Soundworms Ecology Gathering

The Soundworm Ecology Gathering is a three-day meeting of minds which will bring together persons involved in ecology, theory and acoustics to discuss and exchange ideas. The gathering will take place in Mariánské Radčice/Maria Ratschitz, an old village near Most, about 80 km from Prague from 22 to 24 September 2017. The town and its surroundings, which include a recently reconstructed Baroque church, are suffused with the ceaseless noise that emanates from the strange earthworks which lay just beyond the trees — the Bílina open pit lignite coal mines. For this gathering,  a number of project proposals have been selected. At the link, there is a preliminary program.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …

An Interview with Christine Abdelnour

Our series of video interviews continues with the final video in our series. The Franco-Lebanese alto saxophonist Christine Abdelnour holds forth about her techniques and inspirations. In addition, we include video of a complete solo performance by Abdelnour that took place on 30 April 2016, at the  Old waste water treatment plant in Bubeneč, Prague, one of her appearances at the 2016 vs. Interpretation festival.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …

New Media Collections added to Agosto Foundation Mediateka

The Universal Psychiatric Church (Upsych316a) is located in a small town in northeastern Bohemia in a 14th-century Gothic fortress purchased from the Czech Army in 1997, and subsequently occupied by the JSD (Peerless Cooperative of the Holy Nurture). Though the labyrinthine fortress was in deplorable condition, its new owners saved it from demolition, and its four floors have gradually become the repository of a horde of surplus found objects, debris and scrap which has been obsessively accumulated over the past 15 years. We have included in the Mediateka an extensive collection of photographs, texts, and other media as an ambitious new presentation incorporating a multimedia user interface.

English…
Česky…

The media collection of the Hermit Foundation and Center for Metamedia Plasy documents events and activities that took place during the 1990s in the (former) Cistercian monastery of Plasy, which were initiated by the Hermit Foundation and the Center of Metamedia Plasy. In spite of the importance and longevity of these activities, there is very little reference material available in the public sphere. We have begun the long process of porting items housed in private archives into the Mediateka. Since the documentation of these events is extensive, this must currently be considered a work-in-progress.

English…
Česky…

New Music from a Respirium

An evening devoted to two premiere saxophone impovistations and an electroacoustic compostion for 6-channel sound. The electronic composition Flexa by Milan Guštar and two solo performances by the saxophonists Miroslav Tóth and Zdeněk Závodný take place amid a sonic intervention for the baroque interior of the Colloredo-Mansfeldský Palace. Tóth and Závodný will premiere a presentation of improvised music, and Guštar will then fill the space with an algorythmic composition for 6-channel sound from the series Flexus.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …

Chomutov, For the Better

It is usually travelers on their way to the increasingly popular Krušné Hory (the Ore Mountains) who pass through Chomutov,  but even they often prefer to pass by than to stop. The surrounding landscape, corroded by industry, but also offering largely uninhabited expanses of green forest, certainly has specific genius loci. One evening in late July, I met with Petr Karásek, the founding member of Kuprospěchu (FortheBetter), a group/society based in and around Chomutov. … From its very beginning, the society aimed at helping the regeneration of the city and its environs through cultural activities, and attempted to stem the exodus of active people from the region.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …

Camouflage is always DIY

Vítek Bohal speaks to Professor Hanna Rose Shell (MIT, US), in followup to her Agosto residency in Prague. In a wide ranging interview, Shell speaks about the development of camouflage, her film work, and her fascination with “the skins of things”.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …

Experience the City Anew

Join us for the festival Experience the City Anew (Zažít město jinak) on Vojtěšská St.,  16 September, 2017. Meet your neighbors and experience serious and non-serious acoustic music, workshops for children, a street socks line, projection of the surroundings of St. Adalbert church a hundred of years ago, a search game for children and adults, a guided tour of the Ondřej Brody exhibition at the SPZ Gallery, a guided tour of Foerster hall and bell ringing at St. Adalbert Church. More info at http://zazitmestojinak.cz/.

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ …
čᴇsᴋʏ …