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Kristek House ( cs, Kristkův dům) is a building on the corner of Tišnovská and Trávníky Streets in
A main feature of the house is a surrealist-inspired clock based on the Myth of Sisyphus. Kristek was inspired by Albert Camus and his Myth of Sisyphus and by the ideas of
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
, Czech Republic that was transformed into a monumental assemblage by the Czech sculptor, painter and action artist Lubo Kristek
Lubo Kristek (born 8 May 1943) is a sculptor, painter and performance artist of Czech origin, who lived in West Germany from 1968 until the 1990s. He specializes in critical assemblages and happenings, in which he incorporates multiple forms of ...
. Kristek created the work between 2015 and 2017.
Description
A main feature of the house is a surrealist-inspired clock based on the Myth of Sisyphus. Kristek was inspired by Albert Camus and his Myth of Sisyphus and by the ideas of George Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec (), born Jiří Wachsmann and known in the United States as George Voskovec (June 19, 1905 – July 1, 1981) was a Czech actor, writer, dramatist, and director who became an American citizen in 1955. Throughout much of his career ...
recorded on the LP ''Relativně Vzato''.
The clockwork was designed and constructed especially for this purpose by the Elekon company ( Vyškov), a specialist in public clocks. The system provides exact time and incorporates a changeover to winter time.
Another aspect of Kristek House is a railway line is painted on the façade and incorporated into one of the artist's important symbols – the heavenly highway. This symbol can be found already in his painting ''The Heavenly Highway of Aunt Fränzi'' (1974) that is today part of the collection of Neues Stadtmuseum in Landsberg am Lech.
train from Kristek's childhood, the former Brno-Tišnov railway line (in Czech: Tišnovka).
At the corner of the house two large sculptures of golden hands rise, their palms turned upwards. The hands also protect the living tree and together represent the central symbol of the monumental assemblage.
''Kristek House'' was the set for the films ''Ab ovo'' and ''Sisyphiade''.
References