“We have been discussing the transfer of ownership rights from the University of West Bohemia to us for a long time. The rabbit has been a symbol of Lochotín for the past few years and we want it to stay here. Therefore, it is better if the statue is in our possession and we ourselves will take care of the statue. We agreed with the university that he would fix the rabbits before the actual transfer,” explained the deputy mayor of Jednička, Jiří Rezek, who came up with the idea.

To comply with the law, the free removal of works of art must now be approved by the city council. “I am personally very happy that the Panopticon statue can have a permanent place in public space, because it really deserves to be there. Since its installation, no one has been indifferent. People react to it, it makes them think and are interested in the message it carries,” said Josef Mištera, deputy dean of projects and development at the ZCU Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Arts.

In 2015, he headed the faculty and also attended the inauguration of the statue, created by former student Adam Trbušek.

“The statue has been repaired once. This is the second time, and the necessary administration is coming,” added Mištera.

The faculty will pay around 80,000 crowns for the repair work. In addition to repairing damaged parts, degreasing, washing and a new two-coat coating, the rabbit is also equipped with a special nano spray.

“Thanks to the application of the product, the surface is preserved, so that abrasion and damage due to external influences such as UV radiation, acid rain, frost and other atmospheric influences can be prevented,” explains Nanoultron commercial director Václav Bezdička. He added that even before the final application of nanotechnology, there will be thorough remediation of the formation of moss, cyanobacteria, algae and fungi.

The rabbit caused quite a stir from the start. Some people are bothered by the human body in their hands, others by the pink color. But at the same time, he has many fans. The community even decides through a poll whether the work will still be carried out. They chose to keep the statue.

The Panopticon will be the second work of art owned by Pilsen’s first district. The first is Andělíček, a statue taken from the Košutecký lake in 2009. Today, the original is located in the ÚMO Plzeň 1 building.

There are more than twenty works in public spaces throughout the district, most of which are owned by the city of Pilsen and the district carries out regular maintenance. This year, for example, the district restored and cleaned Lidice’s monument plaque, they warn! in the U Bazén park and the memorial to the victims of the Second World War in Náměstí Odboje in front of the Bolevecká elementary school.

Vandal painting of a rabbit statue with a swastika (November 2, 2017)