Festival invites viewers to the Federal Assembly

Prague - The International Theater Festival 4 + 4 Days in Motion was launched this afternoon with an exhibition in the building of the former Federal Assembly. It is named Popular Utopia, and its author Aneta Mona Chisa has installed old television screens in the foyer with video projections by Czech and Slovak artists reflecting the period before 1989 and its remnants in people's actions and thoughts.
    The main program of the festival opened tonight at the Archa Theater with the controversial depiction of contemporary love adapted into the pop opera Ballad of Ricky and Ronny by the famous Belgian company Needcompany. It is characterized by texts in several languages, dance, acrobatics, and above all, pervasive provocation. The performance tells the story of two middle-class, middle-aged individuals who "have everything except a reason to be happy."
    The festival 4 + 4 Days in Motion always introduces not only dance and movement theater but also little-known spaces of the capital to its visitors. After abandoned industrial spaces, an ice stadium, a zoo, and other venues, the 14th edition will partly take place in the former Federal Assembly. A large part of the program will therefore also focus on modern architecture.
    This year’s festival, according to its director Pavel Štorek, has ventured more than previous ones in choosing international guests beyond Europe. In addition to Czech creators, artists from ten other countries will perform. The organizers highlight the world-renowned Israeli choreographer Yasmeen Godder, who will perform on Sunday and Monday at the Archa Theater, the Polish Teatr Cinema, which mixes elements of pantomime, musical, dance, and theater, and an intimate look into the backstage of female friendship presented by two African dancers.
    According to Štorek, the main themes of the program are intimacy, fragility, authentic emotions, love, intimate human encounters, and feelings of loneliness, each author, however, approaches these themes in their own way.
    In the building of the Federal Assembly, now managed by the National Museum, in addition to the exhibition, there will be performances, concerts, lectures on architecture, and a unique project focusing on the figure of architect Karel Prager. He completed the building in the late 1960s and is therefore the author of its final form, which has been declared a cultural monument. The project SPAM - Karel Gott Prager is being prepared by Vladimir 518, Ondřej Anděra, and David Vrbík. Audiences are expected to see "something between a concert and an informational composition."