Twice as good as a Biennale: The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space

Biennale fever has been running rampant for the last decade, so much so that it seems that hardly a city or region in the world has escaped its infectious cloud. Prague surely wasn’t immune; their 5^th Biennale is opening as I write this. Don’t get me wrong, I love the buzz and excitement of a Biennale. It’s just that when there’s so many, and they’re literally everywhere, sometimes it gets hard to remember they’re special. A Quadrennial, on the other hand, is something quite unique, and coming just every 4 years instead of the usual 2, could it even be twice as good?

Before I forget, there’s another unique thing about the Prague Quadrennial; its focus is performance and theatre. Here you can expect artists working across the contemporary disciplines of performance, visual arts, architecture, new media, lighting and sound design, fashion, installation, costuming and photography all exhibiting alongside each other towards one common aim: expanding the encompassing art form of sceneography. Now that’s a lot of art forms! Sure to be a highlight is the International Competitive Exhibition. Theatrical presentations will be made by over 60 participating countries and regions but best of all, spectators will be able to enter, see, touch and fully immerse themselves in any other way possible in these sceneographic environments and attend live performances. With further expositions of lighting and sound, architecture, and even “extreme costume”, there’s sure to be something to suit every taste.

Events will be taking place all over the city between June 16^th and June 26th and are far too many to list here, so go on and discover more about the Prague Quadrennial on their website, and then go discover Prague through the eyes of artists.

Images courtesy of the Prague Quadrennial

In Prague your attention is needed elsewhere…

In Prague the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival is saying we’re distracted, and they’re probably right. Under the motto Your Attention is Needed Elsewhere! the festival’s goal is to show us what we’re not seeing. The topic of human rights can be painful, but it’s far worse to turn a blind eye. On a positive note the focus of the 13^th annual festival, civic activism, is one that we can easily partake in.

Keeping in mind our general sense of distraction when it comes to uncomfortable themes, festival director Hana Kulhánková attempts to bring festival-goers attention to how much time we all spend on unnecessary activities. Speaking for myself, I probably don’t need to check my e-mail one last time (okay, it’s actually more like e-mail twice and Facebook once) before leaving the house or spend an hour or two a week watching TV shows that are good for nothing but a good mind-numbing. Kulhánková’s point is that I should consider what I could be doing in just those 2 or 3 hours – and act.

The films are inspiring stories of local people who did just that. A few of the categories at the 2011 festival will be focusing on corruption, gender issues, concepts of freedom, and aging. This year’s festival will have a number of interactive events designed to start you on your way towards activism.

The film festival takes place from the 8^th to the 17^th of March. More info, schedules and times can be found here: http://www.oneworld.cz/2011/

Thanks to White Line Hotels edit the Icon Hotel in Prague for sharing this tip with us. They’ve got loads more on their website – just check out the “urban secrets” for more tips on local events and destinations.

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Categories: Prague, Culture, Events

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail

DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague

Could anything be more English than afternoon tea and cricket? If you’re willing to be less high brow about the matter, or you’ve ever been to Brighton Beach, Clacton-on-Sea, or Blackpool, maybe the concept of “nothing more English than” could be redefined in the direction of “kiss me quick” hats and rock candy bearing the words “old slapper”. It’s an England that doesn’t get exported, that sometimes I think you have to have been born and raised in the country to understand, and it’s that England that has been the focus and (still obviously loved) inspiration of photographer Martin Parr.

The extensive exhibition at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art features the documentary photographer’s work from 1983 – 2004 and includes significant thematic cycles as Last Resort, Small World, Common Sense, and Think of England. With the British middle class solidly at the center of his subject matter, humor and irony are used to address the topics of mass consumption, tourism, national stereotypes and the growing uniformity of globalization. After seeing so many of his images, maybe the question will be “could anything be more English than Martin Parr?”

While the exhibition itself is a must-see for anyone visiting Prague who’s interested in photography, and if you’ll be there on February 2^nd do not miss the opportunity to hear Parr talk about his work himself – he’ll be lecturing at 6pm. Book now!

February 10 – May 16, 2011 at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Poupětova 1, Praha 7. Opening Hours: Monday 10am – 6pm, Wednesday – Friday: 10am – 7pm, Saturday – Sunday: 10am – 6pm.

For reservations to Martin Parr’s lecture at 6pm on the 2^nd of February, email tereza@doxprague.org. The entrance fee is CZK 60.

All images copyright Martin Parr/Magnum Photos

Find yourself a space of individuality in Prague and stay at White Line Hotels edit the ICON Hotel & Lounge.

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Categories: Prague, Art, Exhibitions

Contributing writer: Melissa Frost

Kostnice Ossuary: The Bone Church

Kutna Hora/Prague

I grew up in Los Angeles. Maybe it was that proximity to Sabato Rodia’s famous Watts Towers, or just coming from a country where it’s pretty accepted that a lone eccentric might build their own monument from what’s at hand (think Stanley Marsh II’s Cadillac Ranch, where 10 Cadillacs are half-buried nose down in the Texas desert, or Leonard Knight’s colorful shrine to the message “God Is Love,” Salvation Mountain), but the idea to travel a little out of my way (even sometimes to what feels like the absolute middle of nowhere) to see the realization of one person’s, sometimes unconventional, artistic vision is something I’m usually on board with.

In the case of the Kostnice Ossuary, also known quite simply as The Bone Church, “out of your way” is a one-hour train ride from Prague’s main station, and “what was at hand” for wood carver Frantisek Rint in the late 19^th Century were the bones of some 40,000 14^th Century plague victims that had been moved from their graves to the ossuary to make room for new burials. Who knows what the Schwarzenberg family had in mind when they employed Rint to imaginatively arrange those bones, but the resulting works form a monumental Memento mori. Particularly impressive are the central chandelier, composed of at least one of every bone from the human body, and the Schwarzenberg family coat of arms remade, of course, entirely of bones. Perhaps not to everyone’s taste, but if the idea of standing in a room with 40,000 skulls doesn’t give you the creeps, leave the usual sights of Prague to everyone else for a day and jump on a train to Kutna Hora.

Zamecka 127, 284 03 Kutna Hora-Sedlec, Czech Republic. The church is located a 900-meter walk from the Kutna Hora main train station. Connections run from the Prague main station approximately every hour.

Find yourself a space of individuality in Prague and stay at the ICON Hotel & Lounge.

Prague: An Education in Graffiti

By now Banksy is practically a household name, but he’s not the only artist in his genre.  Expand your graffiti education by checking out the Metropolis exhibition at DOX, the centre for contemporary art in Prague. Metropolis is returning from a successful run at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

The Czech street artists in the exhibition display their work under the monikers Masker, Pasta, Tron, Skarf, Cryptic 257 and Point, and there’s a lot more than tags and burners to be seen. These are some seriously talented artists, bringing in a new generation of super-hybridity in art.

Each artist started by depicting the urban environment of their imagination, transforming the gallery space to fit their needs.  They started by knocking down the walls, and it only got wilder from there.  Visitors to the exhibition enter the simulated city that replaced the white cube from underneath a “bridge”.  From there the artist Point has penetrated seemingly Communist-era buildings with organic forms.  Skarf shows a video montage whose sound sets the tone throughout the city.  Cryptic 257′s graffiti vending machine replaces sugary sweets with colourful cans.  Masker, Pasta, and Tron offer even more surprises as they expose the lives of the cities fictitious inhabitants.

The exhibition runs through the end of the year.  More about Metropolis and the artists involved here: www.doxprague.org

Your eyes will be dancing after being exposed to Metropolis, so give them a break by spending a few nights at Icon. The urban location couldn’t be better, in the centre of the city it’s just steps from all the fashion, entertainment, and shopping the city has to offer.

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Categories: Prague, Art, Exhibitions

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter