Places of Act 2017
Places of Act
a site-specific project at the Karlín Barracks
Dear festival visitors,
Welcome to the Karlín Barracks! The main program in this festival space is the exhibition AMIWHATIAMTHINKINGABOUT?, curated by artist and head of the New Media studio at the Academy of Fine Arts Tomáš Svoboda and art historian and curator of the Moravian Gallery Ondřej Chrobák. Their unusual architectural intervention into the barracks presents the exhibited works from something of a distance, with both the viewer’s movement and angle of view determined in advance. On the one hand, visitors must come to terms with the barracks’ labyrinthine nature on their own, but on the other they are forced to approach the works in the way the curators intended. An integral part of the exhibition is the Cinema of Transgression for people with a love for humor, hyperbole and low-budget Super8 or VHS.
The other rooms in the barracks will present works by dozens of performers who have spent the past several weeks putting together brand-new performances, including seven premieres. Their performances explore a diverse range of subjects, from the complicated web of relationships in one apartment building (Vosto5) or the human body as an artifact (Spitfire Company) to the radio broadcasts of the 11:55 theater ensemble, Petr Vaněk’s turn as the course lecturer Jaromír Stromšík, a social project by the Soukup/Lhotáková duo, and a mysterious opera with music by Martin Dohnal and directed by Jan Nebeský. Other performances include the Home theater ensemble’s exploration of broken thought systems and the limits of public space in Karlín and a project by Cristina Maldonado and Philipp Schenker in which they work with students of DAMU to bring life to the gloomy cells, prison, and offices of this former army building.
Public discussions will look at what obstacles prevent the temporary use of empty and abandoned buildings or what it means for a citizen of Central and Eastern Europe to enter onto the international art scene. Prague City Gallery has organized a debate on the subject of beauty, and we have invited representatives of young Prague galleries to explore how contemporary Czech art might break through on the international scene. We have also succeeded in realizing our longtime plan to open a festival school: Under the guidance of experienced instructors, a group of artists and organizers from all over the country will come together to share their stories: cultural organizers from Opava, Luhačovice, Mlázovy, Krásný Dvůr, Týn nad Vltavou and Tábor, among other places.
We spent this past summer putting together a book on art in the public space. Not only does the book capture the “memory of the place” over the centuries but more importantly it shows all the art projects exhibited at the ProLuka Gallery in Vršovice over the course of its existence.
Once again, the festival has created a special place for children. In collaboration with artists Petra Pětiletá, Eva Jiřička and Kakalík, the Do You Have a Knack for Art? organization has prepared an art installation for children and adults, and we are looking forward to welcoming hundreds of students to our exhibits and thus introducing them to the world of contemporary art. Also on the program are walking tours: come and explore the happening side of Karlín with Radovan Lipus, go mushrooming in empty buildings with Ondřej Cihlář, or let VI PER Gallery show you interior courtyards otherwise closed to the public.
Adam Gebrian has let himself be inspired by the question of AMIWHATIAMTHINKINGABOUT? and so he asks: Am I the person that others see in me? Do I have the chance to understand, at least for a moment, what my role here is? Do I question the meaning of what I am doing and what I am thinking about?
If you have ever considered similar questions and are curious to hear some answers, then this year’s Places of Act is the place for you…
Denisa Václavová
AMIWHATIAMTHINKINGABOUT?
exhibition for Karlín Barracks
Curators: Tomáš Svoboda and Ondřej Chrobák
Artists: Dalibor Knapp, Jan Boháč, Anna Ročňová, Patricie Fexová, Sláva Sobotovičová, Jan Šerých, Daniel Vlček, Hynek Alt, Richard Wiesner, Jan Haubelt, Josef Bolf, Jiří Thýn, Jaro Varga, Vojtěch Novák, Barbora Dayef, Daniel Pitín, Jakub Hošek, Anežka Hošková, Nik Timková, Johana Pošová, Barbora Fastrová, Lucie Rosenfeldová, Matouš Lipus, Kristina Láníková, Jan Nálevka, Radek Pilař, Vincenc Vingler, Jana Vojnárová, Marián Palla, Václav Stratil, Adéla Babanová
Film screenings:
Cinema of Trangression selected by Petr Šprincl
Body, Beat & Soul selected by Radky Weiserové
Event Horizon by Janek Rous
Czech theatre premiere
7. 10. – 17:30 p.m., 8. 10. – 16:30 p.m., 9. 10. – 17:30 p.m. + 21:30 p.m.
Divadlo Vosto5: Condominium association
The new author production under the direction of Jiří Havelka.
Dramatic form built on plan view of classical meeting of condominium association.
8. 10. – 18:30 p.m, 10. 10. – 19:00 p.m
Genet – Bridel – König – Dohnal: Diary of a Thief
A mystical one-man opera based on the writings of Jean Genet and Fridrich Bridelius, performed by Miloslav König with music by Martin Dohnal. Directed by Jan Nebeský.
8. + 10. + 13. 10. – 20:00 p.m.
Petr Vaněk: An Introduction to Computers – Requalification Course, Prague 9 Municipal Offices
A monodrama about a class led by instructor Jaromír Stromšík.
12. + 13. 10. – 18:00 p.m.
Divadlo Home: THE EnTIEtled
Site-specific Intercession in Karlin streets. Jakub Čermák, Roman Horák, Howard Lotker, Pasi Mäkelä, Cristina Maldonado, Philipp Schenker, Dragan Stojčevski, Sodja Zupanc-Lotker.
13. 10. – 19:00 p.m.
Lhotáková & Soukup company: Roman Radkovič Collective
In their choreographic works, choreographer and dancer Kristýna Lhotáková and her partner Ladislav Soukup explore social aspects of life.
8. 10. – 15:30 p.m.
A dance tour of the world
This year’s children’s dance-theater workshop at the Capuchin monastery in Mnichovo Hradiště produced a unique “ethnomuseum.” The exhibits (i.e., the children) were returned to their parents in one piece! The exhibition is presented by leading Czech scientists Ivana Hessová, Andrea Marečková, and Anežka Hessová.
7. + 8. + 9. + 10. + 11. 10. – 19:00 p.m., 12. 10. – 18:00 p.m., 13.10. – 20:00 p.m., 14.10. – 18:00 p.m.
A radio journey by the 11:55 Radio 23:55
What happens when we cross certain boundaries? What does the barracks’ past reveal and what does it hide? Join us on a dangerous mission over the course of the festival!
This radio broadcast by the 11:55 ensemble engages in an experiment in which a group of reporters is sent back in time to the Karlín Barracks of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Every day during the festival, they will present original reports and anything they can, signal permitting: special reports, games, music, and interviews.
12. 10. – 20:00 p.m., 13. 10. 18:00 p.m. + 20:00 p.m.,14. 10. – 18:00 p.m.
Spitfire Company: Fragments #2
In Fragments #2, we consider the notion of installing a human body like a work of art that, when it is transformed in time, offers us a message. The body interprets the painting, and the painting interprets the body in an infinite back-and-forth.
10. + 11. + 14. 10. – 19:30 p.m.
Philipp Schenker: Overruled
Around the world, barracks have looked the same and functioned in the same manner for centuries. They are guided by strict rules, their hierarchy determines how people communicate, and you have to always be prepared for the worst.
6. + 7. + 8. + 12. + 13. + 14. 10. 18 – 20 p.m.
Cristina Maldonado/DAMU: The mirror will make our living room look bigger or The accuracy of displacement
Videoistalation and performance
It looks like you are in the right place at the wrong time or at the right place but not at the right time or in a kind of out-of-place non-site-specific project.
A guided tour
Guided tour with Radovan Lipus
Karlín is IN! About the buzz in Karlín, the Negrelli Viaduct and Karlín Square.
A guided tour with the “Prázdné domy” civic association
Invalidovna, Mazutka, and endangered industrial buildings
A walking tour with Ondřej Cihlář
Cottage life in the barracks
A walking tour with Dorota Kluská
Through the main courtyard and building of the Karlín Barracks.
A walking tour with VI PER Gallery
The courtyards of Karlín (Vítkova Street)
A guided tour with Kateřina Racková
Industrial Karlín
A walking tour with Pavel Karous
Aliens and Herons in Karlín
Discussion
Private galleries and working with artists in the Czech Republic
Katharine Kastner, Krištof Kintera, Jiří Kovanda, David Korecký, Eva Ceska, Jiří Vendl, Jan Skřivánek, Lucie Drdová
Prázdné Domy and empty buildings
Participants: Nisan Jazairi (Iniciativa pro Invalidovnu), Matěj Velek (Kasárna Karlín), David Skála (Containall)
Beauty and Art
Marie Tučková, Sandra Baborovská, Petr Dub, Michal Novotný, Petr Fischer, Pavla Sceranková, Milena Dopitová
Learning from documenta 14
Tereza Stejskalová, Irena Haiduk, Michal Novotný, Pierre Bal Blank, Jan Zálešák
Am I the person I would like to be?
Adam Gebrian, Kateřina Šedá, Petr Babák, Krištof Kintera
Other action
Book release party – ProLuka Under the Vršovice Sky
11.10 – 20:00
5th annual Věra Jirousová Award ceremony
+ Magazine anniversary celebration: Art+Antiques, Fotograf and Sešit pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny
13.10 – 19:45
Concerts:
12. 10. – 20:00 — Kieslowski
14. 10. – 20:00 — Zatrestband
For child
Do You Have a Knack for Art?
Besides interactive installations for children and adults made in collaboration with artists Petra Pětiletá, Eva Jiřičká and Kakalík, Do You Have a Knack for Art? is also organizing various workshops in relation to the exhibition held as part of 4+4 Days in Motion. One novelty this year is a site-specific project, created by the winners of last year’s Do You Have a Knack for Art? contest, Dorothea and Johana Hofmeisterová, in collaboration with Anna Vohralíková. Come and find inspiration for yourself and your children!
for schools / families and public
