November 1989
Mass protests. Society-wide dissatisfaction and desire for change, stronger than fear of the consequences of civil
disobedience.
Against the backdrop of the crisis of the Soviet Union, the silent majority took to the streets. The country was fl ooded
with waves of positive emotions of humanity, belonging, hope and faith in a better civil society, which grew in us
during the protest rallies of many thousands. The regime, ready to suppress the unrest, did not dare to intervene due
to the mass of protests crossing the borders of the Iron Curtain states.
Concept
The footprints of the protesting crowd are a universal symbol of passive civil resistance.
Their placement in a replica of the raised fl owerbed (the original anti-crowd barrier) opposite the Government Office
refers to the fi rst mass November protest, which left such footprints on all the raised fl owerbeds of the dictator Gottwald Square.
The forever trampled anti-crowd barrier contrasts with the adaptation of the dictator‘s square to Freedom Square,
and forever intersects the axis of the central veduta: Slavín (WW2 memorial) - Government Offi ce - Fountain Druzhba.
Bronze footprints in a concrete block in front of the Government Offi ce symbolically materialize the protest and invite
it to be repeated whenever necessary.
The shift of a fragment of the reality of the monumental rise of the seat of power resonates in its authentic surroundings as a memento that every abuse of it ends in mass resistance.
Its raised front and the area below it proclaim the time of the turning point:
NOVEMBER 1989
