Landscape festival will showcase art in public space

Prague - This year's 8th edition of the Landscape Festival in Prague's Žižkov district will take place from June 19 to September 30, offering forty various artworks, installations, and interventions in public spaces. With the participation of Czech and foreign architects and artists, the organizers aim to enrich the urban environment, highlight the potential of this district, and showcase ways to improve the quality of life in cities. The Landscape Festival will kick off on June 19 with a free concert by the cult bands Dunaj and Už jsme doma in Žižkov BeerGarden. The festival will address themes of water and adaptation to climate change in several ways. Director of the organizing Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, Dan Merta, informed journalists about this today.

"I believe that citizens will adopt some installations as their own even after the festival ends. For example, the forty-meter painting by Patrik Hábl on the wall of a panel house on the traffic artery of Žižkov near Olšanského náměstí will certainly overshadow the grayness and will be liked by everyone, not just Žižkov residents," said Pavel Křeček, councilor for culture and strategic planning in Prague 3, to ČTK.

Thanks to the interactive installation Puzzle Park by Amsterdam's NL Architects, inspired by the Žižkov puzzle Patnáctka, festival visitors can create their own park. They can also taste rainwater at Havlíčkově náměstí thanks to Richard Loskot's nanofiltration drinking fountain or cool off on hot days at new water features created by architecture students from ČVUT at the corner of Jeseniova and Prokopova streets and at Radost Square. An installation by architect David Vávra will recall the atmosphere of Kostnické náměstí in 1914. The unstoppable flow of time, transience, and the power of nature will be highlighted by a giant image Waterfall by Patrik Hábl on a panel house in Kubelíkova Street. An alternative path by French artist Benedeto Buffalini will lead over the roofs of parked cars directly in front of the Žižkov Town Hall.

Most installations and interventions will come alive with dance on the weekend of June 20 and 21 as part of the Tanec Praha Plíce Žižkova festival. Over 60 performers will guide visitors and lovers of unconventional experiences through various routes at most of the landscape festival locations over both days. A number of leading dancers and choreographers have joined the project. The program is also free to access.

For the visual arts part of the program, the Landscape Festival collaborates with several local galleries, such as Atrium na Žižkově, Hunt Kastner, Nevan Contempo, or Galerie 35 m2, which nominated their artists. The program features works by Jan Turner, Vojtěch Míča, Kurt Gebauer, Jan Zdvořák, Aleš Hnízdil, or Jan Boháč and Anna Ročňová. Two murals (large-scale paintings on walls in public space), created with the support of the capital city of Prague and the Art for the City program, will also be along the route. Their authors will be street artist Timo and painter Patrik Hábl.

Until the end of September, the festival will offer a supplementary program of lectures, discussions, workshops, happenings, and exhibitions. More information can be found at www.landscape-festival.cz.