A new exhibition in CAMP takes a look at the city through the "eyes" of plants and animals. How do they see the pavements, cracks in plaster, station platforms or street lamps? How do they use the environment that people have built for themselves? How many "inhabitants" does Prague actually have? These questions and others are answered by the exhibition prepared by CAMP in cooperation with the creators of the documentary film and book Wild Prague. The exhibition features a number of interactive elements, including virtual reality. The atrium has undergone a drastic change and become an apocalyptic jungle. How will this urban garden be transformed further during the exhibition?
Planet Prague takes an entertaining approach to presenting facts that many visitors may find surprising. For example, a tropical climate forms around utility tunnels and metro vents, which is why the people of Prague may encounter palm trees at Vyšehrad. There are estimated to be over five million rats living in Prague's sewers, many times more than humans. Hedgehogs and other animals chew cigarette butts and smear them over their bodies, as nicotine works as a repellent against fleas, ticks and other parasites. Birds in the capital can be counted very accurately - there are 248 species of birds in total, with 139 of them nesting in Prague. That amounts to around two-thirds of all species found in the Czech Republic.
"We often hear about animal species that, as a result of human activity, are driven to the brink of extinction or forced to change their established ways of life. The exhibition at CAMP shows that humans and nature do not always have to be in conflict and that it is possible to design a city that offers natural habitats for animals. Therefore, we must take biodiversity into account when planning future developments. This can make the modern city even richer than the current suburban landscape,"
says Petr Hlaváček, deputy mayor for territorial development.
The exhibition presents the city’s natural diversity through a panoramic projection, a window as it were onto selected Prague "biotopes" - from the Prague steppe through the urban jungle and the pond in the park to an ordinary pavement and a summer night on Petřín. Visitors to the exhibition become field researchers and, through interaction with the projection, discover the hidden life of Prague's nature through unique film footage.
What would Prague be like if all the people suddenly disappeared from the city? This question is answered by a virtual reality installation - fish breed in the flooded metro, a dense oak forest thrives in the centre, with herds of wild boar roaming among the ruined buildings. Prague may look like this in a hundred years’ time.
"As part of the exhibition, which we are symbolically opening on the first day of spring, we decided to transform CAMP’s atrium from a neatly arranged relaxation area into a wild open-air laboratory. In a small urban jungle, several plant communities will compete for living space during the six months of the exhibition,"
says Ondřej Boháč, Director of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development.
Reliable guides through the "jungle" of the big city are expert consultants, without whom the exhibition could not have come into being. The exhibition shows everything involved in their profession and fieldwork - tools, photographs, sketches, illustrations, notes and notebooks, as well as finds brought back from their expeditions into urban nature. And so, visitors to CAMP can see exhibits such as botanist Jan Albert Šturma's sleeping bag, in which he spends his nights in the bushes along the roadside. They can also explore a model of an anthill, which documentary filmmaker Jan Hošek uses to get a glimpse into the life of ants at home. Or take a look at zoologist Ondřej Sedláček's entomological net, as even in the 21st century it’s simply impossible to catch insects without a net.
"As always, the exhibition also includes an accompanying programme for children and adults. It focuses on topics such as blue-green infrastructure and ways to counteract climate change, and we’ll also be showing examples of projects that that foster better coexistence between people and nature,"
summarises Štěpán Bärtl, CAMP manager.
Materials from the documentary film Wild Prague (directed by Jan Hošek, produced by Radim Procházka, Kuli Film, 2022) and the popular educational book Planeta Praha (Wild Prague), published in 2022 by Jana Kostelecká's publishing company jakost, were used to prepare the exhibition.
In this context, the exhibition presents the work of experts from the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Prague), the Prague City Hall Department of Environmental Protection and other relevant institutions.
The exhibition is on display from 21 March to 1 September.
