Retro-reflection (art project)

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Mosaic of traffic signs on Knížecí street

Retro-reflection is an art project of Czech artist Epos 257 from 2017.^[1]

Description[]

Epos 257 realized the project both in the gallery and partly in a public space.^[2] It is also the author's diploma work at the .^[3] One of its main parts, a giant mosaic of 256 authentic Z3 traffic signs with retroreflective foil, is located on the facade of one of the houses in Prague's Knížecí Street. The author acquired the individual parts of the piece through an extensive exchange of the aforementioned signage. During it, he gradually replaced the original signs with new ones throughout the metropolis. The exhibition part of the project was then installed directly in the promenade of the Prague – in a place that is in close contact with the street, and therefore the public space through a large glass wall.^[2]

Interpretation[]

Following the ambiguous name of the entire project, the curators of the gallery part of the project, František Teplý and Jiří Ptáček, emphasize the motif of "transition between two worlds" and their subsequent alignment.^[2] The principle of retroreflection is also interpreted directly in the case of the exhibited objects. Teplý and Ptáček state that the artefacts are abstracted maps and relics of long-term interventions, documentation settled back into specific spatiotemporal coordinates.^[2]

3080 Transactions[]

The Retroreflection project was then extended by Epos 257 by another level. The condition for entering the exhibition was the exchange of any banknote for a banknote of the same denomination.^[4] Thus, no one lost or earned, but, there was an exchange act referring to the circulation of money, goods and services in society. The symbolic "washing" of banknotes not only revealed the background of some works created within the Retroreflection to visitors, but also involved them (mostly unconsciously) in the creation of a work of art.^[5] The author himself sent a plastic bag with the accumulated amount to auction. He managed to sell the work, named 3080 transactions, which consisted of banknotes with a total value of CZK 878,600, for CZK 1,100,000 without an auction commission. Transaction number 3081 thus made him the most expensive Czech artist of the young generation.^[5]

References[]