Prague events

From 20th of March until 25th of May 2008 the Gallery Rudolfinum presents a comprehensive overview of the famous American photographer Gregory Crewdson prepared by the curator Stephan Berg.

Crewdson´s photographic work deals with American neuroses, fears and secret desires. His images refers directly to the myths of American Hollywood movies, so as well as scenes for those movies were scenes for those images, as well as make-ups for models prepared in a cooperation of a whole big crew. The crew had over 100 members and before the picture was shot, it took the long time of preparation. One of Crewdson´s favorite film directors is David Lynch, and as well as Lynch´s movies often have dreary and mysterious atmosphere, the similar atmosphere have a lot of photographs presented on the exhibition.

The exhibition presents all Crewdson´s most important photographic series he made since 1992 until presents, all of them are in large format and in color, except one, which is black and white and in smaller format. Plus there is a special collection of 11 small size photos, took during the work on “big ones”, primarily as a documentary material, but according to Crewdson those he chose have an aesthetic quality on their own and as such are worth to be exhibited.

If you want to see extremely precise photographs, where every bit of the photo is perfectly sharp, with perfect lightings, arrangement of the scenery and so on, you should visit the Rudolfinum Gallery these days. The Rudolfinum is located on Jana Palacha Square, close to Malostranska and Staromestska metro stations.

Mikolas Ales is one of the most important and well-known Czech artists. Now you have a change to see his works at the big retrospective exhibition called Mikolas Ales 1852 – 2007, which is being held in the Prague Castle Riding School until 20th of April 2008.

Mikolas Ales was born, as the title of the exhibition implies, in 1852 and died in 1913. He was an excellent painter and illustrator (during his lifetime he made his living mostly as an illustrator). His paintings are decorating the famous foyer of the National Theatre in Prague. But there were also some famous controversies connected with Ales – he had conflicts with the Committee for the Completion of the National Theatre as well as with his friend and co-worker Frantisek Zenisek, another famous Czech painter.

In the exhibition you can see representative overview of Ales´ work, mostly he was inspired by the Czech history and traditions. There are drawings and paintings on the theme of the life of Old Slavonic people, who lived in Bohemia in ancient times, scenes of the important moments of the Czech history, pictures depicting the idyllic life of Czech lands inhabitants or illustrating national stories, proverbs and legends. Plus there are some drawings of Indians, which was another of Ales´ favorite topics. There are also to be seen few drawings by his older brother Jan, who died prematurely and whose works often inspired Mikolas. Plus there are exhibited some items of Mikolas Ales´ personal belongings, as pieces of furniture.

But why is the exhibition called Mikolas Ales 1852-2007, when he died in 1913? Because his legacy, as “the artist of his people”, was extremely strong until now. Many Czech Art Noveau artists – the modernists from the Group of Artists or group Maj 57 (all of them are very important artistic formations) – they claimed to follow his legacy. But Ales´ legacy was also praised during the Protectorate, when Czechs were in troubles under the Nazi rule and they needed some heroes from the past, to highlight national culture, which was suppressed by Nazis. Later, after the communists took over the rule, Ales was hugely praised again, not only for topics of his painting but also for his realistic style. In 1951 was made a movie about him, in 1952 was opened a big retrospective of his work, celebrating this way the 100th anniversary of his birth. In 1979, almost thirty years ago, there was also a big retrospective in the Prague Castle Riding School and according to curators, now the time for another one came. It should bring up questions, how the artist´s both life and work reception changed during the times. On the first floor, there is a special extension of the exhibition, there are displayed books on topic of Mikolas Ales, and it is interesting to see how many they are. So if you would like to explore one of the most popular Czech artists, you definitely should visit the exhibition.

The exhibition is opened daily (including Mondays), from 10 am to 6 pm. The entrance fee is 140 Czk full price, 70 Czk reduced or there is a possibility to buy a family ticket for 210 Czk.

Prague club Roxy is hosting a great dancing competition Dancer of the Year 2008. Roxy club is conveniently situated at Dlouha street 33 near the Old Town Square. The Dancer of the Year is a competition in the contemporary modern dances such as hip hop, break dance and funk. Roxy is hosting the final round of this contest. If you visit this extraordinary event, you will be able to see the performances of the best dancers in the category of streetdance and breakdance.

The Dancer of the Year is taking place on March 6, 2008 at 19 in Roxy and it is the best opportunity for you to see awesome street style dancing. Juries attending the contest are American dancer and choreographer Jonté from NY, Vincent Vianen from Amsterdam, Nobru from Rio de Janeiro and Yemi AD. The winner of this contest will win great prices such as the journey to the dancing workshop in NY. This is a great opportunity for you to see the best street dancing in Prague. Don’t miss it!

If you want to see some works of contemporary Czech young and successful painters, I would recommend you to visit the exhibition, which is now held in The City Gallery Prague in exhibition spaces of the Municipal Library.

The exhibition presents works of young Czech painters most of whom were born in the 1970s and they are relatively well-know in the Czech Republic, at least among those who are interested in contemporary Art. So you can see here what is going on in contemporary Czech painting scene. Among the artists who exhibit here are Jakub Hosek, who was already twice nominated for prestigious Chalupecky prize for young Czech artists, Petr Malina with his self-portraits, Jakub Spanhel, who became famous for his dark and sizable acryls, Josef Bolf, Petr Petrbok, Filip Cerny and many others, there are almost 30 of them. Some of the paintings exhibited here are small, other ones are huge, there are also represented different artistic techniques – from oils and acryls through wax with ink to various mixed media. The theme, with connects they works together is simple “objectivity”, means that subjects of their paintings are not abstract ideas, but concrete things from our visible world. It can be people, still-lives, houses, cars, even benches or pills, whatever. Some of them prefer to depict it in realistic colors, others in fantastic ones or even just in black and white, there are no limits, there are many “alternative ways to objectivity”.

Some of the paintings are pretty original, some of them are at least funny, some of them are ugly and boring, but as a whole the exhibition is quite nice. It is a proof that although in the Art world today there are very popular new media, use of video and computers and so on, the conventional old painting still lives on.

The gallery is situated in the building of the Municipal Library, on Marianske Square, but the entrance to the gallery is from Valentinska Street, it is not far from Staromestka metro station (green line). They are open from Thursday to Sunday, always from 10 AM to 6 PM. And exhibition is to be here until 23rd of March 2008.

There is held an interesting exhibition called “Uncertain States of America” in Rudolfinum Gallery. It presents contemporary young American Art. The exhibition was prepared by Norwegian Art curators from Oslo. They did two years long research, which was aimed to search how contemporary artistic production of young American Artists looks like. The result of the research was the exhibition in the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern At in Oslo in 2005. Now in the cooperation with this Norwegian museum was prepared the exhibition in Rudolfinum, so also in the Czech Republic can be seen contemporary American Art, although it is not that up to date as it was in Oslo.

The artifact to be seen here are various – paintings, collages, sculptures, videos, assemblages and so on. They are mostly colorful and opulent, sometimes too much. When you entrance the first exhibit room, you will see sculptures full of glitters. One of them is naked man, others looks like flowers, but any of these are not what would you call nice – the feeling of the exhibits could be described as “strange”, and it will be some in all other rooms. There were only few exhibits I really liked. But the exhibition is worth of seeing, just to know what is going on in American Art right now. And some of the exhibits are quite funny, so you can have some laugh at least. Yes, but after you will see the exhibition, you probably will think, that contemporary American Art is pretty “uncertain”. Although it is hard to say how much adequate sample is exhibited here, but if you take in account that the choose took the curators two years…

The Rudolfinum Gallery is situated in Rudolfinum Building, which is at Palachovo Square, very close to both Staromestka and Malostranska Metro stations (both green line). The entrance to the Gallery is from Alsovo Nabrezi (from that side of the Rudolfinum which is by the river) and it is opened daily except Mondays from 10 AM to 6 PM. The exhibition is to be seen here until 24th of February 2008.

The fastest brass band is comming back to Europe. While the Central European brass bands are in modern times a little old-fashioned for young people, on the East of Europe this genre is a symbol of temperament and colours.

Balkan brass bands play in brathtaking tempo, their music is full of wine and home-made raki and Gypsy feeling – and there is still more to discover. When the enslavement of Romania’s Gypsies ended in 1864, thousands of them moved the USA where settled in the black ghettoes. Who dares to say that our cousins didn’t help to invent jazz in America? Says Ioan, the oldes member of Fanfare. Fanfare Ciocarla gained BBC World Music Award in 2006.

The fastest brass band in the world Fanfare Ciocarlia (130 to 200 bpm) from the village Zece Prejani situated on the Rumanian-Moldavian border is one of the Balkan gypsy brass bands. Their music reflects gypsy, Turkish, Rumanian and klezmer influences.

Their popularity increasing with each new CD is documented by crowded concerts hals not only Berlin, Prague, Tokyo or New York, but Bucurest itself.

If you want to hear some brass or Roma music in Prague, this is a concert for you! Fanfare Ciocarlia / Romania 14th January 2008, 19:00. Tickets: pre-sale 400 CZK Palac Akropolis, Kubelikova 27, Prague 3

Christmas is coming and you still don’t feel the Christmas atmosphere. I have an idea for you. You can feel the magic, mysterious and fabulous atmosphere. Where? In the Black light theatre. What is it? Read on.

The performance with beautiful music composed by one of Hollywood’s best composers, performed by the philharmonic orchestra of Los Angeles will capture your heart. Welcome to the world of mermaids, to the world where Nature reveals its power and bunches of flowers dance. Welcome to the world without words. The world which tells you the universal story of a child. The spectators during the performance return back to their childhood and they are forced to gain control of their fear to be able to get to the very end of the spectacle. In this great performance, which combines traditional techniques with modern pyrotechnic effects, the magic of the Black light theatre reaches its peak. The performance is dedicated to people of all ages. At the end you will understand, why it is called WOW.

The Black light theatre origins in China. In those days Chinese used candle light to perform silhouette shows over white cloth screens. Sometime in 18th century the technique of silhouette show migrated to Japan where it began to be used in the traditional Japanese puppet theatre “Bunraku”.

At the beginning of cinematography, when cinema techniques were in their infancy, a lot of artists (George Melige among them) used the black light technique to express their images which had in their mind. The modern black theatre origins in 50’s, mainly thanks to French avant-garde artist George Lafaille, who is often called “the father of black light theatre”. At that time, an ultraviolet lamp was invented and became ‘in’ in 60’s and 70’s for “hippies” era, young people, who looked for new colours as a symbol for a term freedom.

At the same time in Prague a new magical theatre language was developed. It means the new kind of theatre providing capabilities and colours which had never been seen before. After the anti-communist revolution in 90’s many Czech artists began to promote the black light theatre again. They contributed to its present dignified reputation and declared Prague as the capital of the Black light theatre. Nowadays nine black light theatres are active in Prague. WOW is the youngest of them but it is the biggest and most modern one.

Tickets are available at the websites www.wow-show.cz at the price of 550 CZK (18,3 €). The address is: Theatre Blanik, Vaclavske namesti 56, Prague1.

The year 2008 is a year of Summer Olympic Games which will take place in Beijing. The year 2008 is also a year of 11th tour of the Grand Chinese New Year Concert. Wu Promotion presents the China Traditional Orchestra Guangdong for the first time in Europe.The year 2008 is according to the Chinese horoscope the year of the Rat and this tour is for the year of the Rat and will visit eight cities in five countries – Stuttgart, Lucerne, Munich, Antwerp, Stuhr/Bremen, Hanover, Prague, and Vienna. In Prague this unique concert will be held on 1st February 2008 in Music Theatre Karlin.

2008 is an extraordinary year, because China hosts the long-awaited Olympic Games in Beijing. While the Games in August will draw guests from around the world to China, the Grand Chinese New Year Concert will bring a piece of China to Europe. The Concert will introduce Chinese culture to the world before China’s Olympic debut on the world stage, emphasizing the close link between culture and sport.

This year’s Orchestra is led by the world renowned Chinese conductor Maestro Hu Bingxu, who is from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong (Canton). In the past he has conducted the best traditional orchestras in Asia.

Traditional Chinese music from Guangdong is the main focus of this year’s concert. Guangdong music lively captures minor aspects of life and expresses complex emotions and passions. To fully appreciate our experience we should not try to only follow the main themes of life but also trivial trifles which bring a feeling of happiness and relaxation.

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) starts with the first new moon of the first month of the lunar calendar. In 2008, the lunar new year will fall on 7 February, ushering in the Year of the Rat and beginning a new twelve–year cycle. People born under the sign of the Rat are ambitious, naturally intelligent, faithful to their families, hardworking and creative. Years of the Rat are: … 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008…, and some of the famous people born under the sign of the Rat: William Shakespeare, W.A. Mozart, Winston Churchill, George Washington, Henry Dunant, Queen Elizabeth I., Lev Tolstoi, Louis Armstrong, Marlon Brando, Doris Day, Clark Gable, Hugh Grant, Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John, Ursula Andress, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gerard Depardieu, …

This unique concert in Music Theatre Karlin is under the aegis of the Mayor of Prague Pavel Bem and Her Excellency Huo Yuzen, envoy extraordinary of People’s Republic of China in the Czech Republic.

Tickets are available at these websites: http://vstupenky.ticket-art.cz/ and there you can also get to know sale places of the tickets.

Tournaments Heaven or Hell have more than a six-year tradition and since the first year they are totaly sold out. At the past events a lot of stars performed, they belong to the world top and are monitored by experts and supporters at their each step. It is common knowledge that the second biggest group of world population is interested in the group of sports called “Martial arts” right after the football. At the last tournament, 46 journalists and 7 TV reporters, including 3 online, were acredited. Thanks to broadcasting on national channels, cable televisions and satellite channels Eurosport 1 and 2, the spectacle was watched by more than 65 mld viewers. According to daily Sport, this sport is the most popular and the final tournament K-1 was the most watched programme of the year 2005.

K-1 is a combat sport that combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San shou, Kickboxing and traditional Boxing to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the “1”). K-1 origined due to unceasing disputes and comparing single combat sports, and reasoning which style is more effective and better. “K” as a king and “1” as a king of kings. This is the main idea formed by Master Kazuyoshi Ishii in 1993. Ingenious is that the rules are simple and understandable for laymen as well. Fighters with different weights and styles meet at a boxing ring and try to manage that their martial art is the best.

The sport is very popular in Japan, Brazil, and most of Europe, but enjoys only limited popularity in the United States. In most US states K-1 fight rules are banned. Cities as Tokio, Las Vegas, Sapporo or Stockholm take for honour that they can organize these tournaments. In Europe only some cities had this honour – Amsterdam, Stockholm and Paris. On 16th December 2006 in Prague Sazka Arena, the debut of K-1 took place.

Now you can see this unique spectacle for the second time in the Czech Republic. You can feel the adrenalin and the tense atmosphere. When? On 15th December at 18.30 in Prague Sazka Arena. You can see champions as Max Albert Kraus, Gago Drago, Sam Semtex Braan, Arslan Magomedov and the top fighters from the Czech Republic. Tickets are available at www.sazkaticket.cz and the price is from 490 – 3.490 CZK (16,3 – 116,3 €).

Dutch gothic metal band Within Temptation will visit Prague Club Roxy after the New Year. They released a new single CD on 5th October, although they have released album “The Heart Of Everything” this year.

The band was formed in 1996 by the guitarist Robert Westerholt and the vocalist Sharon den Adel, Within Tempatation released their debut album “Enter” through Dutch indie label DSFA the following April. After the album was released the band played gigs across the continent and firmly cemented their reputation. It may seem unbelievable but while attracting critical and commercial acclaim, they were actually all still in college. So in 1999 the band went on hiatus to finish their studies.

They returned after one year in 2000, it was a very important step for the band. They continued on their strong live performances playing at all the major European festivals. In December they released their second album “Mother Earth” which again garnered critical acclaim. The band’s popularity grew and in 2002 spread across the continent. “Mother Earth” gained Platinum and Gold status in Germany and Belgium respectively, while the Mother Earth Tour DVD received Gold status in their homeland and won the band an Edison Award.

In 2004 Within Temptation returned back to the studio to record their third and most successful record to date “The Silent Force” with producer Daniel Gibson. The album supported by international successful radio hit “Stand My Ground” became Number 1 in the Netherlands and Finland, Number 5 in Germany, Top 10 in Belgium, Portugal and Spain, Top 20 in Austria and Switzerland and Top 30 in Greece, France, Turkey, Sweden and Norway. A lot of Gold and Platinum certifications followed.

The single “Angels” was released in June 2005 to support their annual festival run . In August their received a World Music Award for Best Selling Dutch Artist In The World. A release of “The Silent Force” in Japan, Australia, and the UK followed.

Next Awards followed in 2006, they received the Dutch Export Award. In February 2007 they released the single “What Have You Done”, featuring guest vocals from “Life Of Agony” front man Keith Caputo. In March they released the album “The Heart Of Everything”.

You can see and hear their concert on 17th January 2008 from 19:30 in Prague Club Roxy. Tickets are available in Ticketpro chain outlets and cost 700 CZK (23,3 €).