FLOWER UNION
Flower Union was produced by National Gallery Prague, as part of Czech Presidency of European Union 2022, Curated by Michal Novotný
As a part of Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, nine young Czech artists and designers created decorations for two buildings in Brussels. These artists decided to use their work to express the values that the European Union embodies for them and which they believe it should continue to embody in the future. They also tried to highlight the idea of Europeanism rather than to simply present the Czech Republic as one of the member states. Their collective project, as well as their individual endeavours, are linked by the concept of a community of plants sharing a single piece of soil, thus also stressing the environmental agenda, which will reverberate strongly during the Czech Presidency.
The project was conceived by: Jan Brož, Barbora Fastrová, Johana Pošová, Jakub Choma, Jakub Jansa, Valentýna Janů, Martin Kohout and Overall Office (Karolína Juříková and Kristýna Nováková).
Council of the European Union,
Brussels, Belgium
12/6– 31/12 2022
National Gallery, Prague
10/2 – 7/5 2023
Informality in the world of flowers
On behalf of the slow fashion brand Overall Office, Karolína Juříková and Kristýna Nováková permeate several parts of the project in the form of garments and textiles inspired by the diverse realm of flowers in color and shape.
In Jakub Jansa's video, the statesmanlike wardrobe intertwines with the physiognomy of flowers, taking their most essential features from both worlds. The political formality is combined with the natural exuberance, but also with the simple naive parroting of children's TV shows. On the personified figures of flowers, dresses bud, bloom and fade. The Celerist, styled as a stand-up comedian in a tailcoat, and his mother, the more mystical Celerian Fortune Teller, in a flowered pale robe complemented by a similarly copper-effect peach dress.
Overall Office's second clothing entry heads into Valentina Janů's video to link the clothing and the world of flowers as a leitmotif for all three parts of the film, as well as the costume with the set of the scene. The rose-blossom coat merges with the rose garden of Petřín, while the red jacket of the presenter is a paraphrase of the formal presenter's attire. It is made of the author's fabric using a unique Czechoslovak technique of art protis, usually used for creating non-woven wall carpets. The technique is also reflected in the furniture and objects by the duo Pošová & Fastrová.
The artist's fast-paced method of fabrication absorbed the monotonous garments worn in the European Parliament, such as shirts, jackets and ties, and transformed them into the form of wilful flowers. They thus send a positive message in the form of a hidden hope for the environment, which is daily affected by the production of new clothes in a fast-fashion environment.
The main symbol of the Czech Presidency is a wreath of twelve medicinal plants, and this has been incorporated in the design of the large, ecologically-manufactured carpet installed in the main area of the atrium in the building where Council meetings are held. The weaving of wreaths is an ancient, not only Slavic, tradition. Young unwed women cast wreaths into the river during the solstice to guarantee their romantic future. This symbolised not only the vitality of youth but also the natural continuation of life after leaving one’s home hearth.
In keeping with the main symbol for the artistic presentation of the Czech Presidency, the artists chose to replace the twelve gold stars on the EU flag with twelve medicinal plants from different European regions. The resulting wreath, in which the stems of each plant are twisted around those of the previous one to create a more interwoven and stronger bond, embodies a gesture promoting a stronger European togetherness between all of the EU’s unique and distinct regions. A union, which does not exclude local identities, folklore, or traditions.
