Center No Center. Christian Helwing

The concept of Center No Center for the House of Art relates to various existing circumstances and observations Christian Helwing made on site.

The direct surroundings of the House of Art are defined by the city’s central square, the for the most part intact Renaissance and Baroque Námӗstí Přemysla Otakara II ensemble. Passers-by and visitors approach the House of Art via the “open” area or in the “protection” of the access balconies of the townhouses.

This situation is actually not particularly remarkable, because in most cases urban space consists of a blend of buildings from different epochs, and the daily view especially of historical façades is different than the look taken by tourists. However, what interests Helwing about the situation of the House of Art is that two strongly idealized concepts from different epochs encounter one another from the perspective of the exhibition space and in particular when one looks out the windows. The strictly geometric order and spatial division of the square from the period of the Renaissance and the exhibition space that orients itself toward the ideal of the sacred white cube, so to speak, in the context of art. What interests me in both concepts, which also have an intensely space-dominated nature, is the question of individual freedom.

In Center No Center the 5 rooms of the HOA will be “idealized” with 2 sections of black carpet plus a partly black painted ceiling and artificial door frames. The curved carpet sections follow the ideal of circles “drawn” into the space. One of the carpet sections is functional and can be walked on (the HOA is turned into a walk-in sculpture) – its edges move towards the ceiling in circle sections. The second carpet is hanging from one perimeter wall of the space to the other – making the access to the room in between inaccessible. Despite being inaccessible – this room is the center of Helwings work as it challenges the perception and imagination of the visitors.

Reflecting his perception and defining his own standpoint, a visitor himself becomes the leading character within Christian Helwing`s art.