Events: February 2014
January 2014
March 2014
Jan Vaněk: And the spirit hovered over me
14/01/14 – 09/02/14 Exhibitions
Opening of an exhibition of abstract paintings by Jan Vaněk from the turn of the 1980s and the 1990s. More
Development of the President's interpretation of the Constitution recently and the emerging government
February 4, 2014, 18:00
What does it mean to be an “expert” in politics? Journalist and analyst Jan Macháček will discuss that question and more with his guests. Among those invited are Petr Fischer, Jan Wintr and Jan Kudrna.
Total Viewegh
February 5, 2014, 19:00
The 26th book by the best-selling Czech novelist describes his sudden serious illness, subsequent battle for life and the life that he has been left with. Following a reading by Michael Viewegh, Jiří Peňás, the head of newspaper Lidové noviny’s arts section and a literary critic, will speak. Presented by Martin Reiner, director of the Druhé město publishing house. More
Václav Havel: Audience
February 6, 2014, 19:00
“It’s something essential, for God’s sake!” Production of Václav Havel’s one-act play by Ostrava’s Divadlo Petr Bezruč. An ingenious play from the period before the dramatist became president. Directed by: Štěpán Pácl and collective Sládek: Norbert Lichý Vaněk: Jiří Müller
Serhiy Zhadan: My Ukraine today... and poems
February 7, 2014, 19:00
Presentation of the poetry collection Dějiny kultury začátku století [History of the Culture of the 20th Century] (Nakladatelství Petr Štengl publishing house, 2013) with the participation of its writer, Ukrainian poet and novelist Serhiy Zhadan. After the reading a debate will be held on the subject: Ukraine. Translators Alexej Sevruk and Miroslav Tomek will host the evening. More
Jan Palach: Hero or Madman
February 10, 2014, 14:15 Participation on local events
Commemorations of the anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach and the events of Palach Week are continuing in February. Petr Placák and Jakub Trojan will visit the synagogue in Kralupy nad Vltavou on Monday 10.2. Visitors will also see footage from the original Video Journal.
Viktor Karlík: Signs and other work
11/02/14 – 09/03/14 Exhibitions
Opening of an exhibition of art by Viktor Karlík. The music group Ženy will perform. The exhibition runs until 9.3.2014. More
Challenges, paradoxes, plays: Václav Havel - III. Tomorrow
February 13, 2014, 19:00
A historical mediation in five acts. A theatre play by Václav Havel that differs from his others in every way, including non-Havelesque construction and dialogues and origin, as after almost 20 years of being banned he was commissioned to write it by the then “cult” Divadlo na provázku theatre and it partially assumed the theatre’s specific brand of poetics. The play was written in 1988 on the 70th anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia, when the crust of rigid totalitarianism was slowly, inconspicuously but surely, coming apart… Our guest will be Petr Oslzlý, director and dramaturge of the Divadlo na provázku and a long-term close friend and collaborator of Václav Havel’s. Other guests are: Eva Salzmannová and Vladimír Javorský This series dedicated to the plays of Václav Havel is organised by Anna Freimanová.
Darmata
February 18, 2014, 19:00
Poet Petr Hruška, who has won such awards as the 2013 State Prize for Literature, will read from his latest book Darmata and more, while Yvetta Ellerová will sing poems set to music. Though not planned, dancing is not ruled out.
Electronic currencies in the modern economy - passing mania or harbringer of revolution?
February 19, 2014, 18:00
According to the founder of the original Swedish Pirate Party, Rickard Falkvinge, “bitcoin is going to do to banks what email did to the postal system.” How realistic is that prediction and what can be expected of a phenomenon that is slowly ceasing to be a game among the hacker community and becoming a phenomenon covered daily in the media? A broad range of guests, from the bitcoin community and from modern banks, will discuss just this in a debate hosted by Vít Macháček. The entire event is being organised by the Behavioural Economics Society, an association of students predominantly from Prague’s University of Economics. Special thanks belong also to Business IT Club. More
Dora Kaprálová: A winter book about love
February 20, 2014, 19:00
Presentation of new prose work by the Brno and Berlin based poet and critic Dory Kaprálová. Zimní kniha o lásce (A Winter Book About Love) (Archa-Zlín, February 2014) was written in response to the prose piece “One Woman” by Hungarian novelist Peter Esterhazy. Alongside the author, Emil Hakl and Kateřina Rudčenková will welcome the book. More
Vaclav Havel European Dialogues, Prague conference: The Citizen, power and democracy in the European
21/02/14 – 22/02/14 Conferences
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is an international project that aims to initiate and stimulate a discussion about issues determining the direction of contemporary Europe while referring to the European spiritual legacy of Václav Havel. Videorecordings: FR 21. 2. 2014 Welcome and Conference Opening Europe and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism Reinventing the European Project Evening Conversation: What Europe? What Democracy? Glass of Wine with H. E. Michael Žantovský SA 22. 2. 2014 Europe and the Limits of Civil Society. From consensus to a conflict-driven policy? Federalism: The American vs. The European Way Detailed program and participants´bios are available here. The conference was held in English and Czech and was simultaneously translated into Czech and English.
Debate of candidates for the post of director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes
February 24, 2014, 19:00
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regime has had a year filled with turbulence. A new director ought to bring a necessary alleviation of the situation. Come and listen to a debate of candidates for the highest post at an important institution, chaired by leading journalist Petr Brod. These candidates confirmed their participation: Viktor Meca, Adrian Portmann, Karel Světnička.
Milan Drápala: “Dissidents” of the Third Republic (1945–1948)
February 25, 2014, 19:00
1945 delivered freedom and a great deal of hope in the construction of a democratic society to the revived Czechoslovakia. However, threats appeared on the horizon. These arose from the Communists’ thirst for power supported by Soviet dominance but were also encoded in the National Front political system and the post-war collective mentality. Attempts at a systemic critique and change of regime in the Third Republic were highly exceptional and unsuccessful in the Czech environment; nevertheless, there is noteworthy evidence of intellectual non-conformism and political foresight. This paper introduces figures representing these marginal positions in the discourse of the time and outlines their critiques.
The Czech underground 1: The politics of memory between the control of society and ethics - a theore
February 26, 2014, 10:30
First in a second season of lectures dedicated to the Czech underground. The Czech Underground series is organised by the Historical Sociology department at Charles University’s Faculty of Humanities and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
Czech undergound, American underworld
February 26, 2014, 19:00
The Pulchra publishing house presents two books issues last year, both of which tell of life in the underground. The first is a Czech translation of the autobiographical novel You Can’t Win, a collection of stories from the American underworld of the 1920s by Jack Black, a hobo, drug addict and criminal who became an icon to the whole Beat Generation. The second, entitled Trable den co den (Trouble Day After Day), is another important testimony from Otakar “Alfréd” Michl about the Czech underground, from the start of the 1970s until the present day. Otakar “Alfréd” Michl and Anežka Michlová will read from the book, while translator Tomáš Míka will read from his version of You Can’t Win. Eugen Brikcius will officially launch Trouble Day After Day, while Otakar “Alfréd” Michl, Pepa Janíček, Honza Pech and Milan “Dino” Vopálka will perform together.
Markéta Křížová: The Czech lands, Europe and the world
February 27, 2014, 19:00
Indians in the USA: The conquest of the Wild West, the period construct of “human rights”, reservations and the fight for eminent domain Lecture in a series conceived by Markéta Křížová (Centre for Ibero-American Studies at the Arts Faculty of Charles University). More
Eugen Kukla: Testimony from the streets of Kiev
28/02/14 – 06/04/14 Exhibitions
The exhibition of documentary photographs by Eugen Kukla.