“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.
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.
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.