Merry Crisis

2024, Public space installation, Christmas lights, 14 x 7 m

Authors: Josef Frühauf, Dušan Chmeliar, Lukáš Procházka 

Christmas time is often shown as a carefree season of joy, filled with gift shopping and year-end celebrations. Constant advertising pressure—whether through social media or flashy billboards in public spaces—makes us forget about personal and societal problems, briefly dazing us before we’re plunged back into the reality of another year.

The overexposed topics of the environmental crisis, along with other local and personal issues, hit hard as the new year begins, like a sobering wake-up call. The mood of society and the state of public spaces can easily be compared to the streets and overflowing waste collection points on every corner. The hangover from the holidays blends seamlessly with traffic jams caused by yet another climate protest blocking the roads—a recurring part of the daily commute.

The flickering neon sign reading Merry Crisis doesn’t push us to start making changes. It doesn’t act as a call to resistance or inspire activism. Instead, as we sit in traffic jams near places like Fuchs2, it compels us to individually experience the ongoing end of the world, quietly and passively.

Photos by Libor Galia