How to Change a City with Art | Zuzana Pacáková | TEDxHumenné

Quick Overview

The speaker, Zuzana Pacáková, discusses the challenges and successes of revitalizing public spaces in Košice and Bratislava through large-scale art installations, highlighting the powerful, often emotionally charged, community responses to these interventions, especially during difficult times like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Key Points: The speaker moved to Paris 20 years ago and returned to Slovakia, where she encountered a cultural shock and struggled with the functioning of the city and the rhythm of life compared to Paris. A major project involved illuminating the Slovak National Bank building in Bratislava, which required overcoming significant financial and technical hurdles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team adapted by creating an outdoor installation in a Košice park—a cloud made of white balloons—to bring culture to the public. The team also created an installation in a Bratislava square featuring two giant, colorful, inflatable sculptures, which generated significant public engagement. The speaker emphasizes that the success of these public art projects lies in their ability to create powerful, shared emotional experiences and dialogue, sometimes sparking difficult conversations. The speaker mentions collaborating with digital artist Marek Hvorecký and a choreographer for synchronized, large-scale art performances, such as illuminating a bridge with lasers. The final image shown is a scoreboard from a primary school test asking students to name three Slovak public holidays, where the student incorrectly listed holidays like 'Easter' and 'Easter' again, illustrating a disconnect from local cultural knowledge.

Context: Zuzana Pacáková presents her work in bringing large-scale, often technologically complex, art installations to public spaces in Slovak cities like Košice and Bratislava. Her presentation focuses on how these interventions—ranging from light installations on buildings to massive inflatable sculptures in squares—impact the community, especially when executed during challenging geopolitical or social contexts such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. She reflects on the process, the challenges faced with funding and logistics, and the profound, sometimes unsettling, emotional reactions these public artworks elicit.