the street is our gallery

A five member collective called Pimp My Pump are restoring old water pumps turning them into fun/pop/ characters.

The aim of the project is to preserve the pumps and to motivate the citizens to look around themselves and appreciate their city, the heritage and culture of the old Zagreb in Croatia. Having new things isn’t always the best solution, we can always renew the old ones and give them a purpose once again. Its possible to freshen up the space around us and give it a soul, because the city has it. 

Pimp My Pump in Zagreb

If you grew up in Zagreb, you must remember water pumps. They were a part of hanging around in neighborhoods. Chasing around parks and streets always ended beside the pumps. Kids used them to drink water, to play with them, to rinse off mud or blood off their knees, and, of course, to pour “champagne” – a handy trick, which includes a shot, and a constant water flow without holding the handle, but pumps remained a part of childhood.

Historical pumps date back to the late 19th set in households which didn’t have aqueducts. Although the city aqueduct calls them “Viktorija zdenci”, the people nicknamed them “Železni Francek” and “Železni Martin” (Iron Francek or Iron Martin), and the name is still in use today. Public pumps are one of the oldest, but also one of the most unrecognizable landmarks of the city. 

As time passed the city changed, the pumps started becoming unneeded. No one paid any attention to them, as they were dark and rusty. Once a necessary daily need couldn’t have been sent to oblivion because people ignore it. Pimp My Pump decided to give a new life to the pumps and to return them to residents everyday lives.

This is how Pimp my Pump was born, in one, not very quiet night, in the heart of Trešnjevka. A five-member crew, at their prime, without protesting started spending their time (as well as rather large sums of money), giving back souls to the old pieces of iron. They look for “Franceks” in hidden Zagreb streets, corners and yards, and attack the dead gray color with car sprays, giving them new, multicolored identities. 

Check out their page on facebook.