Art in the City is a festival of contemporary art in public space which, since 2008, has been turning České Budějovice and other places in South Bohemia into an open-air gallery. Sculptures, objects and other artistic interventions appear in the streets, on the squares, in parks, by the water and out in the landscape – in the places people walk through every day.

The festival was founded in 2008 by the České Budějovice sculptor Michal Trpák, who is still its chief curator and driving force. His original idea was simple but fundamental: to bring contemporary art out of the galleries and closer to people, right where they live.

The first edition took place in České Budějovice in 2008, with work by Jakub Flejšar, Martin Rajčan, Michal Trpák and Světlana Jelenová. Their works were placed directly in the streets and public spaces of the city. That very first edition showed the principle the festival still rests on – a work of art is not an isolated object in a gallery, but something that enters a particular place and creates a new relationship between art, architecture, landscape and people.

What began as a local České Budějovice show has grown into one of the most notable Czech projects devoted to contemporary sculpture in public space. The festival started to spread beyond České Budějovice and today it connects a number of places across South Bohemia. Each edition presents dozens of Czech and international artists, whose works are created or chosen in dialogue with particular sites.

Openness is the festival’s basic principle.

Unlike a conventional gallery, you need no ticket, you do not have to check the opening hours and you do not have to be a museum-goer to come across art. It is enough to walk through the city.

Public space matters to the festival just as much as the work itself. A sculpture can change the meaning of a square, draw attention to a place we usually pass without noticing, respond to architecture or landscape, and sometimes raise questions we would not otherwise ask ourselves.

Art in the City is therefore not only an exhibition of sculptures. It is a way of looking at familiar places again, and differently.

Behind the festival stands the sculptor Michal Trpák, who has initiated and curated it from the beginning. His own work has long been devoted not only to sculpture but also to the ways contemporary art can find a natural place in public space.

It was out of the Art in the City concept that the Prague sculpture festival Sculpture Line later grew, initiated by Michal Trpák in 2015.

Today the festival is run by the association Umění ve městě, z. s. Alongside Michal Trpák, Alena Doležalová takes part in running it, looking after the production of the festival and of its exhibition projects.

Over the years the festival has grown from an intimate sculpture show into a wide-ranging project that connects contemporary art with the city, the landscape and the community. Every edition brings new artists, new works and a new theme, which sets a broader frame for thinking about the world we live in.

In almost two decades the festival has hosted dozens of notable Czech and international artists. Their work has become part of the summer face of South Bohemian towns and each year it speaks not only to regular visitors to cultural events, but to residents and passers-by as well.

You do not have to come to art. Art comes to you.

And that is how the festival lives up to its original idea – to open contemporary art to the public and to show that a city is not only a place for traffic, work and everyday life, but also for culture, dialogue, imagination and meeting one another.