Česká centra, Czech Centres

Petr Stanický: Evocations

The V&A Museum shows two site-specific installations by Czech artist Petr Stanicky, as part of the London Design Festival 2017. Petr Stanicky (born 1975) is a classically trained sculptor who works predominantly in glass. His work is architectural in nature and is concerned with space, light, and reflection and the opportunities derived from the material he uses and the specific spaces for which he creates his works.

Another White Story by Designblok Prague

Every year Designblok supports innovative designers from all over Europe. We have prepared a small sample of what Designblok has to offer for this year’s London Design Festival. The story of contemporary Czech porcelain is told through five renowned Czech designers, who have become so enthralled with this white material that it has become their main medium of expression. Five varying approaches to porcelain as a material, decorative work and the use of technology. How far can we go with this traditional production material? The interplay between glazes, shards, technical porcelain, painting and salt spraying on classically spun forms. Tradition v. innovation.

What is life? Markéta Othová and Aleksandra Vajd at Street Level Photoworks

Markéta Othová and Aleksandra Vajd’s exhibition, which is not only their first joint exhibition in Great Britain, but also their first-ever exhibition together, is intended to present the current work of eminent figures in Central and East European photography and, at the same time, highlight the universal quality of the photographic medium.

Radek Brousil: Red Naomi

Taking its title from Red Naomi, one of the most popular roses exported from Kenya to Europe, and celebrated for its “high petal count, improved longevity and resistance to transport”, Radek Brousil’s project deals with the symbolism and impact of our fondness for flowers. It circulates freely around Glasgow botanical gardens glass house and its marble sculpture of a ‘Nubian Slave’, touching on the Czech textile company VEBA and its textile designs for the African market, Naomi Campbell and the story of a pouch with “dirty looking” stones, and water as a connecting element and asset for both transport and production, the exhibition is interested in shifts, twists, appropriations, misinterpretation and the absence of the “natural” in current frames of cultural and economical exchange. Its aim is not just academic or critical: with humour and irony it allows certain elements to appear in new contexts, parallels and configurations, understanding cultural symbols as loose containers for adjustation and productive hybridity.

Objects of Refinement: Custom-designed Elements in Modernist Interiors and Architecture

Over the past ten years, Prague-based design and architecture curator and editor Adam Štěch of Okolo has created a photographic atlas of architectural and interior details from buildings spanning 1900-1990. The photographs taken during his worldwide adventures reveal the hidden gems of modernist architecture.

Robert Balzar Trio: One Day

Following in the footsteps of great Czech bassists such as Miroslav Vitous and George Mraz, bandleader, innovative composer and bassist Robert Balzar demonstrates fine bass technique along with focused and strong support by pianist Jiri Levicek and drummer Kamil Slezak in their new project One Day. Originally recorded for Czech Television as a live concert in a forest, the project features trio’s own compositions and adapted jazz standards.