Graffiti appears on Prague landmarks in new campaign to promote street art

Prague, Sept 23 (CTK) – Graffiti has covered some buildings in Prague overnight within a campaign aimed to highlight the city’s shortage of legal surfaces for street-art, the PSN real estate management firm, which provided 190 square metres of space to the urban graffiti authors, has told CTK.

Most of the new graffiti is temporary, since permanent interferences in the look of historical and protected buildings are restricted by law, PSN said in a press release.

The Prague Council representatives have appreciated the event.

Graffiti mushroomed overnight on 13 buildings both in the city centre and outskirts, including the Kotva department store and buildings in the Brehova and Parizska Streets in the historical Old Town district.

In the New Town, another central quarter, the decorated buildings include the Dancing House, the Fashion House store in the Wenceslas Square and a residential building in the nearby Opletalova Street.

“The goal of the night action was to raise street art’s publicity as a genuine art that can revive the city and make various forgotten sites attractive,” PSN marketing director Katerina Jukl said.

She said Prague offers only little space to street artists. “That is why we have decided to offer our Koh-i-noor compound in Vrsovice (in the broad centre of Prague) as a new legal surface for these artists to use,” she added.

Lucie Jindrak Skrivankova, who has decorated the Dancing House, said the artists were given a chance to show that street art can become an integral part of the city and attract visitors.

“Czechia, however, offers only few opportunities for this, compared with western countries,” she said.

The biggest of the new graffiti is sized 12 x 2.5 metres and appeared on a container that serves as the entrance to the nuclear shelter at the former Microna company building in Modrany, on the southern outskirts of Prague.

The graffiti will be removed after some time, except those on the Dancing House, Kotva department store, Microna and the house in Opletalova Street, which will be preserved.

Prague Deputy Mayor Petr Hlavacek (for TOP 09) appreciated the event for opening the question of the relation between art and architecture.

He said he was for the city to seek further legal surfaces for street artists, and expects, in exchange, the artists’ community to help the city eliminate the [graffiti] creations that have nothing to do with art.

Similarly, the Prague councillor in charge of property, Jan Chabr (TOP 09), said street art is an integral part of Prague and can esthetically upgrade some of its less maintained sites.

The PSN of billionaire Vaclav Skala has operated on the real estate market since 1991. It revitalises blocks of apartments, leases offices and owns several houses in Prague. It bought the Kotva department store in 2016.

rtj/dr/kva