Olympic Prague 2016!

Although Prague city councillors are pretending that it has not been decided yet whether Prague will officially run as a candidate to host the Olympic Games in 2016 (or later, in 2020), according to behind-the-scenes information we have good reason to believe that there are in fact only a few details remaining to clear up. Prague is going to be Olympic! That is why it is good that, well in advance, an unprecedented project by two young artists - Jindřich Červenák and Radek Macke - has come into being. Accompanied by great public interest, it was shown at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, Prague, from June 14th to the 21st. The artists came with a clear vision. They are counting on 2016, and are prepared to offer interesting designs for sports venues that could appear in unexpected places. In practice it is unfortunately often the case that sports arenas are located in zones on the outskirts of capital cities. Vilibald and Archibald (as the artists call themselves) have decided all the same to change this traditionalist and outdated concept in which sports fans and competitors are effectively squeezed outside of the city walls. "Inner Prague has become a museum. We get the feeling that it's not so much a city as some museum exhibit. We want it to come alive," explained Červenák. In accordance with this innovative idea, they have, for example, come up with the idea of a swimming stadium on Old Town Square, with the Old Town Hall being used as a tower for diving into the water. During the summer months, the square changes into a baking oven and it could only be a good thing if a swimming pool, humidifying and refreshing the air, could remain there permanently. The same is true for the baseball arena on Charles Square - the largest square in Europe, though all the same suffering a marked lack of integrity and a strange chaotic character. It is worth noting that the project counts on keeping the sculpture of Eliška Krásnohorská, which is proof of their feeling for elements characteristic of the given location. In other words, they succeed in preserving the genius loci. This is usually the most difficult task for architects, though Červenák and Macke develop it brilliantly. I'm not the only person who likes the idea of a sprint track on Palach Square (for years no one has known how to get to grips with this space, and generations of architects and town planners have been left clueless by it), or the idea of tennis courts on Wenceslas Square, where the surrounding houses would serve as natural grandstands. I am convinced that this perceptive and literally visionary deed will not escape the notice of Prague City Council representatives or the Czech Olympic Committee. If this is not the case, Prague would miss a historic opportunity to come to terms with its glittering past and its even more dazzling present.