Carwash 

A design for a fountain aims to inject, at least in stylized form, a piece of nature – especially the woods surrounding the town – into the town square. A parallel line of car brushes and pines concurrently refers to the past, when four trees once stood at the same spot. The stylized appearance of the carwash would not only be decorative, but also functional and beneficial for residents of the town – and thus it would also be beneficial for the town’s elected officials who will decide on the final design. Nor is the low cost a trivial matter, as ideally the cost would be borne by the future operator of the facility. Every driver has driven through a carwash at least once in an effort to turn their muddy Škoda Favorit into the shiny little darling shown on billboards. Smooth, long brushes lick the windshield like lianas in the jungle, followed by torrential tropical downpours, finishing with a tempest that dries every last drop of water off the body. Wealthier drivers may occasionally get hot wax with steam. The metaphor of the cleansing process is also no trivial matter, again particularly in relation to the local government. During the washing process, enough spraying water will be produced to create the impression of a spectacular fountain. Why leave such a scene on the outskirts of town when there is an opportunity here to incorporate it into the urban architectural complex of the town square in a novel way? The connection to other postmodern gems, like the nearby IPB building, is obvious. Other details in the current appearance of the square would also be contextualized. The question of whether a carwash is ideologically somewhat banal has already been answered by 20th century art history. When Marcel Duchamp, the father of the avant-garde, placed upon a pedestal in a gallery a urinal he’d bought at a nearby hardware store, he outraged all of New York. Today this work is a milestone and pillar in the history of international fine art. But where Duchamp figuratively expelled waste, the proposed fountain will literally purify! We cannot rule out that in a few decades, UNESCO will include the object in its list of protected monuments. In this context, the proposed fountain turns its face to the future and screams: Slap me!