About project
The installation is inspired by Václav Havel’s essay The Power of the Powerless and its example of the greengrocer who displays an ideological slogan is his showcase – not out of conviction, but because it is easier. Havel shows that unfree systems are sustained not only by power imposed from above, but also by countless small acts of conformity and silence.
Light panels carrying statements that reflect passivity and the desire to “keep a low profile” are dispersed throughout the space. Visitors are free to move among them, becoming part of a system presented not as a distant structure of power, but as a network of everyday decisions in which we all participate. The cold white light evokes institutions, offices and places where people often behave according to what is expected of them.
However, the panels gradually lose their synchronisation. Empty spaces begin to appear, and the collective illusion starts to crumble. In the end, only a single panel remains: “It only takes one.” Through this example, Havel shows that change does not always begin with grand gestures. Sometimes it is enough to stop pretending and take responsibility for our own actions.
The work was created in collaboration with the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP) and the civic initiative Díky, že můžem, as part of Signal Festival’s long-term commitment to supporting emerging artists. Karolína Schulzová’s project was selected for the festival during the Interactive Media Studio’s end-of-semester presentations in the winter semester of 2025, when students explored the theme of Václav Havel’s uncelebrated 90th birthday. Havel’s ideas and vision continue to challenge every generation, perhaps most urgently at moments when the world seems to lose its sense of direction. At a time when geopolitical orders are being redrawn and institutions once taken for granted are being shaken, his work remains a place to which we can return.
