MIR (PEACE)
site-specific intervention in the public space, 2011
Hotel Vladimir, Ustí nad Labem, Czech Republic
Mir (Peace) is a public intervention in which Grubić modified the neon sign atop the Hotel Vladimir in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. Built in the 1980s as a tribute to the friendship between the twin cities of Ústí nad Labem and Vladimir in Russia (then part of the Soviet Union), the hotel originally displayed the full city name. Grubić altered the sign to light up only the last three letters of Vladimir, forming Mir—meaning Peace in many Slavic languages. Positioned in the city center, the sign was visible to passersby at night from various angles. This subtle intervention transformed the original political symbol into a message of peace, which Grubić considers a “precondition for well-being, common prosperity, and solidarity in economically and socially troubled times.” Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ústí nad Labem became home to many Ukrainian refugees, some of whom stayed at the Hotel Vladimir, further shaping its symbolic meaning.
