Patrik Proško

The anamorphic portrait of Václav Havel (1936–2011), the first president of the Czech Republic, playwright and dissident, is conceived as a spatial collage of his life, modern Czechoslovak and Czech history, and the values associated with freedom, civic responsibility and critical thinking. A large proportion of the objects used came from a public collection campaign and from institutions connected with Havel’s life and legacy. Books, typewriters, prison-related objects, surveillance equipment, handcuffs, police batons, music recordings and other period artefacts create individual layers of meaning within the portrait. Some objects also function as specific symbols — prison shorts form the tie, bread is transformed into a chess set, and objects associated with repression are confronted with symbols of free thought. A distinctive formal element of the installation is its use of shadow. Some parts of the face are formed not directly by the objects themselves, but by their cast shadows, which become an equal part of the pictorial composition. The material fragility of the installation also enters into the meaning of the work. The portrait is not made from bronze or stone, but from old and often fragile objects. This physical impermanence points to the fragility of the values associated with Havel’s legacy — freedom, democracy and human responsibility.