EnviroCity - invitation to the summer festival on public space

The Civic Association Collaborative Collective has prepared a festival about public space – EnviroCity for the summer months, with the program taking place from June 21 to June 29, 2014, in the gardens of the IPR Prague complex (Vyšehradská 57, Prague 2), and further from July 3 to September 9, 2014, in the industrial space of the Žižkov Freight Station. The meeting center will be the environmental pavilion Loop, specially prepared for this event by students of the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the Technical University in Liberec and the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, under the guidance of Marie Davidová (COLL COLL / FA ČVUT), Šimon Prokop (COLL COLL), and Martin Kloda (ARCHWERK). “The Loop pavilion is unique in that its wooden structure reacts to the surrounding environment, particularly to the amount of sunlight or relative humidity. Thanks to these properties, the pavilion can create a pleasant climate, enhancing the experience for all festival visitors,” adds Marie Davidová regarding the project.

The co-organizer of the festival is the Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague (IPR Prague), which will present topics related to architecture, urbanism, city development, and creation in a series of presentations and discussions during the festival. The EnviroCity festival program will also offer presentations and discussions on ways to invigorate urban public spaces. The cultural program will be complemented by site-specific performances inspired by the architectural object of the pavilion, as well as various games, interactive workshops, architectural walks, bicycle rides, video installations, and more. Admission to the festival is free. More at www.envirocity.cz.

The ceremonial opening of the festival, accompanied by the pavilion's vernissage, will take place on Saturday, June 21, starting at 20:00 in the outdoor area of IPR Prague. The organizers will present the project of the Loop environmental pavilion, which is conceived as an unusual type of urban furniture. The geometry of the architectural object of the pavilion will serve as inspiration for the opening site-specific dance performance prepared specifically by dancer Jana Vrána. The performance will be supported by a light show from the studio Lunchmeat.

On the first festival Sunday, June 22, the gates of the IPR Prague complex will open at 10:00, with a movement workshop for adults led by Věrka Ondrašíková and Veronika Sequensová. The workshop will focus on communication with the space and the outside world, using not only the dancer's body but also an object, in this case, wood. Participation in the workshop is not limited by previous dance or movement experience but is limited by the number of participants.

The festival program will also feature two dance performances on Sunday, June 22, both prepared in collaboration with the TANEC PRAHA 2014 festival. The performance for four dancers, one musician, and a sheet of paper titled "The World from Paper" by choreographer Mirka Eliášová is intended for the whole family and will take place at 13:00. The duo of Kateřina Dietzová and Petr Vrba, operating under the name CreWcollective, will meet for a dance-music improvisation at 17:00. The afternoon program (13:30) will also offer an interactive arts-and-movement workshop for children (ages 5–12) led by experienced instructor Jana Novorytová.

In the Sunday afternoon presentation at 15:00, the Proměny Foundation will showcase how urban greenery development can be supported through concrete practical examples. The evening presentation at 18:00 will be dedicated to the bold project of the civic association Moře klidu, which aims to convince the public that the idea of establishing an inland sea in Bohemia is not entirely unrealistic.

The Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague (IPR Prague) will address topics related to the future Strategic Plan for Prague in one of the upcoming debates – on Monday, June 23, discussions will center on active life in the city, education, mobility and transport, city administration and its institutions, prosperity, public space, and the environment. On Wednesday, June 25, IPR Prague will present the Manual for Creating Public Spaces, and on Thursday, June 26, the focus will be on the Metropolitan Plan. Festival presentations, which will take place on weekdays at 18:00, will also address issues such as community planning (Anthropictures) or original urban interventions in public space (Uličník).

The last weekend of June will also feature the sustainability of Prague's transport. Regarding the issue connected to the opening of the Blanka tunnel, Vratislav Filler will speak for the Auto*Mat initiative on Saturday, June 28, at 15:00. On the same day, regional representatives from Pardubice, Plzeň, and other Czech cities will come to discuss the role of live art in public space in a debate organized by the Nová síť network (Saturday, June 28, at 18:00). Sunday, June 29, will be dedicated to the relationship between the city and water. An afternoon presentation by Adam Vukmanov (15:00) will showcase student projects that explore possibilities for transforming urban waterfronts, specifically in the area of Prague's Kampa, to function effectively in the event of floods. The evening presentation (18:00) by the architectural platform Collaborative Collective will present various studies on the use of the Vltava riverbanks.

However, the weekend program will not only be about presentations. Attendees are cordially invited to a guided tour of the Emauzy monastery (Saturday, June 28, at 11:00), an architectural walk along the New Town embankment with Petr Kučera (Sunday, June 28, at 13:00), an origami art workshop led by Tereza Hradilková (Sunday, June 28, at 11:00), a workshop with the Rekola initiative followed by a guided bicycle ride around the area (Saturday, June 28, at 13:00), and dance performances by the duo Jan Bárta & Erikk McKenzie (Saturday, June 28, at 17:00) and Palo Kršiak (Sunday, June 29, at 20:00).

After the program at IPR Prague concludes, the festival will move to the Žižkov Freight Station (NNŽ) from July 3. The program at NNŽ is being prepared in cooperation with the Landscape Festival Prague and will be announced in the second half of June.

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