Action taken after the ban of the Presidential Office, members of the group are installing onto the Bull Staircase of the castle

Action taken after the ban of the Presidential Office, members of the group are installing onto the Bull Staircase of the castle

Security service employees, hired by the Presidential Office ripping Pode Bal’s banner from the Bull Staircase at the Prague Castle

Security service employees, hired by the Presidential Office ripping Pode Bal’s banner from the Bull Staircase at the Prague Castle

Prime time television news documenting the police action against the installation Zimmer Frei by Pode Bal

Zimmer Frei 01, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei 01, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei Široká, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei Široká, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei Bednářská, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei Bednářská, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 2002

Zimmer Frei Hrazená, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 20

Zimmer Frei Hrazená, Cprint, 120 x 70 cm, 20

Detail of a baloon bearing a picture and address of one of the buildings confiscated from Germans living in Czechoslovakia during the ethnic cleansing of the aftermath of World War II, part of the Zimmer Frei project

Detail of a baloon bearing a picture and address of one of the buildings confiscated from Germans living in Czechoslovakia during the ethnic cleansing of the aftermath of World War II, part of the Zimmer Frei project

Security police chasing after people that joined in the action and tried to protect the installation

Security police chasing after people that joined in the action and tried to protect the installation

ZIMMER FREI, 2002

Installation project and public space intervention, part of the international exhibition of political art Politik-um / New Angagement, Gallery and courtyard of Prague Castle, May 2002

Zimmer Frei was an installation exploring some aspects of post war deportation of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia and the enormous controversy and emotional charge these historical events retain into the present. In the gallery, Pode Bal installed photographs and information about devastated buildings from the border town Liberec that had been confiscated from the Suddetten Germans and that were owned by the Czech State. The same photos and information were printed on rubber baloons over a meter in diameter. These baloons were to be freely installed in the courtyard of the Prague Castle. Part of the installation in the courtyard was a large scale banner reading Zimmer Frei. Pode Bal’s project caused the Political Department of the Administration of Prague Castle to ban all exterior installations of the exhibition at the last moment. Pode Bal decided to carry out the installation regardless. The works were violently destroyed by the Czech Police shortly after its installation.