365 red overalls are exhibited at the Lučenec synagogue until the end of the summer. (source: Peter Dlhopolec)
Hundreds of red overalls in a kneeling position and the sound of inhaling and exhaling at the Lučenec synagogue urge visitors to answer one question: Why do people fall to their knees?
“Life is an everyday struggle. For some it may be easier than for others,” the artist Peter Kollár, 44, said about his latest installation to The Slovak Spectator over the phone. “I want us to be aware of it every day.”
The artist discovered almost 400 overalls in a warehouse in Lučenec, central Slovakia, belonging to a bankrupt chain of grocery stores, last year. He initially wanted to buy only convection ovens, since he also works as a chef, but ended up obtaining the overalls as well.
“I knew right away that I could create something out of them,” he said.
However, it was only after Lukus, a municipal organisation that manages the renovated synagogue and an ancient town hall building, approached Kollár in 2021 to create an installation for this summer that he actually began musing on the overalls. It took him a few months to come up with a vision and two weeks to turn 365 red overalls, with the help of his sons and father, into a work of art that would create the idea of people fallen on their knees.
