The summer holidays are halfway through, and so too is the UPROSTŘED multi-genre festival, bringing life to the streets of Brno in the hottest months. Brno’s cultural program also continues elsewhere throughout August and September, with street performances, celebrations for Brno Day, and opportunities to cool off in the Brno underground or the calm of the city’s churches.
Created specially for UPROSTŘED, a fashion show entitled ‘Undressed Emotions’ will liven up the park on Moravské náměstí on 19 August, accompanied by live music. The show was created by Nikola Kovářová and Adam Vejtasa, graduates from the Secondary School of Art and Design and the Brno Higher Vocational School. The program will include performances by Jam in X (Sun 4.8, Old Town Hall), Robin Schenk and his band (Wed 14.8, Old Town Hall), Anode (Sat 17.8, trida Kapitana Jarose), and “Back to the Fifties”, a stylish swing dance event in Denisovy sady on 20 August.
The last day of the festival will be dedicated to the memory of 21 August 1968. In connection with the National Memory Institute, there will be a performance of a production by the FESTE Theater of the Powerless at the Old Town Hall, followed by a screening of the film ‘Viktor Fajnberg: Dissident to madness’ and a debate with guests.
TIC BRNO is also hosting two other festivals in August. The Historical Brno Day (16-18 August) will transport the city back to the time of the Thirty Years’ War and the siege of Brno by Swedish troops. 25-27 August will see the 20th year of the family theatre festival Na prknech, dlažbě i trávě (‘On the stages, floors and grass’), featuring street theatre, a modern circus, and concerts in Björnsuv sad.
In the water tanks at Zluty Kopec, the #VodojeMyArt is continuing through the summer, including an ‘accordion happening’ on Saturday 10 August at 11am and 12pm as part of the Brno Music Marathon festival. Two more concerts are taking place within the unusual acoustic properties of the reservoir as part of of the festival Brno ŽIVĚ: Session 56 sec: on 14 August from 5pm, an experimental performance from Rhys Braddock with the band Blind Künstler, and a month later on 11 September, the saxophone and voice combination of Dorota Barová will resound through the space.
The scenic project Svědomí (‘Conscience’) will take place in the third water tank as part of the ProART festival, from 7pm on 9-10 September. The dance show about the conscience of an individual and of the whole society over several dance generations is the work of the prominent Brno choreographer Luboš Ogoun, and at the same time a metaphor for decisions taken by the elites, but which affect the whole of humanity.
Finally, for those who want to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, every Friday in August there will be special candlelit tours of the ossuary under St. James’ Church, enhancing the peaceful experience of this sacred place. The ‘Brno and its churches’ project will see the churches of Brno open to the public until 15 September; the project will end on 11 September with a lecture on ‘The Life and Death of Priest Josef Toufar’ by writer Miloš Doležal, winner of the Magnesia Litera prize, at 5.30 pm in the Capuchin Monastery.
