Never Smile at a Crocodile

Brno has a particularly vibrant arts scene – and a lot of crocodiles. Vibrant arts scenes are often in response to periods of suppression – and Eastern Europe has had that in spades. But not many European cities have a lot of crocs.

The strange thing about Brno’s crocodiles is that nobody really knows how it all started. The city hall has a centuries old, six metre stuffed Nile crocodile – one theory is that it was given to the city by a Middle Eastern sultan in the 11th century, one story has it brought back to the city by Moravian crusaders in the 12th Century, one story has the animal captured in a nearby river by fishermen in the 1500’s. Whatever the actual origin, the original Brno croc has multiplied. And multiplied..

So too our coffee choices have multiplied – given that there is an abundance of establishments still to visit. Our ‘regular’ cafe was closed today, but we had little difficulty finding a suitable replacement. It seems that the art of coffee is as prolific in Brno as souvenir crocs! However, gaining access to a coffee at the right temperature is rarer than a Rosewood Rembrandt – sadly, most are those crucial few degrees too cool for an Aussie palate. We love heat in the land down under.

In the spirit of a penchant for studying a Rosewood Rembrandt, we visited two of Brno’s art galleries: the Moravian Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Design. I enjoyed the Gallery of Modern Art almost as much as I enjoyed Mendel’s Museum – except the Mendel Museum has a wax figure that looks human. There was a strong feel of modernity which left us pondering meaning.

Nonetheless, there were some beautiful 20th century paintings that we would be happy to transport back to Toowoomba and we were quite captivated by a social project involving two thousand shirts of the exact same pattern.

Katerina Seva’s motivation was to utilize shirts to connect people in a huge impersonal Brno housing estate. She sent identical tops, ostensibly a gift from another estate tenant, to everyone in the complex – about a thousand people. The gift came with an invitation to the art gallery on a specific date to meet the donor. She then recorded the recipients’ reactions at this gallery. Wonderful!

The Design Museum was a great way to spend a couple of hours. Its focus was post WW2 Czech design- everything from glassware to push bikes. Porcelain was prominent, as was furniture. I once sat on a chair in the corner of a room in New York’s MOMA – it was a priceless display according to the security guard. Fortunately today I didn’t sit on a sofa, pick up a ceramic jug and pour myself a drink in a crystal goblet today – anyway the jug was empty when I picked it up, so I couldn’t.

No doubt, my artistic sensibilities will be further celebrated tonight when the good lady and I attend a musical event – a Slovakian ensemble performing Vivaldi. There will be no crocodile tears as a result … unless of course the lady takes to a hot air balloon – again.

Farley