David Černý’s Baby Sculpture Installed on the Façade of Šumperk’s MICHELIN-Key Hotel Perk

On June 5, 2026, Šumperk gained a unique new artistic landmark. The façade of Hotel Perk is now home to the iconic Baby sculpture by renowned Czech artist David Černý, marking an unprecedented installation of its kind in Moravia.

Baby—a giant crawling infant attached to a building façade—is one of David Černý’s most recognizable works. The sculptures are intentionally unsettling: instead of a face, they feature a relief resembling a barcode. The contrast between apparent innocence and anonymity is deliberate. Černý describes the work as a metaphor for a world in which human identity is gradually disappearing under the pressure of technology and consumerism.

The appearance of one of the Baby sculptures in Šumperk is no coincidence. Hotel Perk recently became part of the Trigema Group, which has maintained a long-standing collaboration with David Černý, among others through the architectural studio Black n' Arch. The installation therefore builds on a long-term professional relationship between the investor and the artist. It was initiated by the hotel’s new owner and Chairman of the Board of Trigema, Marcel Soural, who carried out the project as a private initiative.

“Baby, known among other places from its installation on Prague’s Žižkov Television Tower, has now become part of our hotel’s façade. This is a truly unique artistic achievement within Moravia and a significant enhancement of the city’s public space,” said Soural, a native of Šumperk who is symbolically returning to his hometown through efforts to support the development of its public realm.

Hotel Perk, a functionalist building distinguished with One MICHELIN Key and featuring a design-led renovation by Lucie Koldová, has thus gained another layer to its story. Alongside its architecture inspired by the functionalist style of the 1930s and a program rich in activities, the hotel now hosts a work of art that invites visitors to stop and reflect.

Indeed, shortly after its installation, Baby sparked lively discussion among both Šumperk residents and visitors, generating a wide range of reactions—from enthusiasm and admiration to surprise and debate. The ability to provoke conversation is, after all, one of the defining characteristics of David Černý’s artistic work.