Opening of David Cerný’s BABIES Sculpture in Lviv On 15 July at 12:00, the opening of BABIES, a sculpture by world-renowned Czech artist David Cerny, will take place outside Zenyk Art Gallery (ZAG) at 7 Shota Rustaveli Street, Lviv. One of the artist’s most iconic works will now become a temporary part of Lviv’s public space.
The sculpture BABIES (2025) is cast in bronze. The original cast of the work was produced in 1992. Standing 3.5 metres high and weighing over one tonne, this monumental sculpture is being presented in Ukraine for the first time as part of the new exhibition project “OURS” at Zenyk Art Gallery.
The presentation of the sculpture has been made possible with the support of the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, and the Consul General of the Czech Republic in Lviv, Jiří Borkovec. BABIES is one of David Cerný’s best-known series. These giant infant figures have become an internationally recognised symbol of the artist’s work. The most famous installation is located on Prague’s Zizkov Television Tower, where the babies with their distinctive barcode-like faces have remained one of the Czech Republic’s most recognisable contemporary art landmarks for many years.
David Cerný is one of the Czech Republic’s most prominent contemporary sculptors—an artist who has transformed public space into a platform for open social dialogue. Born in Prague in 1967 and educated at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, he developed a distinctive artistic language that combines satire, political commentary and sharp social criticism.
Cerný first gained international recognition in 1991, when he painted a Soviet tank memorial in Prague bright pink. The intervention became one of the most influential artistic statements of post-communist Europe. Although briefly arrested for the action, the work established his reputation as an artist unafraid to challenge political symbols, historical memory and systems of power.
Since then, David Cerný has consistently explored themes of freedom, identity, social stereotypes and collective memory. His works often provoke controversy, yet it is precisely this ability to ask difficult questions that has made him one of Europe’s most influential contemporary sculptors.
Speaking about his BABIES, the artist once remarked: “Babies are rather strange creatures. They don’t know the rules. So they can kill someone.” This characteristically ironic statement encapsulates one of the central themes of Černý’s practice—the tension between innocence and responsibility, freedom and social rules, and human nature versus the systems that seek to control it.
The unveiling of BABIES will be more than a landmark cultural event for Lviv. It also symbolises the cultural dialogue between Ukraine and the Czech Republic. For the first time, Ukrainian audiences will have the opportunity to experience one of David Cerný’s most celebrated works in the city’s public space and discover the work of an artist who has helped shape the development of contemporary European public art for more than three decades.
Opening: 15 July 2026, 12:00
Location: Outside Zenyk Art Gallery (ZAG), 7 Shota Rustaveli Street, Lviv, Ukraine