Commented screening of David Vávra: Murmuring Traces in Brazil

The Portuguese Centre in Prague, ul. Josefská 6 Prague 1, presents Oscar Niemeyer on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, with:

18:00 - Lu Jindrák Skřivánková / Exhibition opening MATA(R) &
19:00 - Commentary screening by David Vávra: Šumné stopy in Brazil

Lucie Jindrák Skřivánková: MATA(R) – In the Footsteps of Oscar Niemeyer
Curator: Susanna Horvartovičová
The exhibition will run from February 17 to March 31, 2016
The MATA(R) project – In the Footsteps of Oscar Niemeyer was created in connection with the artist's stay in the city of Brasília (2014), where she set out to explore the work of a student of Le Corbusier's international modernist school – Oscar Niemeyer. The artist created a series of paintings here based on the confrontation of Niemeyer's projects with the modernist architecture of Prague, from the former Federal Assembly by Karel Prager (1968-71) to the InterContinental hotel (1968-74) by Karel Filsak.
Based on this experience, after her stay in Brazil, a new cycle of paintings and inks was created in Prague, in which tropical vegetation floods impressive Brazilian architecture.
In the series of paintings and inks by Lucie J. Skřivánková titled MATA(R), the motif of "mata" (the jungle) emerges, disrupting the city and recreating what "matar" (to destroy; to kill) has destroyed the human being.
In the pictorial cycle MATA(R), Lucie J. Skřivánková revives the vanished jungle. She reminds us of what no longer exists: with each stroke of paint she proclaims with a gesture of humility that by destroying nature, we destroy ourselves. The artist translates the human instinct for dominion over ecosystems and biological diversity into a creative act.

19:00 David Vávra: Šumné stopy in Brazil
The Portuguese Centre will present, through the authorial duo Vávra-Lipus, the unjustly neglected and forgotten legacy of Czech architects in the world.
During the first evening of two, we cordially invite you to the commentary screening of two (to four) short episodes of the television show Šumné stopy, in which the inquisitive architect David Vávra discovers traces of Czech ingenuity in the largest country in South America. In this journey, we will trace the footprints of Czech compatriots in Brazil, visit cities founded by entrepreneur and visionary J. A. Baťa, or the Brazilian capital Brasília, built mainly thanks to the congenial collaboration between architect Oscar Niemeyer and the Brazilian president of Czech descent Juscelino Kubitschek.
1. Brazil – Bom dia!
2. Brazil – Jan Antonín Baťa
3. Brazil – Juscelino Kubitschek and Oscar Niemeyer
4. Brazil – The Dream City
We will continue the topic of Czech architecture in Brazil in March with the director of the show Šumné stopy, Radovan Lipus.

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