Memorial to the Second Resistance Movement

I’m not in politics directly so it is not politically dangerous for me, but an example of what I am up against will show you: There is the story about the memorial for the Czech Resistance during the Second World War. There was a competition for a commission for the memorial that I was asked to take part in last year. The mayor of Prague 1, which is the part of Prague where this monument is going to be built, asked me. I said, this is not my cup of tea but I can try. I’d never done anything like it before. I did the design and surprisingly I won. Everybody was surprised, including me, but I won and it was announced that I was the sculptor who would be doing it. Three weeks later I did an interview where I was asked what my thoughts were about doing a sculpture that also memorialized some of the communists that had been active in the Resistance. I said ironically, “The only good communist is a dead communist.” Of course, you know that General Custer said the same thing about the Indians – “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” It became a huge scandal because they used that for the headline of the article. And even though it was announced everywhere that I had won the competition, they changed their minds and gave it to the second-place winner. Why am I telling you this? When you ask if it’s politically dangerous – no, it’s not politically dangerous, but in this country politics do matter because politics and art often touch each other.