18. 7.

Name

18. 7.

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Year

2011

Location

private collection

Technique

carbon fiber laminate,18 x 0,18 x 0,07 m

Description

A site-specific installation made for the interior of Unitas Fratrum – Moravian Brethren Chapel in Litomyšl (designed by Czech architect Zdeněk Fránek). The chapel that also serves as an exhibition room was meant to be a co-operation between the architect and other visual artists from the very start. For instance, Díaz’ tutor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Karel Malich, is the author of the altar. In the case of “18.7.” Díaz contemplated the relationship between an individual and his strictly personal conception of spirituality, and the expression given to it in the sacral space. Outside the chapel, he erected an object manifesting the age-old tendency of sacral architecture to reach up to the sky, not from the position of general or institutionalized faith, but a purely concrete and his very own endeavor to overcome the limits of a profane environment. Due to its numeric title, the “18. 7.” object becomes a symbolic figurative sculpture. 18 meters high, 18 cm of base diameter and 7 cm of that of the peak. In addition to the first reading of the object as pointing up and away from the earth, the numbers in its title are the date of Díaz’ birth.