News of Arts and Theatre Institute

Celebrations of the 20^th anniversary of Kylián's videotheque

The Arts and Theatre Institute in cooperation with the association 420PEOPLE prepared a rich programme with choreographer's works as well as numerous extraordinary events at the occasion of 20 years of Kylián's videotheque in Prague.

Jason A. Somma installed a presentation of an interactive hologram at the New Stage of the National Theatre, there were many workshops and a discussion forum on the future of mediatheques was organized.

Celebrations culminated on 30^th November at the New Stage of the National Theatre. Many excellent foreigner dancers who have spent an essential part of their art live in Kylián's prestigious Nederlands Danse Theater (NDT) were introduced and the audience had a chance to see virtuosos from 420PEOPLE Nataša Novotná and Václav Kuneš.

The gala evening called Different Banks offered Jiří Kylián's works, choreographies by Cora Bos-Kroese, Václav Kuneš and Lukáš Timulák.

The first Czech monograph Different Banks – Jiří Kylián between Haag and Prague was launched in the evening as well. This book was published by the Arts and Theatre Institute and the Kylián's Videotheque in Prague on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary.

Jiří Kylián Foundation was established in Haag in 1988 with the aim to support new dance activities. The foundation also manages documentation, video-recordings and Kylián's copyright. Video-recordings from Kylián Foundation were the basis for the dance works videotheque of the Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague (founded in 1991) – there are recordings, documentaries and films in the genre of dance-for-camera. Czech Kylián videotheque currently belongs to the biggest dance video collections in Europe and it is the only collection in the world which contains complete recordings of Kylián's repertoire.

Dance movies originated in Prague

The workshop Dance and Camera reached its peak on 19^th October and people had the opportunity to see results of works by artistic teams assembled from Czech dancers, choreographers and students of camera and directing at the Film Faculty AMU in Prague. 25 students from the departments of camera, directing, documentary production, editing, scriptwriting and the FAMU International/camera and directing students as well as representatives of Czech dance scene, e.g. the Nanohach company, DekkaDancers, Kateřina Stupecká, choreographer Mirka Eliášová and others took part in the workshop.

British director David Hinton, one of the classic authors of the dance-for-camera genre was the supervisor when small film crews shot their first film attempts in Prague exteriors and buildings. A workshop evaluated as very intensive and inspiring was organized by the Festival of Dance Movies, the Arts and Theatre Institute and the Film Faculty of the Academy of Arts.

The ATI is a member of the Eastern European Performing Arts Platform

EEPAP is a unique international platform of co-operation for young performing artists, curators and producers working in the countries situated at the eastern border of the European Union. The EEPAP will operate as a performing arts network and a platform of applying for EU funding and production of projects. Its goal is to establish strong and effective long-term co-operation of performing arts artists in Central and Eastern Europe in order to develop international co-productions and an exchange of ideas, information and performances. The Arts and Theatre Institute is one of the first Czech member of this new network. In October 2011, a new information webpage of the Eastern European Performing Arts Platform was launched. You can find it at www.eepap.org.

Beyond Everydayness: a unique book mapping theatre architecture in Central Europe has been published

A unique publication Beyond Everydayness – Theatre Architecture in Central Europe, which has been recently published, describes the most important and famous theatre buildings in Central Europe. The book with 608 pages is written in English and it contains numerous images. It chronologically introduces more than seventy important theatre buildings in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia which are interesting not only from the architectonic or historical point of view.

The book called Theatre Architecture in Central Europe was written from 2008 to 2010 as a part of the TACE project (Theatre Architecture in Central Europe) thanks to a grant from the European Union called Culture 2000 and with the financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. Václav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic and the playwright and writer, assumed the auspices of this book and he wrote his personal introduction. He reminds us that theatres have always been the centres of important events and transformations in society. Readers can experience a trip to history of each theatre mentioned in the book, basic architectonic plans, historic photographs and other material; contemporary pictures of beautifully decorated interior or equipment of theatre space and description of its adaptation and reconstruction.

The authors did not focus on description of buildings but they were interested in their lives, circumstances of their origin as well as historical, social, political and artistic connections. History of Central Europe is illustrated on the development of a specific type of building. Therefore the publication becomes an original contribution in the attempt to define a frequently used term "Central European space" which is not easy to define anyway.

The group of 35 leading European theatre historians, architects, curators and art theoreticians is signed under this unique deed organized by the main editor, curator and architect Igor Kovačevič and they tried to uncover historical, cultural and social relationships from the late 16^th century until nowadays.

The publication of the book was preceded by a successful exhibition called Beyond Everydayness – Theatre Architecture in Central Europe last year which toured several Central European cities during a few months. It also presented seventy theatre buildings and spaces for public in 250 years. Authors focused on stories of objects which were connected with identity of a nation, the time of origin or an art programme. The publication copies this method and it arranges the buildings in a chronological way but it does not take into account their importance in particular countries. Readers can find information about the oldest European theatres as well as postmodern buildings, the main representatives of post-war architecture and spaces that have defined a new attitude.

The book Beyond Everydayness – Theatre Architecture in Central Europe is supplemented by an online museum of theatre architecture which offers over two hundred and sixty objects from Central Europe at www.theatre-architecture.eu – a visitor can find an overview of historical development, technical parameters of the contemporary state and images for each building. The exhibition and the book are parts of the international TACE project.

TACE – Theatre Architecture in Central Europe is a three-year project supported by the grant Culture 2000 from the European Union. The project aimed at the summary of present knowledge of the development of theatre architecture as a specific phenomenon of European cultural heritage. It originated in the Arts and Theatre Institute, the implementer was the National Theatre and its co-implementers were theatre institutions from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The project was launched last year and ended in January. The publication Beyond Everydayness – Theatre Architecture in Central Europe is supposed to complete this project and summarize new findings from this field.

The jury awarded the prize to writer Daniela Hodrová not only for her last novel Vyvolávání but the State Prize for literature belongs to her for her whole work.

Martin Hilský, the translator and expert in William Shakespeare's work, received the award as well. The jury of the State Award for Translation acknowledged vast work by one of the leading translators from English and an expert in Shakespearian times who published a complete translation of William Shakespeare's work this year. Hilský translated author's comedies, tragedies and poetic sonnets into Czech. The chairman of the jury Jiří Hanuš said that he is the greatest expert in the Elizabethan times and work of its most famous author.

The Ministry of Culture Award for contribution in theatre went to a dancer for the first time. Choreographer Jiří Kylián received the prize for his long-time credit in the development of dance art and systematic support of Czech dance.

Music journalist and promoter of jazz music in the Czech Republic Lubomír Dorůžka received an award for contribution to Czech music scene. Leoš Válka dominated the category of the visual arts and the jury acknowledged him for building the Centre of Contemporary Art DOX in Holešovice. Architect Miroslav Masák received a prize for his lifelong work. Jan Němec dominated the category of cinematography as well as music composer Zdeněk Liška who received the award in memoriam.

MARIONNETTES AN ZERO – an exhibition of Czech puppetry at the World Festival of Puppet Theatre in France

To see the whole article, go to: http://www.idu.cz/en/marionnettes-an-zero-an-exhibition-of-czech-puppet

Martina Černá