In a spectacular new venue at Hybernská 4, Prague 1, Prague Microfestival is staging its biggest ever cultural showcase in nine years of running. 24 writers from 12 countries will read over 4 days, 18-21 May. Artists, musicians, and performers from all over the world will show their work, from New York to writers from the Faculty of Arts’ literary presses. The festival is run and administered by students of Charles University, with guidance from the International Arts Centre Prague (IAC) and Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at the Faculty of Arts.
Prague Microfestival, however, remains proudly integrated with Czech culture. It is fully bilingual and delivers all performances in both Czech and English, staging Czech authors and artists where they belong alongside the best of international contemporary arts and writing. The festival will welcome highly regarded poets, including Molly Antopol, Michal Ajvaz, and Mary Caponegro, and installations and collaborations from well-known contemporary artists such as Mark Divo, Paul Chaney, and Jaromír Typlt and Michal Rataj.
This year’s festival will also launch the first Prague Microfestival Prize for Poetry: Prague’s only open poetry competition. Anyone can submit unpublished work, in either Czech or English. The winner will enjoy a stage slot in the festival finale, publication in the festival zine, and a professional literary translation into either Czech or English (details for entry can be found on the website).
Founded as a literary festival, Prague Microfestival continues to support local writing and publishing. A bookfair will showcase Prague’s independent publishing, including TVAR, Psi Vino, Equus Press, Literaria Pragensia. Both Equus Press and Literaria Pragensia are based out of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at the Department for Anglophone Literatures and Cultures at the Faculty of Arts and feature a wide variety of fictional and academic texts. Patrons will be able to drink beer and browse books simultaneously, as the bar, open 16:00-00:00, is located among the books. Visitors can then pop past the bar into the MICROSHOW, a pop-up art gallery, or next door to the unique sound installation by Jaromír Typlt and Michal Rataj.
Prague Microfestival will also host a number of critical symposia: MICROLAB, an experimental conference themed as a science laboratory, will focus on Prague as a “petri dish” of influences, and on current and future arts theory and practice. This will take place on the upper floor of Hybernská 4, 16:00-18:00 daily. Emerging thinkers, students, and young academics will present and discuss their current work. A few open slots remain: check the website for submission details. PMF will welcome activists and thinkers from Greenpeace, Konsent, and A2larm to speak in the gallery, daily from 18:00-19:00.
Centre-stage is reserved for the readings. The newly founded International Arts Centre (IAC) Prague has made the best of the venue, with the height and acoustics of a chapel, and the white walls and industrial features of a white cube warehouse gallery, staging writers and poets until 10pm, followed by live music until midnight.
Though incorporating writers, musicians and artists from around the world, PMF remains a student run and university-based project. Our enthusiastic and innovative team of interns are students from the Faculty of Arts, many of who are Erasmus students from all around Europe and our leaders are partially lecturers and professors from the Faculty as well.
As well as an arts space, PMF is a place for people to meet, and for all its internationalism it remains a friendly place for discovery and discourse. As a fully bilingual and inclusive arts experience with an amazingly diverse offering, it promises something for everyone.
Prague Microfestival 9 takes place 18-21 May 2017 at Hybernská 4, 16:00-00:00.
Website: http://www.praguemicrofestival.com/.
