Waiting rooms, post offices, government buildings or hospitals. Places where we usually wait – and rarely associate them with culture. The project Na počkanie – Waiting Places is changing this perception. It brings art to places where no one would expect it. In doing so, it disrupts routine, sparks curiosity and opens up new perspectives on familiar spaces.
The project, developed within the programme Trenčín – European Capital of Culture 2026, is now entering the next phase of preparations. Artistic teams are working on the first site-specific artworks directly in the field. In Trenčín, research into locations is already underway, along with conversations with institutions and international cooperation across disciplines.
Three so-called incubators are part of the preparations – working groups that connect artists with experts from various fields: urban planning, psychology, public administration or sociology. This interdisciplinary approach makes it possible to create artworks that are sensitive to specific places and their context.
One of the artworks is being created in the Trenčín hospital under the guidance of visual artist Lucia Tkáčová. The process also involves psychotherapist Annetta Mehl, art theorist and researcher Dominika Grygarová, and curator Jaro Varga, who is also the initiator of the entire project.
Other works are being created in collaboration with artist Amol K. Patil (India), who is preparing an intervention for the Trenčín City Hall, and artist Alexandra Pirici (Romania), who is working with the space near the Memorial to the Tortured on Brezina hill. The creative process also involves curators Agnieszka Kilian (Poland) and Audrey Hörmann (Germany).
In 2025, the project will be presented through a series of accompanying events. The first of these will take place on May 2, 2025, when the artwork No Shelter From The Storm by Romanian artist duo Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan will be unveiled in the City Development Centre building. This pop-up event will transform the City Hall waiting room into a temporary agora – a space for encounter, discussion and shared reflection on public space.
