Stars, 2003

Installation project, Municipal Gallery of Šternberk, Šternberk, Czech Republic, July 2003

Pode Bal visited several social care institutions, situated around the city of Šternberk and photographed the people inside. Their portraits were exhibited in a local municipal gallery, together with pictures of cuddly animal toys (also found in the institutions). The second part of the exhibition consisted of a ficticious gutter press magazine called “Stars”. The faces of celebrities, whose lives are a constant theme for these tabloids, were replaced with faces of people from the institutions. The third part of the exhibition consisted of a video installation including a cage-bed and cuddly animals.