Cool District is the name of a neighborhood in the center of Rotterdam. The area where Berlínský model is located in Prague 7 could also be considered "cool." The only difference is that in Rotterdam, the neighborhood's trendiness was somewhat artificially created when, a few years ago, the city leadership decided to cram bars, designer shops, galleries, and other hip businesses into a few streets in the city center. This artificially created a center for people who like to think of themselves as keeping up with the times. Without history, without aura.
I spent six weeks in Rotterdam on a residency program. Given the zero budget for the exhibition that was supposed to be the outcome of my residency, I decided to work as a collector. I collected and stole materials from around the Cool District. I used these objects, parts of advertisements, mainstream symbols, drug packaging, or just materials that are not so common in the Czech urban landscape as records of my derivatives. In addition to objects and installations commenting on the socio-political situation in today's megapolis, I shot an eighteen-minute video here. In each part, I try to express four themes of urbanism that are central to me through performance. In my work, I try to capture the process of transferring a work from public space to gallery/studio space, where I am concerned with breaking down the boundaries between public and private. In this sense, the project can be seen as my artistic manifesto.
V.T.
