Events: November 2016
October 2016
December 2016
Tribute to Václav Havel in Prague 6 – Gala Opening
05/10/16 – 18/12/16 Exhibitions
Celebration of what would have been the 80th birthday of the first Czech president, intended not only as a tribute from the citizens of Prague 6 to their famous co-citizen but above all as an expression of respect for a person who served freedom and democracy in an extraordinary way, his literary work and his lifelong work for human rights around the world. More
Josef Kordík and Tereza Dubinová: Priest by Vocation
November 1, 2016, 19:00
At a swimming pool in 1969 he heard a voice: “You’re going to be a priest.” And from that moment it was clear, says Josef Kordík. The book Svoboda jít s Bohem (The Freedom to Live with God) captures Roman Catholic priest Josef Kordík’s (1948) recollections of his youth, vocation to the priesthood, studies at a seminary in Litoměřice, parish work in the impoverished Sudetenland, involvement in the circle around Charter 77 and signature of the document, subsequent loss of state permit to perform religious activities, civilian employment as a locksmith and joiner, return to religious duties after November 1989, work as a chaplain at Valdice and building of a vibrant community at Železnice near Jičín. More
Czechoslovak Exile Media: Between Reality, Propaganda and Myth
November 3, 2016, 19:00
During the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, the exile media created a specific milieu. A reaction to the difficulty of critical discussion, it contributed to the continuity of independent Czechoslovak journalism and also strove to bring about the end of repression in the homeland. More
What it Means to be the Wife of a Political Prisoner
November 4, 2016, 19:00
Debate with Anastasia Zotova, wife of Ildar Dadin, a Russian civic activist who was last year sentenced to three years in prison for repeatedly violating a law on public assembly (demonstrations again the 2012presidential election, LGBT activism, protests against the war in Ukraine). Dadin is currently serving his sentence in a penal colony in the town of Segezha in Karelia, where, for instance, Mikhail Khodorkovsky spent several years. More
Visegrad Writes, Reads and Debates
November 7, 2016, 19:00
Literary gathering with writers from the Visegrad states: poet, translator and teacher Radek Malý (Czech Republic), poet, translator and teacher Katalin Szlukovényi (Hungary), poet and translator of Czech/Slovak literature Zbigniew Machej (Poland) and prose author and film/television director Peter Krištúfek (Slovakia). More
The Situation of Refugees in Hungarian Politics
November 10, 2016, 19:00
Evening with András Kováts, director of the non-profit organisation Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants, which has for several years been active in the fields of international migration, asylum and social integration, on the current political and social situation in Hungary, the result of October’s anti-migration referendum, the Hungarian government’s position on the “refugee crisis”, changes being implemented by the government and the political role of Viktor Orbán. More
Salon Dürrenmatt
November 15, 2016, 16:00
It is 26 years since Václav Havel met Friedrich Dürrenmatt and this evening will recall Dürrenmatt, one of the greatest Swiss novelists of the last century. Alongside a documentary film on his work and an on-stage debate on his influence on Czechoslovakia at that time, there will also be a rendering of Dürrenmatt’s famous speech Switzerland – A Prison, which he delivered on the occasion of the presentation of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize to Václav Havel. More
Lubomír Kotek: This was Husákland
November 16, 2016, 17:00
Evening with the photographer Lubomír Kotek, who documented everyday life through the sacred symbols of the Communist regime, as well as capturing everyday reality on shabby streets, on gloomy squares, in school classrooms, at compulsory public meetings, at military reviews and also in private. More
Theatre on the Balustrades in the Absurd Times of an Absurdist Theatre
November 16, 2016, 19:00
Veterans of the golden age of Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade) in the 1960s will discuss how Jan Grossman presented the greats of absurdist drama to Prague audiences and how he and Václav Havel created their own variation on that form of theatre. More
Václav Havel’s Living Room
November 17, 2016, 13:00
As part of celebrations of the 27th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution we are opening for visitors “Václav Havel’s Living Room” – a space for sitting, public readings, buying books, listening to Václav Havel’s speeches and other activities. The “Living Room” is one element of the project Thanks for Being Able To – Národní Promenade 2016, when for the third time Národní will be converted into a promenade, a pedestrian zone full of street art, concerts and other arts events. More
Theatre Night at the Václav Havel Library
November 19, 2016, 19:00
As part of this year’s Theatre Night, we are offering visitors two titles, both of which are in their own way archival. More
Edgar Dutka: Mother Disappeared
November 21, 2016, 19:00
The screenwriter, director, dramaturge and novelist Edgar Dutka presents Matka Vzala Roha (Mother Disappeared), a new collection of short stories with an autobiographical tone capturing the fate of a family marked by the Communist regime. In 1948 Dutka’s mother was arrested. The following year she was sentenced to six years in a Communist jail for people smuggling, escaped and emigrated to Australia. It was 20 years before, in 1968, she saw her son, whose childhood was spent in a children’s home and with foster parents, and 40 years before she saw her daughter. His mother’s escape from prison and from the country is the subject of the first and longest piece in Dutka’s new book. In it the recipient of the State Literature Prize loosely follows on from his U útulku 5 (At Shelter 5) (Prostor, 2003), which was nominated for a Magnesia Litera prize. More
Abortion as a political issue
November 22, 2016, 19:00
The new abortion law in Poland, which was discussed this autumn and which sparked mass demonstrations, has split Polish society into a number of camps. Views are divided according to social class, religious persuasion and education, as well as political, local and regional affinity. More
Czech Silver: We Need a Charter 2016
November 23, 2016, 19:00
Discussion evening with political scientist Milan Znoj, psychotherapist Helena Klímová, sociologist Jiřina Šiklová and other leaders of the project Czech Silver (České stříbro), which is focused on civic responsibility, the direction of contemporary society and ways in which we can influence events around us. More
Evenings with Polish Reporters VI: The Assassination from Apricot City
November 24, 2016, 19:00
Does Turkey belong to East or West? Are we capable of comprehending its contemporary face? The Polish reporter Witold Szabłowski and the Turkish Studies expert and first Czech ambassador to Turkey Tomáš Laně will discuss a dynamic country where Islam meets Islamophobia, conservatism meets postmodernism and a thirst for Europe meets euro-scepticism. More
One Day Something Will Rebel in Our Green Grocer: Essays on The Power of the Powerless
November 29, 2016, 19:00
The Power of the Powerless is one of the most important and frequently discussed dissident texts. It was written in 1978 in the singular conditions of a Communist dictatorship. Nevertheless it is clear that, even nearly 40 years after its first publication in samizdat and with those circumstances now a memory, it has not lost any of its power to inspire, as attested to by new translations into languages such as Arabic and Ukrainian. More
Jana Krejcarová: This is Reality
November 30, 2016, 19:00
Jana Krejcarová-Černá – femme fatale of the Czech underground, muse of Egon Bondy and author of shocking erotic poetry. More