As a follow-up to last year's successful outdoor exhibition on the banks of the Vltava River, the Foundation and Center for Contemporary Art (FCCA) has launched another head-turning display along the Art Wall of Letná hill. The first of four projects to adorn the wall this year, Martin Zet's "Fate of the Nation — Sculptor Otakar Svec," features six photographs of sculptural portraits by the late artist.

Svec has a notorious history on the site. In the late 1940s, he unexpectedly won the competition to design the massive Stalin monument that once towered over Prague residents from atop the hill. Svec had entered the contest hoping to win a lesser prize that would provide him with a monetary award. His ill-fated choice to enter served as a "terrible turning point, an unlucky crossroads which [determined] his fate," says Zet, a sculptor who also works in photography, graphics, literature and performance pieces.

At a height of 50 meters (165 feet), the 14,000-metric-ton (15,400 short tons) granite Stalin memorial was an ominous presence on the bluff overlooking the heart of Old Town. It took 500 days and approximately 600 men and women laboring around the clock to complete for its unveiling on May Day in 1955.

There are a number of dark legends tied to the memorial, the most notable being Svec's suicide days before its unveiling. His feelings of guilt stemming from his participation in the glorification of the despot were exacerbated by his wife's suicide three years previously and the untimely death of the man who posed for the memorial, a random electrician that Svec knew from Barrandov Studios. The electrician became an alcoholic, apparently after being unable to shake the moniker "Stalin," and died within three years.

In 1962, then-First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev ordered the memorial destroyed. But that proved difficult to do. The massive statue was too heavy to move, and four weeks of dynamite explosions were necessary to blow it apart. Legend holds that the first explosion blew the tyrant's head clear off before it plummeted into the river below. The driver who finally paraded the remains of the monument through Old Town to the cheering masses also came to an untimely end, approximately seven months after his symbolic ride.

Asking why

Viewed from a distance, the figures currently on display may not appear especially provocative. But upon closer inspection, the irony of displaying works by the man who designed the largest statue ever constructed in honor of Josef Stalin begins to take shape.

A student of J.V. Myslbek and J. Stursa at the Academy of Arts in Prague, Svec later taught at the academy and was prolific in his rendering of sports subjects and commissioned figures. The sophisticated pieces portrayed in the photographs at Letná are characteristic of his figurative work, and representative of the cultured sophistication of interwar Prague. Their subjects include historic Czechoslovak luminaries such as composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster, writer and poet Vítezslav Nezval, writer and poet Jan Neruda and composer Vítezslav Novák. These figures present a powerful contrast with the subject and severity of the once-fearsome Stalin memorial.

The Art Wall project was originally conceived by Barbara Benish, an American artist known for her efforts to establish relationships between Czech and American artists. Soon after her 1998 arrival in Prague, she was moved by archival pictures of Letná Park and the frames that once held giant propaganda posters. Inspired by the accessibility of such a space, she spotted an opportunity to encourage public debate via visual art.

"People are not accustomed to art in such a public place," explains FCCA director Ludvik Hlavácek. "They don't understand why we would address a message to the public, because we're not some official authority. They are asking why."

The financial demands of a project this size prevented the series from being fully realized until FCCA foundation Director and British artist David Walliker secured support from 3M corporation. After years of development and budget struggles, Czech artists now have a chance to show provocative work at a highly visible location.

The current display will run until May 28. Hlavácek is reluctant to reveal details of forthcoming exhibitions, but promises some future controversy with works by the Pode Bal group, Mila Breslová and the Mothers and Fathers group of four artists.

For now, the Svec exhibit is a reminder of the historic role of Czechoslovak artists and intellectuals who were often called upon to play the role of savior. Participants in the Art Wall project hope that Svec's tragic tale will inspire discussion of the ethical responsibilities of artists and, beyond that, individuals during tumultuous times of national crisis.