Events: September 2013
August 2013
October 2013
An Evening with Anna Wágnerová
September 4, 2013, 19:00
An evening of poetry by the poet, playwright and astrologer Beatrice Landovská, the author of such works as the poetry collections Plesy šílený (Crazy Balls) (1982), Geniální vystoupení (Appearances of Genius) (1984) and Mýty (Myths) (1985). Her new book may also be available…
International Holocaust Day: Forgotten Transports
September 9, 2013, 19:00
Screening and presentation of the book Zapomenuté transporty (Forgotten Transports) by Lukáš Přibyl and Michal Plzák on transports to death camps in Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Eastern Poland. Jáchym Topol will speak about his trips to the transports’ destinations, Ruth Morgensternová-Kopečková, who survived internment in Estonia, will be present, and material that did not make the film Forgotten Transports (four 90-minute documentaries from 2009) will be screened.
Margita Titlová Ylovsky: BIO
10/09/13 – 06/10/13 Exhibitions
Margita Titlová Ylovsky (born 1957, Prague) is one of the most distinctive artists of the 1980s generation. Between 1977 and 1983, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of painting under Professor Oldřich Oplt. She had previously mainly focused on expressive painting and drawing which, thanks to her physical conception and temporality crossed over into action art. She later concentrated on objects and installations. Her basic means of expression is the recording of an immediate gesture in reaction to a current emotional state. More
Prague Museum Night: Behind the Scenes at the President’s Office
14/09/13 – 15/09/13
A night behind the curtains at the presidential office: film screenings, unexpected meetings, readings from the works of Václav Havel and much more... The programme is part of the project Prague Museum Night 2013.
Collection on Normalisation-Era Philosophy Set for Launch
September 16, 2013, 18:00 Participation on local events
Presentation of the collection Filosofie v podzemí – filosofie v zázemí (Philosophy in the Underground – Philosophy in the Background). The volume focuses on Czech philosophy in the normalisation era, in particular apartment seminars, and subsequent developments, when many figures moved from the “underground” to academia and began reshaping or creating philosophy departments. Philosopher Roger Scruton, who in the 1980s lectured at apartment seminars and organised support for unofficial education and samizdat in the Czechoslovakia of that time, will speak at the event. Jiří Suk from the Institute of Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences will discuss the historical context. The book presentation is ogranized by the Václav Havel Library and Fórum 2000 Foundation.
Varlam Shalamov: Left Bank
September 18, 2013, 19:00 Participation on local events
Evening dedicated to Varlam Shalamov (1907–1982), one of the most important of the “Gulag writers”. The first speaker will be Russian studies expert Jan Machonin, who translated the second part of the writer’s selected writings Left Bank. Valery Yesipov, a Russian literary historian and leading expert on Shalamov’s life and work, will then present his recently published biography of the writer and discuss less well known and controversial moments of Shalamov’s life. The legendary American Slavic Studies expert John Glad, who did the first English translation of The Kolyma Tales (published in the US in 1980) and helped Shalamov win fame around the world, will discuss how the author’s manuscripts made it to the West and the circumstances surrounding their publication abroad. More
Memorial – A History Lesson Defence of human rights in (contemporary) Russia
September 19, 2013, 19:00 Participation on local events
Memorial is a Russian non-governmental organisation that maps the crimes of Stalinism and criticise the current authoritarian regime in the country. Dissidents Alexandr Daniel (one of the founders of Memorial and an historian of Russian dissent), Lev Rubinstein (writer), Irina Flige (St. Petersburg activist and Memorial member), Julia Sereda (activist from Ryazan) and Dmitry Petrov (writer) will tak part in the evening, which will be hosted by translator and Russian Studies specialist Ondřej Mrázek.
Václav Havel 77 – An Occasional Portrait
September 23, 2013, 19:00
Petr Pithart, Luboš Dobrovský, Jan Macháček, Erik Tabery, Milan Uhde, Pavel Kohout, Zdeněk Lukeš, Jiří Tichota and Cyril Höschl are just some of more than 50 members of the “exclusive circle of authors” who have contributed to the collection An Occasional Portrait, published by the Václav Havel Library. Several of them will read excerpts from the book on 25 September – shortly before what would have been Mr. Havel’s 77th birthday – at the Lucerna’s Marble Hall. The collection of essays, interviews, memoires and articles is edited by Anna Freimanová; it offers colourful, disparate views of the columnist, playwright, philosopher, champion of human rights, prisoner, revolutionary leader and president Václav Havel that together add up to a rounded portrait. More
VHL Film Marathon VII: Tribute to the Original Video Journal
September 24, 2013, 18:00
The Original Video Journal was a practical form of samizdat in video form and one of the few examples of free news reporting in 1980s Czechoslovakia. Individual episodes commented on events of the day, as well as carrying reports about the dissent and more. More
Zeman’s Move to a Presidential System
September 25, 2013, 18:00
Miloš Zeman’s activities aimed at creating a presidential system will be discussed by journalist and analyst Jan Macháček and his guests: Petr Kamberský, commentator for Hospodářské noviny, Jan Kudrna and Jan Kysela, experts on constitutional law, Jiří Pehe, political scientist and director of NYU Prague.
Sudeten Germans in the Eyes of a Polish Historian
September 26, 2013, 19:00 Participation on local events
A lecture by Piotr Maciej Majewski Piotr Maciej Majewski (1972) is a Polish historian who specialises in the history of Czechoslovakia in the 20th century, in particular Czech-German relations, a subject on which he has written numerous studies. Alongside a monograph on the choices facing the Czechoslovak Army in 1938 in a possible war with Germany, he has published a book on Edvard Beneš’s position on the Sudeten German question; most recently he brought out an extensive work entitled The Sudeten Germans 1848–1948, which should come out in Czech in 2014. Majewski lectures at Warsaw University and also serves as deputy director of the Museum of World War II in Gdansk. Host: Jiří Friedl, historian and vice chariman of the Conditio humana civic association More