year: 2024
place: Hradec Kralove
collaboration: UMPRUM, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
concept,script and direction: Savka Marenić
costumes: Savka Marenić
performer: Nikola Šmeralová
sound design: Jonáš Balcar
photos: Anna Hubená, Savka Marenić
The performance was part of the student project called Radio Křoví realized in Hradec Králové. The fictive story and author’s performance called The Superheroine from the Palm Garden revived the building designed by famous Czech modern architect Jan Kotěra and its surrounding park through guerrilla gardening. The performance and accompanying audio-story gradually narrated the forgotten stories of the Palm Garden building, which was originally a multifunctional hall with a cinema and palm trees—a symbol of the cultural life of Hradec Králové and gathering place for its residents. After privatization, the building transformed into a casino, where greenery and cultural activities were replaced by gold-plated decorations, gambling, and cold lights.
The narrator of the story is the sculpture on the building’s facade — the superheroine Gardener. Her unique superpower lies in caring for plants and the ability to hear them. Through this, she offers a new perspective on traditional superhero abilities: instead of fighting and destruction, she uses her powers to protect and nurture greenery, emphasizing the importance of ecological aspects of gardening and the care for urban green spaces.
photos, copyright to ©Anna Hubená