Events: December 2013
November 2013
January 2014
Libor Krejcar: Forms of Fire
08/11/13 – 08/12/13 Exhibitions
Opening of an exhibition of scorched drawings by Libor Krejcar from the series Forms of Fire (2000–2004). Music: Vratislav Brabenec and Joe Karafiát. Libor Krejcar (born 1961 Ostroměř – Hořice v Podkrkonoší) is a visual artist, above all a sculptor, who has been active on the Czech art scene since the mid 1980s. His early work, which involved happenings and objects, was in part influenced by the Crusaders’ School of Pure Humour Without Jokes and the underground scene. In time he moved to an unmistakable form of expression which he lays down in a focused manner in extensive series (the most important of them has been the sculpture collection Pantheria, 1983–2000). Since 1982 he has also been engaged as a musician and lyricist and he is about to release a new album Mezi nebem a zemí (Between the Heavens and the Earth) with the band The Tamers of Flowers (Guerilla Records, 2013). More
Samizdat and Expedition Editions
12/11/13 – 10/12/13 Exhibitions
An evening dedicated to Edice Expedice (Expedition Editions), a series begun by Václav Havel and his friends in 1975, and more. Visitors to the Lucerna Passage will learn about the production of banned books in the normalisation period in Czechoslovakia, and how they were smuggled abroad, from those who served in that era’s secret underground publishers and who put themselves in danger by doing so. This Václav Havel Library event will open up a subject covered in the forthcoming VHL Notebooks No. 16 entitled The Expedition Editions Story. Special thanks: Centrum FotoŠkoda
Czech consciousness of Belarus
December 2, 2013, 17:00
Presentation of the collection České vědomí Bělarusi (Czech Consciousness of Belarus) (Karolinum), a unique publication dedicated to centuries-old and ongoing Czech-Belarusian solidarity. Attending will be the publication’s editors Jiří Marvan and Věra Lendělová, alongside Czech and Belarusian writers. More
Monodrama V: Jakub Deml - Podzimní sen
December 3, 2013, 19:00
The closing edition of the Monodrama series will be devoted to an essential figure in Czech literature, Jakub Deml. Thanks to its high artistic qualities, the posthumously published 1951 prose work Podzimní sen (Autumn Dream) (1984) – which is an expressionistic, solipsistic and litanic defence of human pettiness – ranks alongside the author’s Zapomenuté světlo (Forgotten Light). Featuring: Marta Vítů Director: Katharina Schmitt
Memory of Dissent IV: Luděk Bednář – Seminars and Central Europe
December 4, 2013, 10:30
The fourth in a series of lectures dedicated to the “memory” of the Czech dissent. The Memory of Dissent series is organised by the Historical Sociology department of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
Evolution: fact or theoretical tautology?
December 4, 2013, 19:00
Is evolutionary theory an indisputable fact? Or does the evidence for it suffer from fundamental flaws? Why should we reasonably doubt a theory that is generally regarded as scientifically proven? Jan Horník explains that the evidence put forward by science is built on circular logic, meaning science itself cannot decide on the veracity of the theory of evolution.
“Writing is a dangerous business"
December 5, 2013, 19:00
Meeting with Bulgarian novelist Theodora Dimova and launch of the Czech edition of her novel Adriana. Translator David Bernstein, Marcel Černý (Institute of Slavonic Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences – Charles University Arts Faculty), Ivana Srbková (Czech National Library – Slavonic Library) and publisher Petr Štengl are due to attend. More
Jews in the gulag
10/12/13 – 12/01/14 Exhibitions
Lecture and launch of an exhibition by Adam Hradilek and Jan Dvořák exploring the persecution of Czechoslovak Jews in the Gulag during WWII. The Václav Havel Library is holding the exhibition in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. More
Václav Havel´Place in Dublin
122013123112 Participation on events abroad
An unveiling of Havel´s Place at St. Patrick's Park, Dublin. Invited participants: the city's Lord Mayor Oisín Quinn and former Czech foreign minister and co-founder of Václav Havel Library Karel Schwarzenberg. More
Vratislav Brabenec: Denver
December 11, 2013, 19:00
Ceremonial launch of Vratislav Brabenec’s new poetry collection Denver, which is being published by Maťa. Alongside Brabenec’s poems, visitors will also hear him perform on saxophone, accompanied by Joe Karafiát. Ladislav Snopko will launch the collection, while the Sbor břežanských kastrátů (Břežanka Castrati Choir) will sing. Lubor Maťa will be the MC.
Returns to white solitude 2 - pre-christmas polar underground
December 12, 2013, 19:00
Repeat meeting with Mirek Jakeš, who has reached the North Pole several times. Initiates often speak about “Northern sickness”, i.e., the inability of travellers and adventurers to break free of the polar wilderness once they have visited once and succumbed to its harsh magic. More
The Garden Party 1963–2013
12/12/13 – 13/12/13
Fifty years ago, on 3 December 1963, the first chapter in the history of the Czech theatre of the absurd was written when, with dramaturgy from Jan Grossman and direction from Otomar Krejči, the world premiere of Václav Havel’s The Garden Party took place at the Theatre on the Balustrade. The Václav Havel Library is remembering this extraordinary event on 12 and 13 December with a conference entitled The Garden Party – A Key Event in Modern Czech Theatre and two productions of the play. The Václav Havel Library has prepared the project The Garden Party 1963–2013 in cooperation with the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Czech Literature, the National Theatre and the theatres Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade) and Divadlo na tahu.
Havel´s Garden Party 1963-2013 Conference
December 13, 2013, 09:00 Conferences
One day conference "Havel´s Garden Party 1963-2013" dedicated to Czech and international influence and perception of the first Havel´s play. More
VHL film marathon X: Citizen Havel
December 17, 2013, 18:00
Close to the date of the second anniversary of the death of Václav Havel, we are offering the Film Marathon series with a screening of the complete, four-hour version of Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek’s documentary film Citizen Havel. More
Memory of Dissent V: Jiřina Šiklová – My Memories of Václav Havel and More
December 18, 2013, 10:30
The fifth in a series of lectures dedicated to the “memory” of the Czech dissent. The Memory of Dissent series is organised by the Historical Sociology department of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
From Velvet Underground To Velvet Revolution
December 18, 2013, 17:00 Participation on local events
Tribute to Lou Reed and Vaclav Havel 17.00 Conference 20.00 Concert - Plastic People of The Universe, Garage, Velvet Underground Revival, Please The Trees Tickets 290,- CZK More information :www.vaclavhavel-library.org Tickets on-line: www.archatheatre.cz This tribute is organised by Václav Havel Library and Archa Theatre.
Jiří Marvan: language - its Czech story
December 19, 2013, 17:00
Jiří Marvan’s book Jazyk – jeho český příběh (Language – Its Czech Story), subtitled The First Thousand Years (800–1800), is a guided tour of Czech linguistic ecology. Jiří Marvan is a linguist, teacher and diplomat. He has been working for nearly 30 years at universities in Scandinavia, the USA and Australia. He now lectures at Charles University in Prague and at J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. More
