National Gallery Prague - Veletrží palác / in Czech / 240 min

Performance lecture followed up by a discussion about methods of presentation of and reflection on specific scenic forms of work-in-progress.

The term “work-in-progress” is most often used in connection with an open presentation of an incomplete project, a phase in the creative process when a project is still being developed. An unfinished project is presented to external participants to receive feedback on whether it works or not, what meanings could audiences read from the presented form, how they react, what are the blind spots and the energy knots. For the presenters, it offers an opportunity to pause and reflect, revise, and possibly reconfigure as a team the project’s next direction.

Work-in-progress allows for a confrontation of the creative process with (semi)public presentation. We will be asking about which particular cases and situations are suited for work-in-progress reviews, what are the benefits and challenges pertinent to this format, and what could be expected from it.

Moderated by: Sodja Lotker and Karolina Plicková

The programme includes a presentation of the following projects:

Ian Mikyska / Prague Quiet Music Collective: Sitting

Sitting is a unique performance combining Chinese tea ceremony (“gong fu cha”) and music that blurs the boundaries between composition and improvisation. The tea ceremony is a way to sharpen all our senses – hearing (the sound of boiling water); sight and touch (the appearance and touch of the utensils); the smell and taste of the tea. Music is a path along which time can be structured to bring us, repeatedly, to a new present moment. Tea ceremony as post-dramatic dramaturgy; a small theatre of details with its own laws and temporality.

Concept, Direction, Music: Ian Mikyska
Dramaturgy: Jakub Vaverka
Tea Consultant: Tomáš Rajnoch (Meetea)
Performers: Eva Dudová, Ian Mikyska, Milan Jakeš

Supported by: MKCR

Ufftenživot: project with a working title An Invisible Woman, So Far

Jiří Šimek & Peter Šavel

Although the main source of inspiration for the project was the book Invisible Woman by C. Perez, we are much more inspired by our own life experiences. The concept of what is "masculine" and what is "feminine" is now moving again. And if we in the 90s thought that the process of female emancipation was over, we were wrong. We notice that the past (present until now) ideas about the archetype (or social role) of men often don’t allow their emotional maturity. In search of equality in society we, therefore, can’t stop at structural social changes for women, we need to also find ways to help men to mature in all aspects.

We have had three residencies until this point which we have devoted mainly to the research of physical material. Simultaneously with the studio worktexts are being created with which we will continue to operate. Further, ongoing work is underway on the project website which is supposed to provide a broader context and reference to the whole creation. At the moment of this work in progress we are roughly in the middle of the whole creative process.

Team: Jiří Šimek, Peter Šavel a Marta Ljubková
Tech Support: Štěpán hejzlar a Zuzana Režná
Production: Tereza Tomášová a Ludmila Vacková
Producer: Studio ALTA a soubor Ufftenživot

Supported by: MHMP, MKCR, EEA grants

The Invisible Woman is part of the project "Cooperation of cultural houses of Studio ALTA, Baerum Kulturhus and Black Box Theater", which is supported by EEA financial mechanisms (EEA Grants). The recipient of the subsidy is ALT@RT z.ú.