The “hanging” or “suspended” man is the creation of David Cerny, the leading creator of contemporary art in Prague. His works are scattered throughout the Czech capital, and each of them arouses genuine interest.
The art object we want to tell you about is a statue 220 cm “tall,” made in the form of a man holding onto a protruding beam with one hand. The charm of this work by Cerny lies in the fact that the sculpture really hangs in the air at a considerable height.
It looks so realistic that people who do not know about this statue on Husova Street mistake the “suspended man” in the dark for a real person who has decided to commit suicide. Some scream, calling passersby for help, call the fire department and the police, while others even address the hanging figure, but it, of course, remains silent.
Residents of the former USSR often mistakenly “recognize” Lenin in the statue, but in fact it is Sigmund Freud. One of the ideas the author embedded in his work was the desire to depict the “detachment of the intelligentsia from the common people.”
This sculpture repeatedly left Prague to be exhibited at various contemporary art exhibitions. However, in 1997, the “suspended man” was finally installed in Prague and became one of the city's artistic calling cards.
