White. Blue. Red• Boat performance

MeetFactory, The French Institute in Prague and Strasbourg-based contemporary arts centre CEAAC celebrate the 10th anniversary of cooperation on a cruise in the cold waters of the Vltava river. 

Colors of the elements: water, air, fire, but also colors of the Czech and French flags. Do different nations perceive colors differently?

Let's look at national identity as a set of gifts we bring as guests to a visit. Stereotypes, flaws, national values, and issues don't necessarily have to set us apart, but they can enable mutual communication. Diversity is a condition of dialogue, and national symbols set its tone and shape. All to create supranational understanding, exchange, conversation that proves that while we are all the same, yet so different at the same time.

Accept our invitation to a special anniversary cruise from the French Embassy in Malá Strana to Smíchov's MeetFactory. With a crew led by the artistic trio Darja Lukjanenko, Jakub Polach & Tereza Silon and curators Michał Łukaszuk & Piotr Sikora, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Czech-French exchange between the A-i-R MeetFactory residency programme, the French Institute in Prague & CEAAC. We set sail on Friday 12th April at 6pm from Občanská plovárna in Prague 1. 

Did you know that on April 12th, Vostok 3KA was launched into space? It was the first spaceship to carry a man into orbit. In her performance, Darja Lukjanenko will attempt to reach the cosmic void using a new method - without rockets and colonial aspirations. What is the method? The only way to find out is to check for yourself - shh, be careful though not to wake the artist.

Tereza Silon is going to confront the element of water. Water is soft, oblique, penetrating, yet tumultuous and powerful. There are all shapes and intensities of love songs, reaching far across the horizon and beneath the water's surface. They transcend all imaginary borders and cause illegitimate armies to crumble. Tie yourself to the mast of the ship to avoid being pulled under, or loosen the ties and undergo transformation.

Jakub Polách has prepared a journey, a social-media-fueled video essay dedicated to the theme of nationalism in the contemporary world. With a post-ironic take on nationalist tendencies, the voice in the background lectures about the origins of nationalism, highlighting its most prominent features: spreading lies about the past, harboring hatred toward neighbors, and embracing the same illusions about the future. What is the alternative to this obsolete concept, which often serves as a dividing rather than a uniting element?

Bio

Darja Lukjanenko works as an interdisciplinary artist. She navigates across performance, text, and combined techniques. She studied journalism in Ukraine and is currently studying at UMPRUM in Prague. Her creative process is based on practices of stimulating empathy, studying the position of non-humanism, and exploring forms of relationships without dominance. Since 2022, she has been mapping the processes of decolonizing Ukrainian culture and archiving the Russian war in Ukrainian mythology.

Tereza Silon (ona/they/none&all) is an interdisciplinary artist working mostly in the medium of performance, performance and embodied research. They are also a bodyworker, poet, writer and experimental sensorial herbalist with a foundation in clinical naturopathy. long term, they work with embodiment and physicality, feminist queer perspectives, socialnatural ecologies, collective body/ies and a desire to open spaces for generative intimacy/ies for all despite extractive systems we are forced to inhabit. Recently they´ve been re-igniting their interests in voicework, (abolitionist) kink/bdsm, the human and the vegetal realms and their love relationships. A sense of awe grants them a strong sense of playful alignment and inspiration.

Jakub Polách is a micro-influencer, TikToker, and designer. In his practice, he oscillates between academic activities, memes, and chatting. He has long been devoted to exploring disoriented TikTok organisms and other internet subcultures. If he were streaming, he wouldn't even know he was streaming

The event is free of charge, but due to limited capacity it is necessary to register in advance via air.intern@meetfactory.cz. 
The cruise departs at 18:00 from Občanská plovárna (U Plovárny 1, 118 00 Prague 1).

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White. Blue. Red • Cruise performance
12. 4. 2024, 18:00 — 20:00
Darja Lukjanenko, Jakub Polach, Tereza Silon
curators: Michał Łukaszuk, Piotr Sikora  
 

The event is part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the cooperation between MeetFactory, the French Institute and CEAAC in Strasbourg. The event continues at the MeetFactory with a dernissage of the two current exhibitons: Vladimír Skrepl's Pliant Skin and Botond Keresztesi & Stach Szumski – Dungeon Keepers: Earlier than Primordial Middle Ages. This event is also free and no registration is required.