DOX Gulliver Airship to Open in December

The mysterious wooden structure being built atop DOX this summer is due to open to the public next month

Elizabeth Zahradnicek-Haas

Written by Elizabeth Zahradnicek-Haas Published on 19.11.2016 10:00:00 (updated on 19.11.2016) Reading time: 1 minute

Earlier this year we reported on the mysterious airship being built on the roof of Holešovice museum DOX. Now the purpose behind the mysterious structure has finally been revealed.

The steel-and-wood colossus will become a permanent space for public talks and lectures at the museum, which opened its doors in 2008. 

“The idea to invade the DOX Centre’s starkly modern austere concrete-and-glass architecture with a parasitic structure has been on my mind for several years,” says Leoš Válka, director of the museum.

Photo: Jan Slavík ©DOX
Photo: Jan Slavík ©DOX

In order to make reality his “dreams of [constructing] an absurdly fascinating organic shape that would contrast with the museum’s existing architecture,” Válka enlisted architect Martin Rajniš to design what would eventually become a 42-meter-long and 10-meter-high structure, inspired by the giant airships that cruised the skies at the dawn of the 20th century.

Photo: Jan Slavík ©DOX
Photo: Jan Slavík ©DOX

The airship bears the name of one of the most famous characters in utopian literature, Jonathon Swift’s Gulliver from the 18th-century novel Gulliver’s Travels.

It willl serve as a space for reading and public discussions of literature (fiction, poetry, and critical writing) related to the themes of DOX’s exhibitions, many of which focus on the continued challenge of the human experience.

The Gulliver Airship will be open to general public on December 11, 2016. 

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