FICTION SCHEME

Galerie Potraviny (Grocery Gallery)
“All the events take place in the store window and on the sidewalk in front of the gallery. They are visible to many students of the nearby Faculty of Fine Arts, but also to elderly people who do their shopping in the old store. This place is a point of contact of different worlds… „At one point, I saw it as an ideal institution – Grocery Gallery. That’s why I founded it. And it taught me many things since the beginning, especially because it forced me to think about what I’ve just said.”
– Matyáš Chochola, the curator
– Jiří Ptáček – „Fiction Scheme“
“To go to the store, you have to walk down the stairs that lead to the left side of the counter. There is a glass showcase where I put sausages and salamis. When I cut off one part of a sausage, I turn the other part so that you can see the cut through the glass. The same applies to salamis. I fill the basket behind my back with rolls and arrange their tips so that they are directed at the entrance. This is the lengthiest job so I only do it when I’m by myself in the store. I stack the loaves of bread crosswise on top of each other. I pile the cans into pyramids, turning all of them to show the label. Sometimes I do it even more carefully and arrange the labels so that you can see one of them from any place in front of the counter. I keep sweets as close as possible to the cash register. Sodas are stacked next to each other on a shelf and I also keep many bottles under the counter. As for bottles of beer, I leave them in the crate that I push all the way to the wall. On top of the crate, I put a second row of beer bottles that have to lock together with the bottom row and incline towards the wall. I leave the boards in the top right corner above the counter empty. The first one is leaning in my direction so that it looks like it’s watching me from the top. I prop my skis against the wall in one corner of the back room where the customers can’t see them.”