PWe are looking forward to Saturday and the combination of Fest Art and Trenčín na korze! The fourth edition of the city market Trenčín na korze with beautiful things and a rich programme awaits us all on 1.Mája Street. From there, we will seamlessly move on to the fifth edition of the cultural and artistic festival Fest Art in the parking lot of the Ľ.Štúr High school. There during the day we can watch artists painting a 240m2 wall, enjoy concerts, theatre, coffee, drink, get a haircut…
In the parking lot of the Ľ. Štúr High school from 10am to 6pm we will meet you over emotional mapping of the quality of public space and visual smog in Trenčín. We will ask you about pleasant and unpleasant elements in public space. For example, the condition of benches, baskets, lighting, the condition of elements of art in public space, obstacles on sidewalks and roads, inappropriately placed advertising, a lot of visual smog... Or, on the contrary, examples of visually high-quality space in our city or a pleasant presentation of a shop, restaurant or business. We will record these places and feelings on a map and write down your comments.
Next year, the map with the collected suggestions (not only from this event) will be processed into an interactive form. It will serve as one of the basis for our long-term project City Reimagined, which aims to start tackling the visual smog and quality of public space in our city.
We started the City Reimagined during the candidacy, in 2021, with an international conference led by Trenčín's Hlava 5 in cooperation with Kaunas Biennial (LT). The conference focused on artworks in public space, their stories and the process of revitalisation. For example, did you know that before 1989 there were more than 120 artworks in Trenčín's public space? Unfortunately, today there are only about 80 of them.
This year an extensive mapping of the current state of public space in Trenčín will be carried out. On the basis of workshops and communication with the people concerned (from experts to business owners), strategic methodologies for improving the situation will be developed. The results of this work will be gradually visible in the public space from next year.
The City Redesigned is an opportunity for Trenčín to become a model for other cities that are fighting against visual smog and insensitive urban solutions. Not only in Slovakia, but also throughout Europe. More about the City Reimagined can be found in the Bid book on page 32.
We look forward to meeting you over the emotional mapping!