ohří for the suspension of their Flying Sauna (2010). In the past year this was followed by the placement of saunas in from of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, at Trafačka (Prague 9) and in front
of the Nová scéna of the the National Theater. Likewise, Sightseeing Latrine (2010), Floating Latrine (2011), The Teahouse Muštelka (2010) and The Teahouse CD (2011) all include site specific elements.
