The flash of home

Author: Kášová Markéta

Year of foundation: 2021

Technical University of Liberec
Faculty of Art and Architecture
Department of Art
Degree: Bachelor
Year of studies: 3

Hundreds of villages and villages disappeared in the Czech border after the expulsion of the Germans. In 1946, approximately 3 and a half million German-speaking inhabitants lived on the territory of the then Czechoslovak Republic. After the end of the Second World War, it was inconceivable for the Czechs that so many German people remained in the Sudetenland. They took them as someone who sought to break up the state. More than 2 and a half million German-speaking people had to leave the border after the war. Around 2 million inhabitants of Czech or Slavic origin came here. For a long time it worked that the demolition of towns and villages in the Sudetenland is a kind of tax for the cleansing of the Czech Republic from the German-speaking population, and therefore the liquidation of such places was often not discussed and these places were immediately demolished. This included not only houses but also monuments. Churches, statues, castles and chateaux. There are approximately 107 extinct villages in my native Chomutov region alone. In this work, I wanted to raise one of the villages that did not deserve to disappear, Přísečnice. I went to the Přísečnice dam during the days of May, that is, during the period when its inhabitants learned that their home was about to be liquidated, they went and installed mirrors on the opposite side of the trodden walking path. I placed them to dazzle passers-by and remind them that there is something special under the water they walk around. Due to the movement of the sun, the installation will be fully functional only on these days. This work aims to recall the historical value of the place. Places that deserved to remain home to people who loved him. Everything is fleeting, and you need to realize that. Even the village that once stood there was simply gone one day. All that was left of her were flashes of memories of people who knew about her. I try to sensitively try to get these glimpses of the past into that place, even for people who have not heard of it yet. The flash dazzles the person unknowingly and then disappears. Just like this village once did. I would like to show people that Přísečnice is not just a valley flooded today. If we look more closely and begin to examine what has disappeared below the surface, we will see the rich history and fame of the locals. I placed the last mirror so that, in addition to dazzling a man on the way, his flash is aimed at the half-decayed torment of God, which still stands at Přísečnice.