Light for the Metro

In the spirit of exploring the connection between human civilization and technology, the installation in Prague's Florence creates a visual metaphor of urban transport as the nervous system of the city. The city, a living organism, a hive of human consciousness, processes its nervous system through the tracks of subways, trams, and buses, where its citizens, luminous neurons, transmit their stories and thoughts along luminously animated synaptic connections to the shadows of mystery in its corridors and arteries. These pathways move humanity across the urban landscape, creating a complex network of interconnected pathways and trails. Florenc, the backbone of Prague, the crossroads of destinies where people's stories collide and public transport lines cross, the place where one transfers between stations and life stages, forms the largest synapse in this organism. The synapse - functioning on the basis of electrical discharges and their transmissions - thus synchronously completes the entire poetics of a light work that could not function without electricity.

The committee evaluates very positively the legible symbolism of the artistic intention based on the interpretation of urban connectivity, whether interpersonal or infrastructural. The sophistication of the installation's design and the effort to simplify the realisation as much as possible, as well as the significant shift from first concept to final submission, show a strong team that has managed to combine both artistic and pragmatic approaches to the brief. In the elements of the work, the commission perceives a certain recycling of the artist's previous work. However, their configuration and appearance in the context of a transport structure and a space with many thousands of commuters passing through will lead to a unique impact. The proposed technical parameters of the solution are plausibly described and the work is well feasible and maintainable even in the demanding environment of the public part of the metro complex. The anchoring of the supporting structure is to be refined, but this should not represent a change in the way the work looks nor a major cost adjustment. The recommendation of the committee - to examine the appropriate colour and intensity of the lights - is anticipated by the author himself in the description of the control program, where he also declares the possibility of adjusting the speed of changes and the extent of branching. Here, technology and art conceptually function as one coherent whole. In the committee's opinion, the total cost is realistic, both in terms of the ratio between the costs of the design development and its implementation and the amount of the investment itself.

The key to our idea was the alternation of dark and light colored stone, which creates a repeating rhythm of stripes that visually stretches the space and creates an interesting play of perspective. We tried to find a dialogue between the walking surface and the ceiling. These are two dimensional planes that, given their proportions, are not too far apart and create the environment of a kind of swimming pool. Even when we are below the surface, the space below is mirrored. We propose that the ceiling adopts a pure play of repetitive lines. We were looking for an image that would bring something of the natural world into a sunless environment. A physicality that is not technical but poetic. In constant light, clouds would appear and generate on the ceiling. They won't be always present, only at certain moments they will gradually appear, transform smoothly, rearrange themselves in a slight movement and disappear again. The movement of the clouds is to be continuous. The video is just an example and is sped up. The movement is an important part of the installation to help passersby understand the intent. However, it is meant to be non-distracting, rather contemplative.

The committee appreciates the integrity and generosity of the strong artistic intention, especially the inclusion of the maximum possible space as a framework for the work's impact and the representation of the poetics of the relationship of the outside world to an otherwise utilitarian transition point without the possibility of contact with rhythm and the effect of daylight. The considerable development of the work from the first concept to the final result was also applauded. The artistic and spatial quality was of the highest quality in this proposal in the opinion of the committee and would greatly enhance the site. The proposed technical parameters of the solution are not described in any detail and the feasibility of the solution was largely left to the imagination of the committee and the invited experts. A great uncertainty was raised by the possible non-/visibility of the proposed solution in the presence of stable lighting, i.e. whether the work would actually stand out in the space. The submitted detail of the ceiling slats represents a very fragile technical solution, moreover problematic not only for its own maintenance but also for the maintenance of the metro technology. The total cost is, in the opinion of the committee, completely unrealistic. In the committee's opinion, the investment costs would increase several times in view of the need to refine the design (although this is a prerequisite for all proposals) and especially in view of the need to comply with all standards and requirements for safety and maintenance.

We see the metro as a living organism made up of people, technology and systems. We want to draw on these influences to bring our artwork to life and represent the metro as a dynamic, living entity through the use of light and directional movement. We began by sketching a system of switches that act as mini-gateways, controlling and directing light in a manner reminiscent of an intricate railway system with interlocking switching sequences. In this way, the artwork mirrors the metro, creating its own independent, autonomous world.

The committee considers this proposal to be a work of high artistic quality and appreciates the professionalism of its design and presentation. However, it is not entirely convinced that the interactivity inherent in the design concept, or the basis of the artistic intent, will be understood by the public. At the same time, a weaker point is the uncertainty as to whether the necessarily short time spent in the vicinity of the work, together with the large number of people flowing through, will allow the intention of the work to be achieved. The proposed technical parameters of the solution are well described and the work would most likely be quite easy to implement and maintain even in the demanding environment of the public part of the metro complex. The total cost is, in the opinion of the committee, realistic but relatively high. The committee is aware that the competition proposals cannot precisely determine the investment costs and that the contracting authority will only arrive at these costs in the subsequent stages of the project documentation.

City level. The infiltration of the urban landscape into the underground. We were looking for a theme where all the stimuli come together: the ripples of the water surface caused by movement, the penetration of light into the watery depths, the diffuse light on the sea horizon. The metro is the artery of the city, connecting the parts into a whole, while behaving autonomously and without reacting to local characters. Passengers are isolated from the world on the surface. In Karlín, the metro and the city's structure run in different directions. Entrances from the street network cut into the city's off-circuit. Transferring the structure of Florence into the graphic code of the metro.

The committee appreciates the idea of transferring the spatial orientation on the surface also to the underground. However, it has doubts about the success of translating the concept into the design itself, the result of which seems illegible to it. Of course, it can be accepted that an understanding of the morphology and rotation of the various elements would not be essential for the average passer-by/traveller. The extent to which the main lighting motif interacts with the existing wall art and the visibility of the proposed solution, i.e. its actual effect in the space, was also questionable to the commission. The proposed technical parameters of the solution of the main element are described understandably and in due detail, which is not the case for the smaller linear elements of the work. The total cost is, in the opinion of the committee, realistic, probably slightly underestimated. The committee is aware that the competition proposals cannot precisely determine the investment costs and that the contracting authority will only arrive at these costs in the subsequent stages of the project documentation. In this case, an increase in costs can be expected.