Lifeboats Johannes Pfeiffer

Fluorescent, delicate, light: the five boats, designed by the visual artist Johannes Pfeiffer, have found their destination on the banks of the Vltava River where it runs towards the city centre of Prague.

The old wall of the dock they are fixed on, thus becomes a boathouse for these little boats, which seem to be waiting for anybody who is in need of them.

The title of the work itself, Lifeboats, suggests rescue vessels, small sloops that are used for rescuing people. But approaching them one makes a bitter discovery: the ships are leaking. The material they are made of is a metal net and therefore not impenetrable. The boats which at closer look seem more like fragile leaves than solid vessels can´t transport anybody, can´t rescue anybody as water comes in.

This work of art is a symbol of the difficult period which has taken humankind unprepared, in which no lifeboat seems safe enough to rescue all.

But although the installation radiates uncertainty, the artist, conveys the awareness that there is still hope. And then the little boats change dimensions for the third time and become burning torches. Thanks to their fluorescent colour which at night makes them visible also from far away they change into beacons of hope, which give comfort by signalising the existence of a new accessible way.  

Giulia Cordò

"The artwork Lifeboats is installed with financial support of the Czech-German Fund for the Future."