Where is the centre of Palmovka? Is it the flea market by the tram stop? The crossroads above the metro, that tests the limits of mutual tolerance of trams, pedestrians, and cars alike? And what is it that makes a place a centre?

At the Palm is a fictional name for the public space in front of the Libeň Synagogue, which will become a temporary square throughout the duration of the artistic residency. The main focus of the residency is to take a snapshot of a place in the moment of change, before it becomes a chapter in the metropolitan plan or a clever advertising tagline for a new borough. Combining field research, interviews with locals, performative situations, and artistic collaborations Savka Marenić creates a place atlas of the contemporary iteration of the space. The project encompasses the physical space, as well as its invisible ties, memories, experiences, and vibes that co-create it.

Savka Marenić is an architect and an artist from Montenegro, living and working in Prague. Her practice connects fine art and architecture in site-specific performative interventions, writing, pedagogy, and participative actions in public and in dedicated art spaces. She combines textile installations with storytelling and performance based on collective listening, creating space for a shared experience. Currently she is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM). Her research focuses on spatial storytelling as a tool for facilitating collective modes of directing attention and participation, as well as new modes of imagining, narrating and interpreting the city. She is continuously developing a critical spatial pedagogy, which uses performative and participative approaches to disrupt the conventional approaches to city administration, planning, and interpretation, thus opening up alternative means of kinship with places, and in collaborative practices and dialogue.

She previously collaborated with art and academic institutions in Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and the United States. Selected projects took place in collaboration with: Jindřich Chalupecký Society, City Surfer Office, the Czech Centre in New York, Umění pro město, Entrance Gallery, MeetFactory, galerie etc., JAM a Terén (pole performativního umění). She’s the author of the publication Šepoty údolí published at UMPRUM in 2026. She delivered lectures and talks at the Arts and Theatre Institute (IDU), Umění pro město, Prague City Gallery (GHMP) and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU).

Residency Savka Marenić | 20. 8.–31. 8. 2026
Opening of the project U Palmy | 1.–12. 9. 2026

Curator: Zuzana Šklíbová

Location: public space in front of Libenska synagogue