In the Dancing House, a retrospective of Bořek Šípek begins

Prague - The retrospective exhibition of the Czech visual artist, designer, and architect Bořek Šípek titled Out Of Limits opens today at the Art Salon S gallery in the Dancing House. The installation, prepared by the author himself, features nearly 200 works ranging from glass art objects to furniture design pieces created by Šípek over the last 20 years. The exhibition also includes works from the early stages of his career and the vase Ungraspable Rosehip, designed for Šípek by former Czech President Václav Havel. The exhibition began on Havel's birthday, with whom Šípek shared a long friendship.
    "I enjoy giving things a soul, creating valuable partners from seemingly inferior and often merely practical objects. Objects with a soul appeal to us and provoke a reaction - we can hate them, condemn them, or admire them, love them, or take possession of them. They can become companions in our everyday and festive lives," describes the exhibition Bořek Šípek.
    "I'm not sure that I chose glass. I have more of the impression that glass chose me," the author told ČTK. "I stumbled upon it completely by accident. I see challenges in it. With everything else I do, starting with porcelain, furniture - all of that can be tried out, redrawn, whereas with glass, it’s hot 'on the pipe' and has to be finished in ten minutes. That's the incredible challenge and moment when one says: enough! It’s a completely different creative process than with other things," he describes his love for glass.
    The exhibition features vases, bowls, carafes, glasses, chandeliers, porcelain mugs, dishes, chairs, armchairs, tables, cabinets, bookshelves, lamps, and candlesticks, all having a common author, character, and handwriting. They are decorated with rosehips that are just ripening. A special place in the exhibition is held by the glass vase titled Ungraspable Rosehip. The vase, reminiscent of a rosehip stem densely covered with thorns, was designed by Václav Havel in 2004. Havel gifted the drawing of the vase to Bořek Šípek for his 55th birthday when Šípek was working for the Prague Castle during Havel’s presidential term. Seven years later, Bořek Šípek manufactured the vase based on Václav Havel’s design in a limited collection of seven pieces. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see the fourth and final unsold piece out of seven.
    Bořek Šípek is mainly known as a glass artist and Havel's castle architect; Havel's successors, unlike his democratic predecessors at the Castle, did not have their architect and limited themselves to mere maintenance and repairs of this significant complex, which is not only the largest Czech monument but also, during Václav Havel's time, served as a significant social and cultural focal point of the country. "They have no concept, no intuition, no idea .... they just perform their profession. It's a huge shame, but what can we do about it," Šípek comments on the approach of Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman towards the architectural development of the Castle.
    Besides his glass artifacts, Šípek is the author of various pieces of furniture that he has also applied at Prague Castle. These include chairs, armchairs, sofas, bookshelves, and cabinets. In the Dancing House, he exhibits a series of veneered inlaid furniture, which was inspired by Greek and Aboriginal mythology.