Ars Poetica 2010

Concerts

Handagote: Metalmusic vol 1

freestyle performance

Designed by: Kropáček, Procházka, Smolík, Vaniš

Metal music performed by Handa gote will hone the expectations with waiting, trying and experiencing the introspection of metal: Through the Sound, that above all, (thumping, clinking, booming, strumming, creaking up to the steely silence; metal as a rhythm); Through the Mask (face to face with metal: tin head of the mutant from the beginnings of Sci-Fi, the latest Transformer by Matel, tin voice); through Canned Strawberries; through „customized" Rituals, or through whatever remains of the ritual stripped of ovations and pathos. Unallied authentic necessity it all has to be.

Four characters stuck in space. Have the hunch that something essential had already happened and they have to face the post status. So much could happen, yet it doesn't. And they endure without seizures. Four weird entities, noble hybrids, losers who are nevertheless irresistible; the type for which the spectators have a soft spot; and the disturbing awareness of some relatedness.

KRRAAKKK

Jennifer de Felice – double-bass, computer, voice
Pavel Johančík - electric guitar, sounds
Jiří Macháček - violin, sounds
Beáta Spáčilová - VJing
The group of musicians from Brno and Ostrava emphasizing the visual aspect of music (e.g., graphic form of composition). They approach their sound installations in a rational manner, with a predesigned structure of the work in progress, but also intuitively, as a response to sound and musical impulses sent by other members of the band. The instrumental and sonic component is complemented with sound based on melody, as well as on the spoken word. KRRAAKKK was formed as a response to the exhibition staged by Jan Steklík, the doyen of the Czech conceptual art. The show will be accompanied with visual performance given by Beáta Spáčilová from the Brno School of Fine Arts.

Musica Falsa et Ficta, Andrej Gál / SVK

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in F sharp major
Andrej Gál, cello / Miro Tóth, artistic director / Marek Piaček, conductor

Conservative principles in music are often described as dead. But musically dead can also be the Describer, practically the one, that complains about the actual state of music. So who is really dead? The answer to this question will be given by histories in the future. They are actually too young to give answers to such questions, but our goal is to bring perhaps just a bit of light by their improvised music into the problem. Musica Falsa et Ficta practices collective improvisation. It's a group of about 40 young musicians, mostly studying at the Conservatory in Bratislava and at the High School of Music in Bratislva + guests. Each one of these musicians brings his own personal view of music into the proces of improvisation. They try to combine music created by classicall instruments with electronics (laptops, effects ...) and they move on the edge of composition, improvisation and interpretation in real time.

ALI IBN RACHID

Evelin Tóth

Evelin Tóth started singing at the age of seven. After her classical studies she specialised in a number of exotic techniques (South-Indian, North-African, Sephardic). Since then, she has worked out her own voice technique, which is based on the concept of using the body as an instrument for improvisation, where the different techniques result in the free use of voice, and enhance the depicting ability of it.

ORANŻADA

Polish band, formed in 2002, by Robert Derlatka, Michał Krysztofiak, and Artur Rzempołuch. Few years before they played together under name of Pawilony. Oranżada discography consist three albums, taking a part of many prestige culture projects, performing a lot in Poland, Germany, Slovakia. Band's recordings may be found on a several compilations released in Poland and EU countries. The band has its own style, called by their fans as a "psychodelicious". Trying to classified unambiguously their music style, we will find some difficulties – punk energy and a sound of West German's krautrock could be found in their music. Sometimes on their recordings appear hippy psychedelia spirit or a trace of noise-rock.

Films

Milky road HU / DE

Wednesday 6th October 5 p.m., Poland Insttut

May / CZ

Wednesday 6th October 6 p. m., Klub 35 mm

May (Máj), directed by: F.A. Brabec, 2008, far., 80 min, DVD, original sound

The epic history draws on the masterpiece of the Czech Romanticism and eponymous poem by Karel Hynek Mácha. Love and passion, but also guilt and punishment, it all takes place in the film May against the backdrop of nature – the demonic and careless power which, as an omnipresent being beats to its own rhythm confronted with human passions. The film offers a good story, great acting, enchanting images and modern film music, which combines guitar parties of the Support Lesbiens band with a symphony orchestra.

3 Seasons in Hell / CZ / SVK / DE

Wednesday 6th October 8 p.m., Klub 35 mm

3 Seasons in Hell (3 sezóny v pekle), directed by: Tomáš Mašín, 2009, far., 110 min, 35 mm, original sound

It is 1947, time auspicious for sensuousness, extravagance, humour and endless expectations. The elegant fop and witty prankster Ivan Heinz has just turned 19. He leaves home only to begin an unconventional journey celebrating freedom and artistic ideals. Action-packed life is rife with inspiring erotic games, guffaws, period dance music, but also the dramatic political upheavals. The Communist regime starts to show its repressive face... The director, Tomáš Mašín, drew his inspiration from Egon Bondy's book The First Ten Years. His ambition was not to make an autobiographic film. Nevertheless, he was enthralled with the poignant story he found in the diary notes.

The Black Sea / IT

Wednesday 6th October 8 p. m., Taliansky inštitút

The Black Sea (Mar nero), directed by: Federico Bondi, 2008, 95 min., DVD, original sound

Two women live in one house in the suburb of Florence. Gemma is an elderly widow. Her nurse, Angela, is a young Romanian girl, who has just arrived in Italy. The two women, whose lives are initially very different, gradually befriend each other. Discovering that they have a lot in common, they forge a strong bond; until Angela's life is uprooted by unforseeable tragedy.

Magician / ČSSR

Thursday 7th October 6 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Magician (Mág), directed by: František Vláčil, 1987, 87 min, DVD, original sound

A poetic film directed by František Vláčil was inspired by the last four years in life of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha (1810-1836). Playing with the double meaning, the title (period transcription of Mácha's famous poem Máj) attempts to hint at the magic power of the Romantic poet, whose work and life are inseparably intertwined.

Cold Souls / FR / USA

Thursday 7th October 8 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Cold Souls, directed by: Sophie Barthes, 2009, far., 101 min, 35 mm, original sound, Slovak subtitles

After demanding rehearsals of the Chekhov's drama, Uncle Vanya, Paul is emotionally exhausted. As chance would have it, he comes across the „Soul storage", a privately-run laboratory offering New York citizens a relief from burdens weighing them down. Paul decides to hire a new soul which allegedly belonged to an unknown Russian poet. Although the soul gives him a thorough understanding of his role in the Chekhov drama, it also leads him into a strange world far removed from reality.

The Story of the Weeping Camel / DE

Thursday 7th October 8 p. m., Taliansky inštitút

The Story of the Weeping Camel (La storia del cammello che piange), directed by: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, 2003, documentary, 87 min., DVD, original sound

The film made by two directors narrates the story of a nomadic family in the south of Mongolia which lives in a perfect harmony with their environment and the surrounding wilderness. The documentary is rife with poetry, purifying our view of the „Western" man, distorted by our life style and corrugated values. The film was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award.

Early Melons /SVK

Friday 8th October 5 p. m., Poľský inštitút

Selection of the winning films of the 3. year of Early Melons Festival. Early Melons is the International Student Film Festival in Bratislava, founded in 2007. They bring diverse selection of Slovak and European student film to the audience, help create a picture of current student development at home but also abroad. Selection of awarded films includes: 100 days 100 dní (100 day, V. Čákanyová, CZ), Ďakujem, dobre (Many Thanks, M. Prikler, SVK), Viliam (V. Obertová, SVK), Posrednikat (Messenger, D. Sholev, BUL), Ptaki nieloty (Birds Without Wings, M. Dawidowicz, PL), 59/184/84 (L. Kokeš, CZ), Parade (Parade, P.-E. Lyett, FR) a Hiding Myself (M. Plachta Holý, SVK).

A Little Mad Robinson / SVK

Friday 8th October 6 p. m., Klub 35 mm

A Little Mad Robinson (Malý zúrivý Robinson), directed by: Tina Diosi, 2009, colour, 72 min, DVD, original sound

An unusual portrait of the tragically deceased poet, Jožo Urban, whose writings, despite his short life, influenced the social and cultural developments in Slovakia. He was, above all, a bohemian and rebel, more clairvoyant than his fellow poets. This commemorative road movie about the journey of his three friends retracing the footsteps of their deceased buddy – the unfathomable maverick, who lived in the whirlwind of love, desires and passions – is, at the same time, a probe into the period preceding the Velvet Revolution.

Sweet Rush / PL

Friday 8th October 8 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Sweet Rush (Tatarak), directed by: Andrzej Wajda, 2009, colour, 85 min, feature film, 35 mm, original sound, Slovak subtitles

Andrzej Wajda's latest film returns to the fiction of the classical writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. It features the story of ageing Marta whose husband is permanently busy leaving her to fight boredom and loneliness. Unexpectedly, she meets a young man and enjoys her second youth. The story is interspersed with the personal confession of the actress Krystyna Janda, who decided to share her personal sorrow over the loss of a beloved person. Wajda's film is a multi-layered directorial masterpiece pondering the thin line between life and death.

Dark Eyes / USA / ZSSR / IT

Friday 8th October 8 p. m., Taliansky inštitút

Dark Eyes (Oči čiornie/ Dark Eyes), directed by: Nikita Michalkov, 1987, 118 min., DVD, original sound

Michalkov's adaptation of Chekchov's short story The Lady with the Little Dog is rendered with a twist of irony and detachment. For his performance in the role of a truant husband remembering his great love, Marchello Mastroianni won the Cannes Film Festival award and was nominated for Oscar.

Action Animation / PL

Saturday 9th October 5 p. m., Poľský inštitút

Action Animation accurately portraits youngest generation of animated film makers in Poland.

A wide variety of topics and problems: nostalgic stories about the transience and loneliness are intertwined with the bitterly criticized consumerism. Delicate films about love in contrast to the sad visions of the future. The authors attempt to film psychoanalysis and "playing chess" with the memories. The selection of titles reflects the diversity of techniques used by the contemporary film artists in Poland: a classical and computer animation, the stories painted directly into the camera - on the glass and canvas, collages and drawings, and the live cutouts. Action Animation is also a record of changes that have taken place in the Polish animation in the last two decades.

The Noose / CZ

Saturday 9th October 6 p. m., Klub 35 mm

The Noose (Smyčka), directed by: Viktor Polesný, 2009, far., 105 min, DVD, original sound

A political thriller taking place in 1948. After WW II, Jan Soukup, a thirty-year-old poet, becomes member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party Central Committee. When the secret police (StB) plans to eliminate Fisher, a social democratic politician, Soukup, bona fide, assists the StB. When he realizes his mistake, it is too late. The film's broad reach, as well as engrossing details unveil the inhuman practices of Communism.

Stones / SVK

Saturday 9th October 8 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Kamene/Stones, directed by: Katarína Kerekesová, 2010, far., 26 min, animated musical

There are ten men working in a quarry. They are like the stones they move every day to the mechanical rhythm of work. One night, the rhythm is disrupted. The quarry is visited by the foreman's wife. She infuses the bleak environment with feeling and humanity. All too soon, however, she comes to realize that the quarry is not the right place for her.

Surviving Life / SVK / CZ

Saturday 9th October 8 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Surviving Life (Přežít svůj život), directed by: Jan Švankmajer, 2010, far., 105 min, 35 mm, original sound

Evžen lives a double life. One is real, the other one unfolds in his dreams. In his real life, he has his wife, Milada, in his dream world he has a young mistress, Evženia. The Poète maudit, Gérard de Nerval, wrote: „Dream is the second life." The latest Švankmajer's film endeavours to prove it.

Fest Anča fičí / SVK

Sunday 9th October 6 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Fest Anča Fičí offers a selection of the winner and other excellent movies of the international festival of animated cartoons Fest Anča, which usually takes place in mid summer at the Station in Žilina. During the year, the festival tours to various towns in Slovakia and abroad to promote cartoons for adult or otherwise demanding audience. It is meant to entertain, but good cartoons can also get one good.

Anča award #1: Staré tesáky / Old Fangs / IR / 2009 / Adrien Merigeau
Anča award #2: Viliam / SVK / 2009 / Veronika Obertová
Anča award #3: Mydlo na ruky / Hand Soap / JAP / 2008 / Kei Oyama

Special Jury Award:
Hot Dogy u Sama / Sam's Hot Dogs / GB / 2009 / David Lopez Retamero
Nespavosť ťa nezabije / Nespavanje ne ubija / CRO / 2010 / Marko Meštrovic
TAKMER award: Klobúk / Hat / DE / 2010 / Michael Fragstein

Snow White and Russian Red / PL

Sunday 9th October 8 p. m., Klub 35 mm

Snow White and Russian Red (Wojna polsko-ruska), directed by: Xawery Zulawski, 2009, far., 108 min, DVD, original sound, English a Slovak subtitles

Adaptation of the controversial literary debut of the eighteen-year-old Dorota Maslowska tells the story of a tough nationalist and anti-Semite, Silny, who hangs out with drug addicts and desperate losers. The film is a poetical, sincere and disturbing portrait of love, despair and political burn-out in the contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

Lectures

Rod Mengham: Experimental Forms in Contemporary British Poetry / UK

Wednesday 6th October, 11 a.m., G236, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Komenského

Rod Mengham is Reader in Modern English Literature at the University of Cambridge, where he is also Curator of Works of Art at Jesus College. He is the author of books on Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte and Henry Green, as well as of The Descent of Language (1993). He has edited collections of essays on contemporary fiction, violence and avant-garde art, and the fiction of the 1940s. He has written on art for various magazines and composes the catalogues for the biennial 'Sculpture in the Close' exhibition, at Jesus College, Cambridge. He is also the editor of the Equipage series of poetry pamphlets and co-editor and co-translator of Altered State: the New Polish Poetry (2003). His own poems have been published under the title Unsung: New and Selected Poems (1996; 2001).

Ewa Zadrzynska: My Favourite Poem / PL

Thursday 7th October, 5 p.m., Poľský inštitút

The international project, which springs from the integrating power of Poetry, introduces the medium as an instrument of mutual understanding in Europe. The project's goal is to promote poetry and poetry readers, in the hope that their enthusiasm will be contagious to thousands, if not millions, of their fellow European citizens. "Poetry Unites-My Favorite Poem" was inspired by the American Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky's program - "Favorite Poem". The project consists of a series of 5-minute films, shown on TV, the Internet and cinemas, in each of which a particular poetry lover speaks about his or her life in the context of presenting a favorite poem. Initial broadcasts began on Polish National Television in February 2006. The screenings of the films took place in France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Israel and Hungary.

Martin Procházka: Romantic Pluralism: Poetry, Nature, Subjectivity / CZ

Friday 8th October, 9.30 a.m., Ústav slovenskej literatúry SAV

Martin Procházka – Department of Anglophone Literatures & Cultures, Faculty of Arts, Charles University.

The lecture deals with the relations of the Romantic expressive aesthetics with the concept of nature and subject, in particular, the transformation of Romantic idealization of nature as a simulacrum or phantasm, the problem of experience in the early Romantic philosophy (Schelling), and the relation between the Romantic poetry and science.

Discussion

Poetry and Science / SVK

Friday 8th October, 2 p.m., Slovenský rozhlas, studio 5

European Round Table on Publishing and Editing Poetry

Saturday 9th October, 3 p.m., A4 Nultý priestor

The round table bringing together both editors and poets will feature original and translated poetry publication opportunities in leading contemporary magazines around Europe and beyond.