CDD: Children's Day at DOX

Open art workshops for the current exhibitions of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.

Pictures, installations, lights, films, experiments, and emotions. All this and open seminars and workshops for current exhibitions at DOX and in the Spielraum Kollektiv light laboratory. An afternoon with contemporary art for children and the child in their parents.

Programme

Initials
An open workshop connected with the exhibition HIT BY NEWS

Fonts and alphabets can take various forms. While they have always served primarily to convey meaning, we can also find some that play with their own appearance, as if they themselves are characters in a story – letters that are beautiful, mysterious, stern, or humorous. In this huge exhibition dedicated to art that responds to printed materials and the media, we can find countless such protagonist letters. All we need to do is discreetly borrow them and adapt them, and then our story springs to life – our initials.

Silhouette
An open workshop connected with the exhibition Radka Bodzewicz: FAUST

Have you ever seen the picture of a duck and rabbit in one? It’s often used to show how our vision works and our ability to attach meaning to an image (and thus to see either a duck or a rabbit at any given moment). Radka Bodzewicz’s exhibition FAUST is full of these kinds of images and silhouettes as well as some even more mysterious ones. This is partly because the story of Doctor Faust is ambiguous, and its various versions demonstrate both the dark and light sides of human nature. It’s also partly due to the artist’s painting technique itself. Reach out and try to grasp its elusiveness for yourself – see what you can see.

A Fluid Self-image
An open workshop connected with the exhibition Jiří Petrbok: Patient Diary

We are beings that change over time, both outside and in. This is illustrated beautifully by the exhibition Patient Diary by Jiří Petrbok, a painter and long-time teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Since time immemorial, masks have been an interesting tool for concealing oneself. At the same time, however, masks can reveal and convey many hidden things. Let’s try to express our current state of mind using not only masks but also collage, text, or a combination of them all. What’s more, a mask doesn’t have to go on your face or head; you can make a mask for your hand or another part of your body. Artist and experienced teacher Darina Alster will lead us in this identity game.

Forgotten Things
An open workshop connected with the exhibition Point of View 4: Resilience

The current educational exhibition at DOX deals with the theme of resilience, an idea that was suggested by young participants in our school programmes. For Kid’s Day we will focus on a single work from the exhibition – an installation by Serbian artist Katarina Šević. For now, we won’t reveal anything more than the title of the workshop. We’re proceeding from the premise that there are many things in the world today which we can’t agree about with our loved ones, neighbours, and colleagues, but sometimes it’s good to put the issue on the table, take a step back, and look at it from different angles. And then shape it.

Light for Two
A visual and musical production (work in progress) by the ensemble Spielraum Kollektiv

Inspired by the book Två av allt (Two of Everything) by Swedish author Rose Lagercrantz, this story follows two children whose friendship and mutual support endures, even in difficult times when they are forced to part ways and abandon their home due to a war. The children learn to face uncertainty, find courage, and discover how the power of friendship helps overcome obstacles – themes that remain relevant today, when separation, migration, and uncertainty are once again becoming a part of reality for many people.

With a child audience in mind, the production raises the question of democracy’s fragility and how historical experiences of violence and division continue to shape the present. Spielraum Kollektiv works with images created live on an overhead projector as well as music and on-stage actions. The result is a poetic collage of words, light, and images that opens up space for children’s imaginations and encourages collective discovery.

The project is a collaboration by an international team (CZE/DEU/SVN/SRB).

Concept and directing: Linda Straub
Dramaturgy: Linda Straub, Mathias Straub
Performers and musicians: Nikola Isaković, Jana Nunčič, Linda Straub, Anežka Matoušková
Music and sound design: Anežka Matoušková
Stage design: Jana Nunčič, Mathias Straub