Events: April 2014
March 2014
May 2014
Eugen Kukla: Testimony from the streets of Kiev
28/02/14 – 06/04/14 Exhibitions
The exhibition of documentary photographs by Eugen Kukla.
Jan Šafránek: Life around us
11/03/14 – 06/04/14 Exhibitions
Opening of an exhibition of work by Jan Šafránek. Richard Drury will provide an introduction. More
Magnesia Litera
April 2, 2014, 19:00
Readings by authors nominated in several of the seven categories in the annual Magnesia Litera book awards. Three or four writers from a range of categories will read and discuss their work. Pavel Mandys from the Litera civic association, which organises the awards, will host the evening. More
Meeting with Eliyahu Rips, 45 years after protest
April 3, 2014, 19:00
Meeting with the Israeli professor Eliyahu Rips, one of those who protested against the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Rips, a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics in Riga, was deeply impacted by the news of Jan Palach’s self-immolation and several months later, on April 13, 1969, decided to follow him, dousing himself with petrol and setting himself on fire at the Freedom Memorial in central Riga. He placed a poster beside himself reading “I am protesting against the occupation of Czechoslovakia”. More
Debates with Respekt – diagnosis of the Czech right
April 7, 2014, 19:00
After six years in government, Czech conservatives do not appear in the best of shape. The ODS are hovering around the threshold for entry to the lower house, while TOP 09 are built on the popularity of an increasingly tired chairman. Why has the politics of the right failed? And have those parties any chance of acquiring the support they once had? The debate will be chaired by Respekt editor Tomáš Sacher. Miroslava Němcová (ODS deputy chairwoman), Jan Farský (TOP 09 MP) and Jiří Pehe (political scientist) have accepted invitations to attend.
Zdeněk Košek: Cloudbuster
08/04/14 – 04/05/14 Exhibitions
Launch of exhibition of work by Zdeněk Košek from the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. Music: Houpací koně. The exhibition takes place in cooperation with the ABCD Praha civic association and runs until 4 May 2014. More
The Czech underground IV: The politics of memory between the control of society and ethics – Vladimír Merta
April 9, 2014, 10:30
Lecture dedicated to the Czech underground on the subject: Between the underground and collaboration. 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.
Talks in English – Alexandr Vondra and Václav Havel
April 9, 2014, 19:00
The first in a short series of talks in English with colleagues and friends of Václav Havel. Alexandr Vondra is a former dissident, Charter 77 spokesman, advisor to Václav Havel, Czech Ambassador to the United States, and politician. The event will focus on Václav Havel’s views on foreign policy, as well as today's situation in Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere as viewed by his former diplomat, exactly fifteen years after the country's accession to NATO. Chaired by writer and journalist David Vaughan. More
Michael Špirit: Reading about Václav Havel
April 10, 2014, 19:00
From extensive literature related to Václav Havel, editor Michael Špirit has selected an anthology of the most valuable critical reflections on his dramas and essays. Essays by Eva Uhlířová, Jan Grossman, Sergej Machonin, Jindřich Černý, Ivan M. Jirous and Jana Patočková and other texts focus on the dominant themes and structures of Havel’s work. The collection aims to revive discussion of the author’s artistic and critical output, along with the ways to explore it. Michael Špirit and his guests will discuss the adventures that accompanied the creation of the collection submitted.
The Litomyšl Circle
April 12, 2014, 10:00 Participation on local events
Twenty years ago, on 15 and 16 April 1994, the then Czech president, Václav Havel, held a meeting in Litomyšl with six other Central European presidents: Slovakia’s Michal Kováč, Slovenia’s Milan Kučan, Hungary’s Arpád Gőncz, Germany’s Richard von Weizsacker, Austria’s Thomas Klestil and Poland’s Lech Walesa. The gathering, at Litomyšl’s Renaissance chateau, was the first of its kind. Havel had organised it in order to revive friendly relations between the countries of Central Europe after the end of the Cold War. He chose the small Eastern Bohemian town of Litomyšl for its informal atmosphere and the chance of discussions between the presidents and colleagues taking place away from the official negotiating table. The programme was dominated by informal meetings and concluded with a television debate on Central Europe in which all of the presidents took part. A homely, hospitable atmosphere was successfully created, the success of the talks exceeded expectations and meetings of the presidents later became a regular tradition. Today 17 of them meet, though the original group are still referred to as “the Litomyšl Circle”. More
Markéta Křížová: Indians in Latin America: From insignificance to the presidential Palace
April 15, 2014, 19:00
Final lecture in a series conceived by Markéta Křížová (Centre for Ibero-American Studies at the Arts Faculty of Charles University). For the entire 19th century and much of the 20th, Latin American Indians were virtually invisible; they were erased from political life, while their culture was repressed. However, in recent decades they have begun to take their fates into their own hands thanks to a concurrence of social processes and growing sensitivity on the part of the international public to the issue of the “fourth world”. More
Challenges, paradoxes, plays: Václav Havel – V. The Vaňek principle
April 16, 2014, 19:00
Ferdinand Vaněk has traversed the Czech theatre scene for almost 40 years. He was born at Hrádeček somewhat by the way, for the amusement of friends: “... he usually doesn’t speak or really do anything on stage, but by his very existence and presence on stage, the fact he is who he is, he forces those around him to reveal themselves in some way.” We will speak about Havel’s Audience, Unveiling and Protest, while Lenka Jungmannová will explore the entire range of Vaněk plays, including therefore dramas by Pavel Kohout, Pavel Landovský and Jiří Dienstbier. More
Contemporary Czech literature at Labryint
April 22, 2014, 19:00
Alongside her acclaimed book of short stories Nechtěl jsem být Leninem (I Didn’t Want to Be Lenin), Dora Čechova will read samples from her latest work, while debutant Martin Jun will present the manuscript of his novel Smrt spisovatele K. (The Death of Novelist K.), which is set for publication this autumn. Hosted by Joachim Dvořák, editor in chief of the Labyrint publishing house.
The Czech underground V: The politics of memory between the control of society and ethics – Krystyna Krauze
April 23, 2014, 10:30
Lecture dedicated to the Czech underground on the subject: A comparison with the Polish 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.
Jan Macháček's debate: The Czech Republic and Europe’s energy and economic dependence on Russia
April 23, 2014, 18:00
The Czech Republic and Europe’s energy and economic dependence on Russia and other themes related to the Europe and world's answer to Russian aggression of the Crimea and related to the current situation in the Russian-Ukranian conflict will be discussed at by journalist and analyst Jan Macháček and his guests. Among those invited are Luboš Dobrovský, Petr Kolář, Luděk Niedermayer, Martin Ehl and Michal Šnobr.
Martin Horák: Success and disappointment
April 24, 2014, 19:00
Democracy and Public Policy in Prague 1990–2000. This book presentation and debate with the author, a Canadian political scientist of Czech origin, will illuminate the numerous mysteries surrounding the poor performance of the public administration in contemporary Prague. The year 1990 brought a renewal of democratic administration to the city. What followed included numerous dubious decisions and public disillusionment, which Prague is still going through today. Horák arrives at the roots of the current situation via an analysis of the political decisions of the 1990s. More
Zdeněk Košek presents himself
April 28, 2014, 19:00
An evening with Zdeněk Košek, a rainologist and stormologist. After the screening of a short film portrait, (Zdeněk Košek, directed by Bruno Decharme, 13 min., abcd, 2005) a discussion on his lifetime’s art will follow. The evening will be hosted by Jaromír Typlt and Terezie Zemánková.
Václav Havel and Vietnam. Vietnam today
April 29, 2014, 19:00
At the time of the “Velvet Revolution”, tens of thousands of Vietnamese lived in Czechoslovakia. What impression did the country’s rapid departure from communism make on them? And do the ideas and views of VH find fertile ground in the country today? On the second anniversary of his death, the Saigon publisher Giay Vun will issue a collection of essays by VH under the title “The Power of the Powerless” (An Open Letter to Gustav Husák, A Word on Words, Politics and Conscience, The Power of the Powerless, On the Meaning of Charter 77). More