Puddles – Václav Mlynář & MONUMENT Office

Life is said to have originated in the puddle. The monumental installation Puddle works generously with basic elements such as light, water, movement, sound, and space. However, its monumentality lies not in its size, as it might seem at first glance, but rather in the pure energy of free fall, that is, in a single droplet that carries in its flight hundreds of information pieces about the many different qualities that make up our environment, our ecosystem.

Gravity holds our world together. Water is the basic life source; the vertical represents the direction of the earth’s axis, and the shadow represents the lack of light. The ordinariness of a puddle is only apparent: every drop contains the code of the universe, its composition is not random, and its velocity is measurable. And yet it can be perceived as just that – a simple drop of water.

Václav Mlynář and his team’s precise design approach meets the artistic, inefficient, and purposeless. Although he uses sophisticated materials, technologically complex solutions, and an elaborate control system, he also offers the pure joy of simplicity – the very thing that can be observed in every small puddle.

The whole visual experience is complemented by an original music track by Polina Khatsenko, who picks up the sounds of the water drops through hydrophones, deepening the whole experience.