Patrik Proško

Demolition Organ is a kinetic sculpture created for the cloister courtyard of the monastery in Jindřichův Hradec. Its form is based on organ pipes, while its movement and suspended stone ball also evoke a demolition device. The work thus brings together two seemingly distant worlds: a musical instrument associated with the church and an object designed for destruction. The stone ball used in the installation is one of the medieval projectiles once used during sieges to attack and destroy buildings. Several similar stone balls were already scattered throughout the cloister courtyard and became one of the inspirations for the sculpture. Their presence is developed into a moving object that creates tension between the stillness of the historic space and the physical threat of destruction. The exhibition also continued in the adjacent Church of St. John the Baptist, where a real pipe organ forms part of the interior. This relationship was important to the creation of the sculpture. For centuries, organs amplified the impact of religious rituals, sermons, and shared emotional experiences. Yet the same faith capable of creating profound spiritual values has, at various points in history, also been used to justify violence and war. Demolition Organ works precisely with this contradiction. It does not depict any specific historical conflict, but combines an instrument of spiritual elevation and an instrument of destruction within a single moving object.