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Vratislav Karel Novák (CZ) → Metronome

About project

Already in time of building of the famous Metronome on Letná (1991) its author Vratislav Karel Novák was considering to use light to deepen the meaning and effect of this unique kinetic sculpture. His idea was based on metaphorical interconnection of Prague’s history, present and future by single ray of light: to send a laser ray from window of old house on Old Town Square through the Pařížská street right onto the Metronome where it would be refracted to the sky. Technologies of the time were far too undeveloped, so the project was not realized. After more than 20 years SIGNAL festival decided to make this amazing idea real.

Artist

Graduated from Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Studio of Metal and Jewels. Since the 1960s’s famous for his mobile sculptures and kinetic objects. One of his most famous public installations was The Metronome replacing Stalin’s monument at Letná, Prague in 1991. A playful tech-art approach can be also found in his jewelry work and his witty kinetic structures using metal and lights were presented at many solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Germany, and the USA. V. K. Novák was also awarded at Internationalen Handwerksmesse and won an international art competition in the USA.