Landscape Festival Ostrava 2019

Ostrava will become the venue for the international landscape architecture Landscape Festival on May 30, which addresses urban public space and urbanized landscapes in the Czech Republic. This year's Landscape Festival will present Ostrava in new environmental contexts. Landscape architecture has not yet been given the space it deserves in the Czech Republic. The basic idea of the festival is to raise awareness of the scope, meaning, and significance of the field of landscape architecture in relation to contemporary architecture, art, and public space. The Landscape Festival project aims to promote education and interdisciplinary dialogue among not only Czech but also international experts, artists, politicians, and the general public. The goal of this year's edition of the festival is to connect the historical center of Ostrava with the Lower Area of Vítkovice and the urban district of Mariánské Hory. The route is led in such a way as to highlight the current barriers of the city, but also to verify new pedestrian and cycling connections. Through architectural interventions and artistic installations, exhibitions, debates, and happenings, the festival seeks to emphasize the importance of public space and greenery for the city. It targets degraded and debatable areas of the city that have the potential to become new centers of cultural and social life. These places are then revitalized, cultivated, and initiated for their future possible development through site-specific installations and happenings. It thus seeks the identity of these places – reacting to their issues and emphasizing their local values. The organizers of the festival are the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, operated by the Architectura association, the statutory city of Ostrava, and the garden and landscape architecture studio K2N LANDSCAPE.