In the very heart of Brno, just a few steps from busy Masarykova Street, lies Římské náměstí, a widened part of Františkánská Street that was for years a forgotten corner of the city. The Christmas Festival of Bad Habits turns it into a calm alternative to traditional Christmas markets and rethinks our relationship with public space and with the holidays themselves.
The project was created by artist Kateřina Šedá, the architecture studio Peer Collective, the organisation Renadi and the Brno-střed district. It shifts attention away from consumer tradition towards a deeper experience of the city and of ourselves. The aim is a sober setting, free of alcohol and financial pressure, open to everyone, including people on the margins of society.
The idea came from Renadi, an organisation that has long worked to create places where disadvantaged or lonely people can also feel safe during the holidays. Kateřina Šedá linked this aim with her project The National Collection of Bad Habits and proposed the square as a path of self-reflection. Along the way, visitors name their bad habits, compare them with other people’s experiences and symbolically leave them behind in a confessional.
The architectural response is minimal but striking. Modular structures normally used to build stages form a framework, from which large white and red curtains are hung. The curtains divide the square into a network of eighteen walk-through ‘little rooms’ and create a sequence of intimate interiors in the open air.
The curtains stand for barriers that can be crossed. They create a soft architecture that lets people be alone for a moment while still remaining part of city life. In the evening, the installation becomes an open-air gallery: stories from The National Collection of Bad Habits are projected onto the fabric, and light and ambient sound create a setting between the public and the personal.
The theme of overcoming barriers also shapes the physical changes to the space. The surface of the square was levelled with fine gravel to make it step-free and accessible to all, and local residents took part in the preparations, creating a natural moment of participation even before the festival opened. Keeping alcohol off sale responds to social and psychological barriers and helps create a space that excludes no one and lets people with different life experiences meet as equals.
project: Christmas Festival of Bad Habits
location: Brno
year: 2025
status: realization
together with: Kateřina Šedá, Renadi
team: Kateřina Šedá, Georgi Dimitrov, Daniel Struhařík,
Vojtěch Heralecký, Natálie Costantino, Jakub Čevela,
Ondřej Válek, Laura Franeková, Radim Koutný,
Monika Matějkovičová, Aneta Báčová
investor: Brno-střed Municipal District
photographs: Matej Hakár, Václav Novák
video: Matej Hakár
topics: temporary installation, alternative Christmas market,
public space for everyone, soft architecture,
textile curtains, participation and social inclusion
