Events: February 2013
January 2013
March 2013
Eighties: Roman Trabura - Things are starting to happen…
14/01/13 – 17/02/13
Roman Trabura (*1960 Vsetín) did not graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague until the 1990s. As he put it himself: “With regard to studying, under the ‘Bolsheviks’ it didn’t even occur to me to give it a go. In those days, I was more underground, a rocker and nihilist.” His art has few peers on the Czech scene. He is constantly trying out new formal approaches, which he transforms like a snake shedding its skin. At the same time, he remains faithful to certain of his main themes, such as landscape painting. More
Eighties: Roman Trabura - Things are starting to happen…
14/01/13 – 17/02/13 Exhibitions
In 2013, the Václav Havel Library’s Galerie Montmartre is presenting an exhibition series entitled “Eighties” that presents the generation of artists born in the 1950s and ‘60s. Among those represented are artists from the underground and those who studied in the 1980s while also taking part in unofficial exhibitions, including the Confrontation series. They include Michal Cihlář, Otta Placht and Libor Krejcar. The idea behind the series is to present artists, often operating on their own, whose work is insufficiently known to the public. The series has got underway with a show of work by David Němec, which runs until 13 January 2012. More
VHL Film Marathon II: Václav Havel, Film Critic
February 5, 2013, 18:00
At the end of the 1950s in particular, the young writer Václav Havel went in for some film analysis, paying particular attention to French cinematography. During the second VHL Film Marathon we will recall not only some of the films Václav Havel wrote about but also the actual texts themselves. More
Tell Me Who You Are!
February 6, 2013, 19:00
An evening devoted to novelist Eva Kantůrková and her book Řekni mi, kdo jsi! (Tell Me Who You Are!), which was published by Torst in 2012. The writer touches on areas that are sensitive for the Czech Republic, past and present, supplementing her reflections on literature, politics and the national character with portraits of figures in public life (Václav Černý, Karel Kosík, Václav Havel, Ludvík Vaculík, Josef Zvěřina…). Powerful reflections on her own rich life make the book an essential work. The event will be introduced by Torst editor Jan Šulc, who will also host a Q&A with the author.
Cabaret Protimluv – Ostrava Melting-Pot
February 7, 2013, 19:00
A visit from the people behind the Ostrava-based literary magazine and publishing house Protimluv (Contradiction). For over 10 years, it has been a motor of the domestic scene, bringing out works by significant central European authors such as Janusz Rudnicki, Ryszard Krynicki, István Vörös and Rafał Wojaczek. More
Monodrama I. Vidosav Stefanović – Jovana from the Metro
February 12, 2013, 19:00
The first evening in a series of staged readings of intimate works by Czech and foreign authors. Jovana z metra (Jovana from the Metro) by the Serbian journalist Vidosav Stefanović is the gripping monologue of a young woman from the former Yugoslavia who, scarred by the ravages of war, decides to move to Paris… The reading will be by Marta Vítů, a long-term member of the Činoherní studio theatre in Ústí nad Labem, directed Hana Kofránková. Translation by Irena Wenigová.
Otto Placht: Storyteller
19/02/13 – 24/03/13 Exhibitions
Exhibition of paintings by Otto Placht inspired by the mystical stories and contemporary life of the Shipibo Amazonian Indian tribe. Otto Placht (*1962 Prague) is an artist known to the Czech public primarily as a “painter of the jungle”. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s and from 1990 to 1993 was active at Jiří Načeradský’s Studio of Monumental Creation. More
Otto Placht: Storyteller
19/02/13 – 24/03/13
Exhibition of paintings by Otto Placht inspired by the mystical stories and contemporary life of the Shipibo Amazonian Indian tribe. Otto Placht (*1962 Prague) is an artist known to the Czech public primarily as a “painter of the jungle”. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s and from 1990 to 1993 was active at Jiří Načeradský’s Studio of Monumental Creation. More
The Czech Underground I. Nicolas Maslowski: Opening Lecture
February 20, 2013, 10:30
The Czech Underground is a series of lectures organised by the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. Its aim is to explore the collective memory of the underground phenomenon in modern Czech history. Speakers will include those who were directly involved in underground activities.
Jan Horník: The Holocaust as Messianistic Genocide
February 20, 2013, 19:00
Historian Jan Horník’s lecture will make clear the causes of Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitism and his decision to exterminate the Jews. Horník by no means regards the common explanations as a given, and thoroughly examines the question of why Nazism was racist and fanatically anti-Semitic. Jan Horník is the author of the book Proč holocaust (Why the Holocaust) (Rybka Publishers 2012) and works for the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.
How Should We Die Today
February 25, 2013, 19:00
An evening with Miloš Doležal, author of the book Jako bychom dnes zemřít měli (How Should We Die Today), which was published in 2012 by Nová tiskárna Pelhřimov. It takes place on the anniversary of the death of Čihošť priest Fr. Josef Toufar, who was a martyr to Communism. Jana Franková will read excerpts from the book.
I Am (Not) a Child of Husák
February 27, 2013, 19:00
The book Som Husákovo dieťa (I Am a Child of Husák) will be presented by its author Juraj Jordán Dovala, a Hussite pastor, novelist and songwriter. His guest will be Ladislav Heryán, a Roman Catholic priest mainly active in underground circles. The guitars of the two servants of God will also play a part in what will be a literary-musical evening.
Václav Havel – The First Czech Presidency
February 28, 2013, 19:00
The first Czech chancellor Luboš Dobrovský, a friend and colleague of Václav Havel’s, remembers the period of the first Czech presidency, what preceded it, and what followed it. The evening will be hosted by Ivo Mathé, who was formerly chancellor to Václav Havel.