Sculptor Veselý will take his sculptures from Liberec; they were destroyed by vandals

Liberec - Sculptor Aleš Veselý is prematurely taking away the sculptures he lent for the exhibition "Industrial Traces" from Liberec. Both of his works placed in open spaces around Soukenné Square were vandalized. The company Spacium, which organized the exhibition with the goal of supporting and revitalizing art in the city, and the city itself were unable to ensure their safety. Veselý stated this today to ČTK.
    "It's a disgrace. I'm not only upset that the sculptures are damaged, but mainly that they were left broken in various places without anyone taking care of them. Even the police learned about the damages with a delay," he added. Veselý has exhibited his works in Prague, Germany, and the Netherlands, and he has returned all sculptures from those exhibitions intact. The curator of the exhibition Ivona Raimanová told ČTK that it is the first time they have encountered such vandalism as organizers. "We immediately informed the sculptor and began organizing the removal of the sculptures," she added.
    On Veselý's sculpture Unstable Cube, located near the Tesco department store, an unknown perpetrator broke off the steel rod embedded in a boulder on a movable floor; at the same time, the boulder secured at the top of a strong rod was also broken. For the second sculpture, Space Point, someone had to climb up and unscrew it so that the boulder hanging on a chain fell off. According to Veselý, the works can be repaired for tens of thousands of crowns, but no one can restore their authenticity. He made one of them 15 years ago and the other 19 years ago.
    Large sculptures in the center of Liberec, not only Veselý's, have been the target of vandalism several times. They have also damaged the sculptures of Čestmír Suška and Michal Cimaly. The organizers of the exhibition had to proactively secure Suška's sculptures with stronger bases to the ground than those attached by the author. The municipal police detained five people in connection with the damage, identified by the camera system that monitors most of the sculptures. The only one out of their reach is the statue Rider above the staircase to the department store. "That's why we send our patrols there," said the deputy director of the municipal police, Miroslav Chmela.
    The sculpture exhibition in the center of Liberec will last until the end of October, of the nine, only seven will remain now. According to Raimanová, it has mainly excited the artistically oriented and professional public. Liberec is aspiring to become a city of sculptures, where visual art will become an integral part of life. There is no similar project anywhere else in the country. The exhibition follows up on the significant event Sculpture and City, which took place under Ještěd in 1969 and presented 45 works of art at that time. Veselý also participated in it back then. In the future, he would only place sculptures in Liberec under entirely different conditions. They would need to be insured and the organizer would have to ensure their safety. "Monitoring with cameras is not enough; it does not protect the sculptures," he added.
    The company Spacium has already supplied many sculptures to Liberec. One of the first was Milan Houser's Sphere in front of the Zlatý lev hotel and several temporary installations in front of the North Bohemian Museum. A traveling Chair stood in front of the town hall, and now there are the Sparrows by sculptor Martina Niubo. The bus stop by the library has become the so-called Breakfast of Giants by David Černý, and at the tram stop near the Lípa cinema, there is a bench called Eternal Tenderness by Lukáš Rittstein.