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PROGRAM JULY 17th

Vodná hudba / Water Music (1970), Ensemble Comp. : Milan Adamčiak, Robert Cyprich, Jozef Revallo), in a new interpretation by Trio Romanovská Tichý Hrubý, T.J. Sokol Praha Královské Vinohrady pool

Performed on the 305th anniversary of its premiere on July 17, 1717 on a barge on the River Thames at the behest of King George I.

“The 20th century, an era of high tech and an ever-increasing fast pace of life, provides less and less time for an individual to take some “personal time” long enough, for example, to devote themselves to listen to a baroque symphony. With an increasing fast pace of life, the frequency of receiving and of having to react to what is heard and seen also naturally increases. However, this does not mean that modern, or better said, new art of any kind, by being destined to be more dynamic, becomes at the same time superficial. Only the technique, or method of implementation, changes. The implementation environment also becomes an important component.
In the past, it was customary to create songs for certain events and different environments. Based on the idea of G.F. Handel, who wrote the famous Water Music for festivities on the water, we decided to create its contemporary analogy, integrating it into an appropriate setting.
The realization of our Water Music does not use the complete musical material of its original, but becomes a new independent whole, in which some motifs of the original are also heard. The focus is primarily on the method of interpretation and the use of the creative potential of individual performers within the framework of sheet music. The intention of the composition is primarily a tribute to G.F. Handel. All differences compared to the original composition should be understood as the use of intellectual and technical possibilities of our present time.
The piece is performed above and below water and requires the cooperation of the audience. After playing in the pool hall, the performers dive with their instruments to the bottom of the pool, where they continue the score. The audience is free to dive in after the players and play xylophones placed at the bottom of the pool.
Entrance in a bathing suit.”
Ensemble Corp. (text from the 1970 invitation)

PROGRAM JULY 23rd

Jiří Thýn: Reversed Harmony (2008), Atrium na Žižkově, performed by Alfred Haberman

Jiří Thýn (*1977) is considered one the most inspiring Czech photographers of the 21st century, and a mentor for many of the younger generation. A graduate of the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Thýn led the Studio of Post-Conceptual Photography at FAMU for several years, and currently heads the photography studio at the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Thýn works in and with the medium of photography, although characteristically his work crosses the borderlines of the medium, pushing beyond into installation and interventions. The work Reversed Harmony accentuates Thýn’s interest in the relationship between the positive and negative in photography and the transfer of this relationship outside this medium. First performed in 2009, in the Church of the Virgin Mary na Náměti in Kutná Hora, the work presents a “negative” of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, newly interpreted by organist Alfred Habermann for the space of the Atrium Žižkov.

Marie Tučková: The Ensemble of Moans (2022), Betlémská kaple (Bethlehem Chapel) Žižkov, performed by: Marta Ebenová, Eliška Fajmonová, Klára Fleková, Magdalena Havlová, Mariana Hradilková, Rebeka Maxová, Marie Tučková

Marie Tučková (*1994) studied in the Photography Studio at the Prague Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, continuing her studies at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem. She is a 2020 laureate of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for young artists. In her practice, she often combines music, performance and visual elements as she explores the idea of polyphony, common voice and the politics of listening. Tučková, inspired by the Guyanese author Wilson Harris (1921–2018) and his essay Music of Living Landscapes, perceives a performance or concert as a form of infinite rehearsal, an ongoing process or improvisation rather than a final work. In the unique space of Žižkov’s Bethlehem Chapel, she will present a specially conceived vocal performance, entitled The Ensemble of Moans, that challenges outdated concepts of patriarchy and hierarchical social order.

Marie Lukáčová: Assets and Cherries (2022), Prague University of Economics and Business

Marie Lukáčová (*1991) studied at the Brno Faculty of Fine Arts, Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, and the Kunstakademie Mainz. She is a co-founder of the feminist group Čtvrtá vlna [The Fourth Wave], which in 2017 opened a public discussion about sexism and gender inequality at universities, and is a member of the collectives Socialist Solidarity and Studio without a Leader. In her work, she engages with topics such as the position of women in society, sociology, geology, mythology and science, often expressed in the medium of moving image, 3D computer graphics and installations, where she frequently works with her own texts and beats. On the campus of the University of Economics in Prague, Lukáčová will present Assets and Cherries, a performative rap lecture that explores the deeping of social inequalities in the current economic landscape.

Valentýna Janů: Holding Keys (2022), staircase at the Lipanská tram stop, performered by Monina Nevrlá, Janny Jill, Miss Cool Cat, Anna Šitnerová, Valentýna Janů

Valentýna Janů (*1994) is a graduate of photography at FAMU in Prague and the Intermedia Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. She is a 2021 laureate of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award for young artists. Currently, together with Jonáš Strouhal, she heads up the Intermedia Studio at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Technology in Brno. Her primary medium is the video essay, presented in installations, often in environments completed by fabrics and other materials and objects. In her work, she often addresses patriarchal structures, gender stereotypes or climate change. In her new performative work, Holding Keys, made specifically for the “Žižkov stairs” at the Lipanská tram stop, she pursues her fascination with popular and ballroom culture as a social platform for expression.

We would like to thank the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic, Prague City Hall, Prague 3, T.J.Sokol Vinohrady, Žižkov parish of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren and Atrium na Žižkově for their support of Neighbourhood Boogie Woogie 2022.