Festival 2024
4 + 4 Days in Motion is set to spotlight Hybernská 2 and other cultural venues across Prague
The 4 + 4 Days in Motion international festival of contemporary art, which will take place in Prague from October 4th to 13th, traditionally blends theatre and visual arts. It will feature five international and seven Czech theatre premieres alongside two exhibitions curated by Kristýna Hájková and Radek Wohlmuth. The exhibition project Places of Acts, with the theme of INNER, refers to the history of the venue at Hybernská 2. During the previous regime, it fell under the jurisdiction of the National Security Corps for more than half a century. Other festival sites will include the Alfred ve Dvoře theatre, ARCHA+, and the Vršovice cultural hub Vzlet.
“The term ‘inner self’ encompasses the rich inner world of an individual, encompassing their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and subjective experiences. In contrast, the interior serves as a politically constructed instrument of power, inherently involving the suppression of undesirable individuals or groups. This clashing shift in meaning serves as the central theme of the exhibition project,” says curator Radek Wohlmuth. Visitors will encounter works across the spectrum of art media. Traditional art forms like painting, drawing, and sculpture will be showcased alongside contemporary expressions such as street art, graffiti, installations, and projections. The common denominator of the exhibitions and the whole festival is site-specific. In their creative process, artists respond directly to the place and environment in which they exhibit. Visitors to Hybernská 2 will see the work of Patrik Adamec, Radka Bodzewicz, Epos 257, Ondřeje Filípek, Veronika Gabrielová, Klaudia Hlavatá, Jakub Hubálek, Jakub Janovský, Magdalena Rajchlová, Tereza Šrámková, Timo, Toy_Box, and Vladimir 518.
Curator Kristýna Hájková’s exhibition project also opens a dialogue between the past and the present. “The artists’ work explores how our national history shapes who we are. The exhibition helps us understand a specific place and its past while showing how different artists think about collective memory.” Presenting their works are Václav Mach, Jaroslav Málik, Nela Maruškevičová, Adéla Matasová, Tereza Melková, Miloš Michálek, Vítězslav Plavec, Jan Poš, Anna Šimralová, Tereza Štětinová, Patrik Vanický, Robert Vlasák and Jan Krtička, Jiří Žák.
Plces of Act focuses on the darker parts of our history, prompting us to think about how to deal with the past, healing and keeping what happened in our collective memories. The exhibitions will explore the contrast between what’s inside and what’s public, individual and systemic, personal and political, and freedom and totalitarianism. For just under two weeks, the Hybernská 2 building will be transformed into a space whose genius loci will combine the recent past with the current.
The theatre part of the festival will present seven Czech premieres and five foreign premieres. The contemporary physical theatre ensemble Burkicom will present its new production Sun, an apocalyptic sci-fi about humanity, an image of the end we want to experience. Fosilie / Jana Látalová, Marta Trpišovská, and Lea Švejdová are preparing the production Standing in Motion, a moving musical expansion into the world of funeral rituals, the tradition of weepers and mourners, in the context of history and the present. Children U is a theatrical multi-genre project supporting children’s palliative care performed by the Tantehorse ensemble seeking an artistic take on the theme of hope for a good life. VOSTO5 will unravel the biggest mystery in radio broadcasting. The Tragedy of Liblice is an amplified mystery-crime that combines the traditional poetics of Vosto5 with a Costa-Gavras-esque spy thriller and a subdued TV crime drama. The independent dance platform Temporary Collective will present a Czech version of their sound performance SILENT at Republic Square. You’ll also meet the unconventional theatre company UJETO, which comprises actors with mental disabilities. The final premiere of the program – in fact, a work in progress – comes from the independent art group 8lidi.
Among the international artists, Czech audiences will be introduced to Antoine Defoort from France. According to the newspaper Libération, the play Elles vivent (They Live) is the only theatrical performance about politics that viewers should go see now. Mexican Cristina Maldonado invites you to immerse yourself in her work Infinite Game, created from the stories and experiences of people from different countries worldwide. Around a shared table, she invites meditation on everyday practices related to memory, permanence, continuity, and material relations between the living and the dead. Collective memory is the theme of Kono atari no dokoka by French choreographer Martine Pisani and Japanese-Austrian performer Michikazu Matsune, which had its world premiere last year at the Avignon Festival. Norwegian multi-arts collective VERDENSTEATRET will bring an extended film experience, concert, and performance, while Belgian ensemble Voetvolk will amaze with the explosive, action-packed painting performance WASCO!, which reveals what freedom would look like if it had a shape from the perspective of children and adolescents.
From October 4-13, 2024, 4 + 4 Days in Motion will bring its vibrant energy to cultural spaces across Prague, including not just Hybernská 2 but also Vzlet in Vršovice, ARCHA+, and the Alfred ve dvoře theatre. The programme will be continuously updated on the festival website, and tickets for individual events will be available for purchase on GoOut.
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ABOUT THE FESTIVAL | 4 + 4 DAYS IN MOTION | 4. –13. 10. 2024
Since 1996, the goal of the 4+4 Days in Motion festival has been to present contemporary innovative artistic projects. Every year, around 20 groups from all over the world participate. The festival’s specific nature lies primarily in revitalizing Prague architecture through theatre and the presentation of international projects that the Four Days association co-produces.
Festival projects encompass all types of contemporary art (theatre, dance, music, visual art, film, video art). Every year, the festival has a specific theme—its leitmotiv. This year’s theme is INSIDE. The twenty-ninth edition of the festival will take place from October 4th to 13th in the Hybernská 2 building in Prague 1, Vzlet in Vršovice, the Alfred ve Dvoře Theatre, and ARCHA+.
WEB| www.ctyridny.cz
FACEBOOK| www.facebook.com/festival4dny
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Media contact
Michaela Sikorová, festival.ctyridny@gmail.com, 776 712 858
The festival is financially supported by: The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague, the Czech Culture Fund, Flanders State of the Art, In Situ, Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
Media Partners: Radio 1, Czech Radio – Radio Wave, ArtMap, Kino Aero, Bio Oko, Kino Světozor, Art&Antique, FlashArt, divadlo.cz
In cooperation with: Kampus Hybernská, ARCHA+, Vzlet, Alfred ve dvoře, StageLab, WD Lux, Tajpej Design, AZ Translations, FOGI design
