The Christmas season and the seemingly shortest month of the year had started. For the upcoming weeks we prepared a lot of culture, cabbage Christmas soups and parties, special festive programs and contemporary arty atmosphere.
Music in December in A4
Somewhere between November and December the A4 will move to the rhythm of the strong line-up and strong tradition of our very own and very international festival of contemporary music NEXT. It starts on the 28th of November and brings four days full of current music and sound art. We will welcome big names of electronic and experimental sound from around the world, Korea, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Mexico and even further.
The nineteenth edition of the festival NEXT comes with a special surround sound system from Amsterdam – eighteen speakers that will envelope the visitors and provide an intense audio experience during multiple concerts. Besides the various audio and visual moments (for example one performance happening completely in darkness) NEXT’s program is full of discussions and workshops. We are especially excited about the synthesizer one by the female electro collective Pink Noise from Czech Republic.
Two weeks after the NEXT festival A4 will welcome Slovak musician Panáčik (Stick Figure) and his audiovisual project Still Live. Somewhere between his new and old material Panáčik put together compositions that you will hear on Saturday 15.12. Futurit is a debate program that is led by music theoretician Peter Dolník. In December’s edition, he will analyze the topic of pseudonyms and authorship. We will examine how and how much our judgement and taste is influenced by the name of the artist and how much the artists themselves compromise their vision once their name gets widely known.
Music program continues at the Christmas Party that will take place on Friday the 21th! The line-up is still a mystery but the last Friday night before the holiday season has to feature you!
Christmas in December in A4
Christmas programs will be merry. Two days after the saint Nicolaus day we will start already the ninth edition of the WhatEVS event – the afternoon full of volunteering and many foreign enthusiasts. During a workshop of handmade notebook binding (or just sitting around and drinking glue-wein) you will find out about European Volunteer Service and other ways to travel and gain experiences abroad. Stories and recommendations will be shared also with our A4 volunteer girls from Spain, Georgia, France and Bulgaria.
December belongs with traditional Christmas cabbage soup called Kapustnica. Kapustnica is also a common way to refer to a Christmas party – and there’s going to be many of them in A4 in December. A4’s home theatre ensemble SkRAT has a premiere of their new play Tiene pochybnosti (Shadows of Doubt) and are serving it with Christmas soup and atmosphere. In the new cabaret the past, the present, incapability and collaboration mix. Three days after there’s another premiere by SkRAT – Nedeľné matiné – Smrťá žitá is a special program that can take you to backstage of the creative process behind making a theatre performance. You can peek behind the scenes and see how the collective work flows and also take part in it.
The combination of theatre and a Christmas party also features in our program on 18th of December. The performance Hra na budúcnosť directed by Petra Fornay is a fictional documentary full of brave humor.
Theatre in December in A4
Besides the premieres and backstages of SkRAT or the future game by Petra Fornay, the beginning of December will be marked by dance performance Out There and In Here directed by Ana Kreitmeyer and choreographed by SOnja Pregrad. On the 10th of December we will host Debris Company and their successful play Únos Európy and one day after you can look forward to the experimental solo performance by Sláva Daubnerová called UNTITLED that brings a suggestive view on the work and life of American photographer Francesca Woodman.
KINOINAK in December in A4
The December’s cinema program will be full of documentaries and big names. On the 7th of December we will start off with the film Až přijde válka directed by Jan Gebert. It’s about young boy Peter and his seemingly ordinary teenager’s life – that, however, happens alongside his intense membership and duty of voluntary army called Slovenskí branci. A different Peter – the ona that challenges the contemporary society in a rather opposite way – is portrayed in a new documentary Prípad Kalmus by Adam Hanuljak. Peter Kalmus is known as an activist, performer and a destroyer of public displays of affection towards dictators and totalitarian regimes. Work of another artist, Alexander Mlynarčík will be examined in the film Inde in our new section film x art, that brings films about fine arts. And the last week we will take a close look at the musician Dežo Ursiny in the film by Matej Beneš and Maroš Šlapeta.