Labyrinth 2026

Regularly changing art interventions in the castle labyrinth are created as part of the Art for the City curatorial projects. The selected artworks for 2026 by Jakub Choma, Stanislav Zábrodský, and Tomáš Roubal develop the theme of the labyrinth as a metaphor for a world shaped by visible and hidden systems of orientation, and loosely connect to the theme of the exhibition Labyrinth: Landscape of Inner Wandering inside the Castle.

Through objects, light, technology, and performative elements, the works open up questions of navigation, control, trust, and humanity's relationship to an constantly changing reality. The installations invite visitors to actively experience the garden as a place that can be known and discovered in new ways. In addition to the object realization, the installation also includes dance performances created in collaboration with choreographers from the SE.S.TA organization – Kristián Mensa, Hana Polanská, and Viktor Černický.

Stanislav Zábrodský (& Kristián Mensa) – Ungrounded

(unveiling July 28, 2026)

The realization Ungrounded for the gardens of Troja Castle is based on the changing ways in which we relate to invisible forces in different epochs. Just as medieval cosmologies connected the earthly and heavenly orders, contemporary infrastructural systems connect human actions with geophysical processes. The individual layers of the object are based on technical drawings and diagrams of early modernity, which, in addition to instructions for constructing machines and inventions, mirror visual models of contemporary thinking, striving to capture what transcended human perception.

Modernist paradigms in the work Ungrounded enter into cyclical relationships with their contemporary reinterpretation, in which the degree of measurability, representability, and technical usability shifts to previously unimaginable dimensions, until it once again gets out of control. A machine that has forgotten its original purpose opens up the development of 19th-century industrialization as a continuous material process, the consequences of which are systematically deposited in the landscape, bodies, archives, and geological layers. The invisible forces that modern rationality tried to measure and technically control thus return as an elusive echo of deep time, which comes alive in contemporary technological materiality.

Jakub Choma (& Hana Polanská) – Circle With Many Centers

(unveiling August 11, 2026)

Jakub Choma's work moves in the volatile friction between digital fluidity and material density, examining the uncertain position of human agency in a landscape of total technological mediation.

Jakub Choma's "signpost" artwork Circle With Many Centers disrupts navigation systems to expose them as a symbol of control, forcing us to question reality, simulation, and choices in late capitalism. Choma's "signposts," which the artist has been exploring for a long time, examine systems of orientation and navigational marking both in the real world and in the digital sphere: from wooden tourist signs in nature to urban neon signs and office regulations. While these signs usually offer clarity and clear direction, Jakub Choma disrupts their functionality.

Here, the sign, instead of facilitating, leads astray and creates ambivalence. Instead of guiding us, it raises doubts about where we are, where we are going, and whether we can trust the information around us at all. The sign ceases to be a helper and becomes a symbol of control; it refers to an invisible system of late capitalism that directs, regulates, and shapes our choices, while remaining elusive itself. Although the sculptures seem to integrate industrial waste or ready-made elements, they are in fact carefully constructed. The artist uses this tension to emphasize the blurred boundary between reality and simulation in contemporary life.

Tomáš Roubal (& Viktor Černický) – Claude

(unveiling August 25, 2026)

Tomáš Roubal is dedicated to sculpture, painting, and drawing. His works critically respond to current social problems and political events. A visually clear, simple, almost graphic style is typical for him. Recently, he has been working mainly with metal.

Claude: #human #data #machine #energy #heat #metal #calculation #noise #body