Hermitage presents ‘Soft Monument’ in Trenčín

The Brussels-based architecture office Hermitage took part in Sensitive about Brutalism, a project organised as part of Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture in Slovakia. Through exhibitions, workshops and in situ interventions, the programme invites a renewed perspective on Brutalist architecture while exploring the preservation, transformation and future of this heritage.

Selected as one of ten artists and architecture offices invited to contribute, Hermitage created Soft Monument, a 1:1-scale installation that deliberately contrasts with the monumentality and materiality generally associated with Brutalism.

Soft Monument: another form of monumentality

In contrast to the permanence and mass of concrete architecture, Hermitage conceived an inflatable, mobile, fragile and ephemeral monument. Horizontal and free from any predetermined meaning, Soft Monument is defined above all by its capacity to be inhabited and appropriated by the public.

The installation thus questions the role of the monument within urban and landscape spaces. Rather than designing an object to be contemplated from a distance, the office proposes a structure whose uses and meaning evolve through interaction with those who occupy it.

Presented directly in Trenčín’s public space, the installation allowed Hermitage to confront these ideas with actual use and test its principles at full scale. The way local residents appropriated the installation, together with the enthusiasm expressed by the public and local stakeholders, extended the project beyond its experimental dimension.