Arts | All stories

In this week’s Arts we visit Prague’s DOX Gallery of contemporary art featuring a new exhibition by young Czech artist, avant garde musician and assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Michal Cimala. Entitled Posun (Shift) Michal Cimala’s new show features everything from sketches to photographs, as well as free-standing avant garde sculptures which also function as industrial musical instruments. The 35-year-old artist makes no secret that his work, made from plastic industrial piping, metal, and even old snowboards (his series of snowguitars)

A unique show on at Prague’s Mánes Gallery is continuing to attract visitors like no other, the latest collaboration between respected artist and performer Petr Nikl and dozens of contributing artists from around the world. Called PLAY, the show invites visitors of all ages, from children to seniors to complete, destroy, co-author or interact with existing installations, which range from musical sculptures to piles of found objects that can be arranged and rearranged anyway you like. Radio Prague caught up with the artist earlier this week and takes

Last week the Czech National Museum launched a new exhibition called New Czech Fables (or New Czech Myths) at the Kinský summer palace, located at the edge of Prague’s Petřín Hill. The show examines urban legends, sayings, social rituals and counter-culture movements in the former Czechoslovakia as well as present-day Czech Republic. In this week’s Arts, Radio Prague takes a closer look.

This week saw the opening of a major exhibition in Prague of the work of the great 17th century Bohemian painter Karel Škréta, a show being held at two separate venues: the Wallenstein and Prague Castle Riding Schools, two of the capital’s best-known arts venues. The exhibition is result of extensive cooperation between the National Gallery, the Prague Castle administration, and the Prague Archbishopric and features work not only by the Czech painter but also Italian and German contemporaries. If you see only one show of Old Masters this season,

It is only every five years or so that the renowned Czech animator Jan Švankmajer brings out a new film, and the wait is now over. “Surviving Life” draws on many of Švankmajer’s traditional themes and styles while exploring them through an experimental medium, once again confirming why he is the most acclaimed Czech art house director at home and abroad.

Coal in the Soul by Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník last weekend won the main prize at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, the leading event of its kind in the Czech Republic. The original Czech title translates literally as Women of the North Bohemian Brown Coal Mining District, pointing to the film’s central theme: two women with diametrically opposing viewpoints on whether a small town named Horní Jiřetín should be razed to the ground to allow mining to continue in the area.

Decadence Now! at Prague’s Rudolfinum gallery has become one of the most talked about exhibitions of the year in the Czech Republic. An extremely ambitious show by local standards, it brings together over 140 pieces by leading contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Gilbert and George, and Cindy Sherman. Sections with titles like Sex, Pain and Death feature many works that are unusually graphic, some might say shocking. Indeed, under 15s are not allowed to enter unaccompanied.

Described as a musical morality tale, the Tiger Lillies bi-lingual show Zde jsem Člověkem! or Here I Am Human! has just enjoyed a short but successful first run at Prague’s leading avant-garde theatre, Divadlo Archa.

Just a few days ago the Czech Republic’s Cirk Putyka performed for the 65th time its acclaimed La Putyka, a show which combines the setting of a Czech pub with dance, music, acrobatics and puppetry. In short, elements typical of New Circus. Authored by performer Rosťa Novák, La Putyka (which is slang for pub or run-down dive), was featured in a slimmed-down version this year at the Czech Expo in Shanghai, and this weekend will premiere for the first time in English in the Czech capital.

Though it only began last year, the International Cinematographers’ Film Festival Ostrava is fast becoming an important part of the cultural calendar in the old industrial city in the north-east of the country. With the 2010 edition due to kick off in just under a fortnight, I caught up with two of its young organisers in Prague: programme director Jakub Felcman, and Anna Kopecká, who is head of the programme department.