dadaisteche seminars
Dada turned 100 in 2016,and the tourism department of the city of Zürich saw this centennial as a wonderful opportunity to market the city as hub for contemporary art.I got myself involved by hosting a edition of the tv program „metropolis“,which was broadcasted on arte TV in February.I showed the film crew all the places where our temporary cultural zones used to thrive, and made good fun of the over ambitious director of the cabaret voltaire, and the general stuffiness of Zürich. Because I knew very well that the cultural department was happy with me staying where I was, I devised a scheme how they could keep it like that,so I came up with a project that would set up a dada hub in Prague.This venture was to be called the „dadaistisches Seminar“, and the main part of the project consisted of renting a retail space for artistic interventions.
I found a empty shop in the seedy area of Zizkov. I made sure that I singed a 2 year contract with the owners, so I couldn’t get kicked out of the location as fast as the last time.This space was 50m2- smaller than the last one, but it had a high celling and a small bar space in the backroom. With the help of Sophia Mara Buck, I set up the „dada log“ project, and we hosted a number of shows with established Swiss and local Czech artists in 2016 and 2017.A the same time I made use of the shop as a place for workshops for the courses I was offering in cooperation with Charles University.Once a month I hosted the „talk like a alien“ poetry show, and on the weekends small concerts, and art actions took place.We also participated in the annual street party with a dog show-needles to say my dog motoracek won the first prize in this completion.
Within a few months the place became a lively cultural centre, and again we attached quite a crowd of mostly young students and artists. As the project progressed, the party’s, after the art shows got wilder, and after various noise complaints and visits from the police I closed down the project after 23 months.The end of the project was the best bit of slapstick, with owner and his mother arriving in the middle of a techno afterparty at 7 pm on Sunday evening. Luckily for us they came before 10 pm, so we just called the cops, and after we showed them our rental contract they kicked the landlord and his hysterical mother out of the shop.