St. Lucy

Sleeping in Progress

Ondřej Rakušan, David Böhm and Jiří Franta, & Aid Kid
The projection is repeated three times every hour (0‘, 20‘, 40‘).

The main inspiration for the video mapping installation is drawings of the artist duo David Böhm and Jiří Franta. The black-and-white pen drawings, which are created on a daily basis by the experienced hands of the artists, are full of almost Dadaist overstatement. The projections in the context of the historical facade of the Château are reminiscent of illusory Renaissance sgraffito which is combined with random textual messages that often accompany the daily works in progress. The figurative ‘sleeping in progress’ is a reference to St. Lucy as the patron saint of the blind. The creative duo Böhm and Franta often draw on similar motifs, such as dreams, optical illusions or double meanings.

Animator Ondřej Rakušan retains elements from both worlds: popular video mapping installations as well as the witty style of both artists. The dynamic soundscape was created by producer Aid Kid, whose music gives the installation a modern twist. In a remote and darkened underground space of the Troja Château, beneath whose walls the river flows, an endless stream of fantastical images and illusory exclamations also slowly but surely oozes its way through.

Ondřej Rakušan studied scenography at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts and continued his studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University under the supervision of Professor of Sculpture, Marián Karel. Ondřej is an artist and animator dedicated to modern technologies. The strength of his work is the combination of classical art education with the most modern techniques from the field of animation, graphics and digital media. Thanks to this specialisation, he often collaborates with well-known artists, where he co-directs the works of other artists thanks to his technical and artistic skills.

David Böhm and Jiří Franta work as an artistic duo. Their activities, which are primarily based on drawing, have a broad range, and in terms of action and concept, they often go far beyond the boundaries of a sheet of paper. They have been working together since 2006, and during that time they have repeatedly been finalists for the Jindřich Chalupecký Award and have exhibited both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Aid Kid is a Czech producer of electronic music. He released his first and eponymous album for which he won the Vinyla Award in 2015. He has also worked on film projects, composing music for films such as Arvéd (2022) and Her Body (2023).

Jiří Suchánek, Pulse 33, 2013

algorithmic audio-visual installation (33 lights, 33 years, 33 sounds)

The representation of sound by light is obvious thanks to parallel optical and acoustic sensations, but due to a relatively large number of objects, the viewer often still misses something… Thirty-three light objects freely distributed in space are synchronised with digital music generated by a specific algorithm. Each light has a fixed colour, sound and rhythm (pulse), while the various combinations of which merge into a polyrhythmic structure. It is unlikely that the overall combination will ever be repeated in exactly the same way.

Jiří Suchánek is a Czech artist, musician, and multimedia experimenter. Since 2007, he has been focusing on creating permanent audiovisual installations, often placed in unconventional environments. He combines sound, light, objects, mechanics, electronics, and programming. Sound is the central element of his work, which he develops or complements through other media, unexpected social situations, or natural phenomena.

Jakub Nepraš, Tree, 2011

video sculpture, plexiglass, projection, sound

The video installation Tree by artist Jakub Nepraš represents an intersection between the real world and mental processes through the projection of light fragments onto transparent imprints of objects. The work explores human consciousness, where memories and experiences emerge based on the intensity of recordings in the neural map, forming a chaotic code that reflects our inner reality. The installation invites contemplation on whether mental recordings persist as part of the universe after an individual mind’s death or vanish like dreams upon waking.
Jakub Nepraš draws upon scientific and philosophical knowledge, as well as his own experiences, emotions, and intuition. He studies contemporary developmental trends and the behavior of our super-organism in relation to the position of an individual within the whole, observing natural principles that govern and influence these relationships. Jakub reflects on pivotal changes in society and technology and the resulting alienation in relationships for both people and nature.

Tereza Bartůňková, Tentative Grasping, 2024

site-specific installation, textile, light bulbs, audio

Sylvia Lim, Overlapping Transformations, 2022

bass clarinet, electric baritone guitar, violin, double bass

Tereza Bartůňková created the installation Tentative Grasping in response to a piece of music that was itself created in response to an artwork. The result is an intimate space in which to listen to Sylvia Lim’s Overlapping Transformations complemented by fragile haptic elements, the luminescent fibres of lightbulbs, and supposed tentacles hanging from the ceiling – as if one were suddenly under the sea, or under a forest.

Tereza Bartůňková is a freelance visual artist interested in natural phenomena, the relationship between the inner and outer world, and the power of light and atmosphere. She creates illustrations, drawings, objects, set and costume designs, as well as light installations that evoke ephemeral atmospheres, reveal hidden aspects of reality, and transport viewers into the inner landscapes of their subconscious. A graduate of the master’s program in scenography at KALD DAMU, she primarily focuses on original projects emphasizing the audiovisual dimension.