Prague 7 cryptocurrency café Paralelní Polis tells City Hall to "kiss our ass"

Refused permission to display advertising at their own venue for their upcoming Hacker Congress by the City of Prague 7, non-profit hackerspace and cryptocurrency café Paralelní Polis has instead used the ad space to stick it to city officials.

Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis (HCPP) is the flagship project of the venue, and annually attracts more than 500 IT experts and other fans who participate in a 3-day event dedicated to hacking, cryptoanarchy and cryptocurrencies, and other matters related to science, art, and technology.

Held in cooperation with Prague 7 theater and performance space La Fabrika, the Hackers Congress is one of the primary fund-raising activities for Paralelní Polis, and allows it to cover the operation of other non-profit activities throughout the year. Traditionally, the venue has utilized space on the second and third floors of its two-story building on Dělnická street in Prague 7 to advertise the event.

This year, however, they have been denied the opportunity to do so by the City of Prague 7, which has banned the proposed artwork seen above on the grounds that it “degrades the appearance of public spaces with its scale and adapted content,” according to a press release.

According to Paralelní Polis, new advertising rules enacted at the end of 2018 have given Prague 7 the subjective right to decide on what is kind of advertising is permissible in public spaces under aesthetic, ethical, and cultural guidelines. In effect, this has given city officials the power to arbitrarily ban advertising throughout the district, which they have taken advantage of.

And in place of the original artwork, the venue has instead hung a huge sign reading “Polibte nám prdel”, or “Kiss our ass”, directed at the city officials who denied their original advertising.

“Visual smog and its centrally-controlled regulation is another example of the arbitrariness of the state administration, the systematic abuse of state power and its legislative instruments under the guise of the general well-being of citizens in public space,” Paralelní Polis states in a press release.

“Paralelní Polis draws attention to similar practices and actions of formal authorities and actively opposes them. The marginalization of personal and digital freedom of individuals has long been the main theme of all Paralelní Polis sub-projects.”

The new artwork is also likely to be meet with disapproval from city officials. But even if they need to pay a fine, the team behind Paralelní Polis is likely to be happy with the free advertising for their event their latest stunt has generated.