Prádelna Collective and Eva Jiřička
The Washing Stone, 2025
The Washing Stone project in Litomyšl is an artistic work of social criticism by Eva Jiřička and the Prádelna collective. The authors work with a mobile laundry van and an art installation that is intended to provoke dialogue on the use of urban space. While the number of people in need of housing is increasing, there is a lack of solutions. Instead, there is a growing trend of so-called hostile (or antisocial) architecture, which pushes people out of public spaces instead of helping them. Benches with armrests, spikes on windowsills, bollards in subways. These are not neutral elements, they are tools of exclusion. They speak of those whom we desire to eliminate from the city.
Public space is usually designed in such a way (for example, with street furniture) that it complicates the lives of the homeless or of those in social need and pushes them out of city centres. The authors’ installation is intended to be a symbol of helpfulness, sharing, and connection. It aims to literally connect the experience of homeless people and ordinary citizens. It will show that their common demands in public space are in fact a basic need for all of us.
While working together on the project, the creators ask themselves the questions: If we don’t see homeless people in the city, does that mean they aren’t here? Does it mean that the city is exception (like Litomyšl), or is it in reality more complicated? The Washing Stone project will offer an opportunity to consider these questions but also seek for answers to them.
Curator / Ondřej Horák (Fuczik)
Location / Corner of Vodní valy and Nerudova Street, near the Sokol Cinema
GPS / 49.868573N, 16.312394E
