Upon arriving in Strakonice, the South Bohemian town’s impression is a modest one. Although settled in the latter half of the 12th century, and boasting a moated castle on the Otava River built shortly thereafter, the large-scale urban reconstruction of the 1970s demolished many of the historical buildings that had given Strakonice the fairy-tale quality typical of many old Czech towns.

Kuai Shen is a naturalist and media artist who has been loving and studying ants for over 16 years. His hybrid installations explore the interspecies relationships in the natural/artificial continuum, inspired on one hand by the emergence and self-organization of ants, and on the other, by the subjective intertwining of parasites, microorganisms and viruses in relation to mimicry, affects, and the forces of becoming.

by Petr Slabý

Our video series continues with this interview with Praed, a duo (Raed Yassin and Paed Conca) who improvise with music influenced by everything from Egyptian pop, free jazz, and elecronics.

As part of its grant program Perpedes, the Agosto Foundation is requesting nominations from the general public for the support of the activities of individual artists, as well as for artistic or cultural projects.

The Agosto Foundation is looking for a new colleague to guide and oversee the development of a pilot grant program for the support of individual artists and artistic and cultural projects.

Deadline: August 30, 2017 for residencies taking place between November 1, 2017 and May 30, 2018

Hanna Rose Shell, from the obverse vantage point, will argue that camouflage is an adaptive logic of escape from photographic representation.

Our video series continues with this interview of Hans van Koolwijk, who, after 16 years, returned to Prague to present his work for inflated balloons and bamboo flutes at the National Gallery at Veletržní Palác. In addition, he also performed the work Bambuso Sonoro on his self-created musical instrument, a bamboo pipe organ, in the former Electric Works Building in Prague’s Bubeneč.

by Petr Slabý Dutch artist Hans van Koolwijk (1952) doesn’t call himself a musician, but rather a sound artist working with sound like a sculptor does with stone or clay. Koolwijk studied the fine arts, and his musical instruments are in themselves art objects.

Hanna Rose Shell, a filmmaker and historian of science and technology, will be taking part in a number of events during her upcoming residency in Prague, including a 13 June screening of her experimental and documentary films at the Bio Ponrepo.

Mariánské Radčice/Maria Ratschitz is an old village near Most, about 80 km from Prague. 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.

Artalk.cz online magazine invites Polish art critic Jakub Gawkowski.

Artur Magrot and Alessandra (Alex) Svátek founded Ukradená Galerie (“The Stolen Gallery”) in 2010 in Český Krumlov, a town well known not only for its picturesque qualities, but also for its art high school, Svaté Anežky České, that educates a sizeable share of Czech and Slovak artists.

In April, Artalk.cz online magazine invites Hungarian art historian Katalin Vera Benedek.

Hanna Rose Shell is a historian of science and technology and a filmmaker, who focuses on the environment, the media, military studies, and material culture. Primarily the topics related to textile industry, clothing, recycling and camouflage. Hanna Rose Shell will be in the Czech republic in June 2017 upon invitation of the Agosto Foundation.

by Petr Slabý

Our video series continues with an interview with Christof Kurzmann, an Austrian composer and performer who provided a compositional framework for and conducted a performance of an expanded lineup of Prague Improvisation Orchestra. In the upcoming months we will be continuing this series, featuring selected artists who also appeared at the 2016 vs. Interpretation festival, including: Hans Van Koolwijk, Praed, Lê Quan Ninh, Christine Abdelnour and Sarah Washington.

There aren’t many buildings of historical value left on the main square of Chotěboř. But at no. 194, we find Kohoutův dům, which is the only building that has retained its appearance after the fire of 1832.

A profile on Prague based record label and music community Genot Centre and its series of sleepover concerts, hosted in collaboration with Radio Wave and Divadlo Ponec. 

In the process of going through the archives from the symposia at Plasy monastery from 1992-1999, we have uncovered two films which were created during that time. Both will have their Czech premieres during an upcoming screening at the Bio Ponrepo. The evening will start with an ultraaleatoric infrasound performance by LFNFU (The Legendary Forever Night Frog Unit).

In March, Artalk.cz online magazine organizes the residency of the Romanian artist and critic Ada Muntean.

"I work on the skins of things, excavating histories of technology and media from the surface layers of natural and man-made objects. I use film, photography and installation, as well as tools from the fields of the history of science and technology, art history, media studies and material culture studies to analyze the production, use, and transformation of often-overlooked, even marginalized, material artifacts located at the interstices of the found and the fabricated."

Paul Williams, co-producer of Tyler Hubby's documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present, talks about his time with "drone pioneer" Tony Conrad and his own work with his consulting agency, Burning Bridges.

by Petr Slabý

Our video series continues with a fourth interview, this time with Phil Minton, a British vocalist who performed in Bob Ostertag’s Book of Hours, “a composition for three vocals and an instrument,” with an ensemble that also included Theo Bleckmann and Audrey Chen. In the upcoming months we will be continuing this series, featuring selected artists who also appeared at the 2016 vs. Interpretation festival, including: Hans Van Koolwijk, Praed, Christof Kurzmann, Lê Quan Ninh, Christine Abdelnour and Sarah Washington.

by Miloš Vojtěchovský “No melodies, no harmonies, no rhythm. No bullshit.” – Tom Johnson about the music of Phill Niblock, Village Voice, 1975.

A profile on the Květoň brother's work and practice through their shared label, Andere Seite Studio. 

Talking to the Agosto Foundation's current artist-in-residence Yury Bulka about what he's been up to in Prague and his future plans. 

The everyday digital activities of every one of us are being recorded, collected, analyzed and exploited by various commercial and government structures, and the extent and depth of this hybrid sci-fi-like system is already beyond imagination. But the saying “privacy is dead” is a myth.