Offcity workshop: 2nd summer workshop at Mlýnský dvůr

During three holiday weekend workshops on July 22–23, 2017, August 12–13, 2017, and September 2–3, 2017, we aim to inhabit the courtyard of the Automatic Mills in Pardubice. After a very successful first workshop where we collectively built a bar, a lot of furniture, a sandbox, a wheeled swing, and several other small items, we will continue to create more furniture, something for children, and this time mainly greenery with everyone interested.

On Saturday, August 12, and Sunday, August 13, 2017, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, we will be creating containers for plants, planting them with herbs, perennials, shrubs, and perhaps even smaller trees. We will finish, but also invent and assemble more furniture, paint, pour concrete, sew, and decorate what has already been produced. Everyone who wants to lend a hand is welcome, whether for just a moment or for the entire day or two.

If you would like to work with us, we would appreciate it if you could bring your tools. This time we will mainly use gardening tools – shovels, spades, rakes, planting spades. Everything will again be labeled with the owner's name. We will definitely make use of surplus plants from your gardens. If certain plants are uncontrollably spreading, or if they are no longer suitable for you and you know you will have to say goodbye to them in the autumn, dig them up now and bring them with you to the Automatic Mills. We will find the right spot for all plants and will strive to ensure they survive transplanting at not entirely suitable times. Any amount of quality soil will also come in handy. If you are unsure whether the plants or soil are suitable or when and how to transport them to the mill premises, contact Karolína at the phone number below.

Since the production of furniture from pallets proved successful, we will focus on it again this weekend. However, we have easily used up the first batch of pallets, so we ask those who have the opportunity to obtain more to get in touch with us. We would like part of the furniture to be truly mobile, so we are looking for wheels of all sizes with a load capacity of over 100 kg. Wheels and casters can be parts of old carts, scooters, children's bikes, and anything else on wheels. They will be most needed for finishing the bar.

For small concrete items, various bowls, dishes, boxes, and cups that can be destroyed will be useful. The call still stands that we welcome old wooden chairs, discarded school chairs, barware, clean metal barrels, and similar large containers for plants.

To uplift the spirit, an accompanying cultural program is once again prepared for everyone: persistent workers, DIY enthusiasts, helpers, passersby, both adults and children. From Saturday afternoon, saws, grinders, and drills will be accompanied by a duo of DJs from Chrudim: DJ Tracy and Captain Horse. Their purely vinyl sets in the rhythm of downtempo, trip-hop, dub, and electra will subtly transition into swing rhythm around 5 PM. After the successful tango dance party, this time we have prepared a swing dance party, also with an open lesson led by experienced instructors and dancers from Swing Busters, a Prague dance studio that focuses on dances from the 1930s and 1940s. On Sunday at 2 PM, we invite both the small and the big to the performance of the Anička and the Little Airplane theater: A Little Evening Sprig, after which as a bonus there will be a small creative workshop with the great Anička.

The project to revitalize the mill courtyard is led by a group of two artists and one architect (Kateřina Jirsová, Anička Krtičková, Karolína Koupalová), the Offcity association, and our other friends and helpers who have a heartfelt connection with the Automatic Mills.

The program would not be possible without the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the statutory city of Pardubice, and the Czech Architecture Foundation and without the kind assistance of Divadlo 29, the Gallery of the City of Pardubice, the Terra Madoda association, the Smetana couple, and all the involved artists and friends.

WEEKEND PROGRAM

Saturday, August 12, 2017
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Open Workshop
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Collecting the Memory of Mills
From 2:00 PM DJ Tracy (Mighty Souljahs) & Captain Horse
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Swing Dance Party / Open Lindy Hop Dance Lesson

Sunday, August 13, 2017
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Open Workshop
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Collecting the Memory of Mills
2:00 PM Anička and the Little Airplane: A Little Evening Sprig & Workshop

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