FIERY
The architecture students at The Cooper Union have constructed John Heyduk’s Jan Palach Memorial on the ground right outside their classrooms. The work, conceived in 1971, is a pair of ten-foot cubes capped with forests of ten-foot spikes. The House of the Suicide has a dull grey finish and spikes that tilt outwards, as if in flames. The House of the Mother of the Suicide has a black finish and spikes that stand up straight, as if in alarm. Both are hollow, shed-like structures, framed with wood 2X4’s, and have small doors at ground level so that crouching adults can enter and exit. The Houses stand about twelve feet apart on the paved plaza, slightly askew, just like the Twin Towers.
Heyduk designed the Memorial in response to the 1968 death of Jan Palach, a Czech student who lit himself on fire in front of the National Museum in Prague to protest the Soviet occupation. In a letter written beforehand, Palach explained that he wanted his action to draw attention to the struggles for free speech and against Soviet propaganda. Today, in a culture with protected free speech, Heyduk’s work has special relevance. Government misinformation is used to bolster policy, and marginal voices are continually discredited.
But can architecture carry political protest?
For someone who doesn’t understand Heyduk’s intentions, or Eastern Europe politics, the Houses are still powerful icons. Their architecture communicates political anxiety in an almost telegraphic way. These are shelters without visible entrances and windows. They stand isolated from one another. And their profiles are charged with emotion: fear, shock, horror.
Memorial is an exemplary modest urban intervention. With footprints no larger than newsstands, the Houses have a strong sculptural presence; no one walking through Cooper Square can miss them. These unassuming structures don’t posses the gravitas of important public sculpture or proper architecture. They have a fresh unfussy finish, with pronounced plywood seams and steel bolts. They sit directly on the paving, without a pedestal or foundation, and feel as if they could be blown away by a storm. Some people walk between them without stopping, some step back to photograph them, and others approach them slowly to investigate further. The Houses are vivid public characters, crafted from nothing more than plywood and paint, and a powerful idea.