Beyond the past and the present; Zizkov district
Poza przeszłością i teraźniejszością; dzielnica Zizkov
Works has been presented since 2017 in the hallway
the Nevan Contempo gallery in Zizkov, Prague
The images you are looking at are based on an overlap of two photographs, one originating in an unspecified past and another taken within the last two weeks. The outcome of this combination is a set of collages based on three colors: red, white and blue. It is as well a mixture of situations, people and stories that belong to the Žižkov district.
The neighborhood appears in the images gently manipulated by Bartolomeo Koczenasz, a Krakow based photographer, as a territory of urban turbulences and constant modification. One of the youngest districts of today’s wider center of Prague was historically a working class periphery, in the course of time exposed to various stages of transformation. Today it represents an interesting mixture of architecture from the old tenant houses through empty parcels to new housing projects and gentrified hotspots. Žižkov used to and sometimes still is perceived as the rough neighborhood. However, recently the layers of hipster culture and a contemporary art district contributed to its image as one of the most heterogeneous areas in Prague.
Bartolomeo Koczenasz has created this set of collages through a continuous process of exploration of the neighborhood, both in its present moment and through archival material. His main goal was to cast a new light on the images from the past and merge them with a contemporary face of the district. This simple gesture gives us room to observe Žižkov from another perspective, from beyond the past and the present.
Piotr Sikora
