Sunday morning 8 o’clock on Václavské náměstí
For the Václavské náměstí with its high tourist density, I developed a series of tools, for example, a red wooden arrow with ‘To Opotov’ printed on it, a banner , a street tag, stickers and two speaking horns. These tools help me to distribute the idea’ To Opatov’ quickly and easily so that it spreads all over the world. I use existing layers and conventional forms that are part of touristic rituals and configurations: the group photo, the guide’s sign to keep his group from straying and the inward facing circle they form around him. Newspaper kiosks and the kiosk of the Tourist Information Office are good locations for communicating stories about Opatov in English and Czech with the help of the two speaking horns. When two Chinese women incline their heads to listen to the story being told, it turns into a personal and intimate moment.

On Sunday morning at 8 o’clock I hope to experience this iconic square frozen in time; a momentary open space, devoid of people so that there is room for the unexpected. I feel the initial hint of such a sensation but then the first Japanese tourists arrive to look at the Jan Palach memorial.

Meanwhile Opatov, incorporated in thousands of tourist photos is spreading all over the world as idea, as a real place and as a story.