KAFKUS HYBERNSKÁ 2024 - Týden Franze Kafky v kampusu Hybernská

For five days, the Hybernská campus will be transformed into a laboratory in search of the essence of Kafka's genius, whose legacy often remains under the superficial layer of the tourist boom. Staged readings, panel discussions, educational workshops, pop-up galleries, site-specific performances and musical performances – all of these activities will aim to bring Kafka's unique mythology to life.

Join us in uncovering the mysterious, but also hilarious and mischievous face of Franz Kafka, change the way you look at the important author and discover new dimensions of his work. Drawing on the topologies of Kafka's prose and diaries, we will transform the spaces of Kampus Hybernská into places that evoke Kafka's literary work. Either in the sense of immersive theatre, in which the spectator moves freely in a defined space and can follow the staged situations on the basis of his own decision or even enter them himself, or in the site-specific sense, i.e. by staging them in a space that is unconventional and explicitly non-theatrical.

The Hybernská campus, which in essence builds cultural spaces in unconventional places – basement galleries, transforming raw spaces into halls for artistic performances – is almost an ingenious place for a unique „kafkaesque“ experience. What is the definition of the adjective, established in so many languages today – Kafkaesque? And does it have a positive meaning? Academic discussions, interactive seminars, and other presentations will be an integral part of the programme, bringing the academic perspective closer to students, those interested in the work of Franz Kafka, and the general public.

Further information: www.kampushybernska.cz.

18. 3. Warming up
HYB4 Film: Playing Kafka Showcase
20:00 – 22:00 | C.0 Čítárna
The Prague video game studio Charles Games in cooperation with the Goethe Institute is preparing a new interactive treatment of selected works by Franz Kafka called Playing Kafka. A lecture with the developers will introduce the public version of the first part of the game The Process.

MAIN PROGRAM

📚 19. 3. Tuesday
opening
Cirkulární hub A.0:
18:00 Zahájení KAFKUS HYBERNSKÁ 2024 + Screening of the premiere of a short film by animator Bety Suchanová „Vítej doma“ (Welcome home).
19:15 Opening of the pop-up gallery: guided tour of the exhibition about Franz Kafka called „Exit“.

Hlavní sál E.0:
19:30 – 23:00 HYB4 Hudba: Die Verwandlung (DE; The Metamorphosis) „Was he an animal, that music could move him so?“ (Franz Kafka – The Metamorphosis)
A Hamburg trio interpreting the worlds of Franz Kafka in their original work.
Narrative essences, atmospheric soundscapes, words, body and voice: „Die Verwandlung“ (The Metamorphosis) works with music and stagecraft to bring Franz Kafka's literature to the stage.

📚 20. 3. Wednesday
HYB4 Čítárna
19:00 – 20:30 Podcast Lit live: What about KAfka today?
Kafka died 100 years ago. And because his work didn't burn in Max Brod's stove, we're still reading it today. Can Kafka still spark our enthusiasm? Or depression? A live recording of the Radio Wave Lit podcast with Honza Dlouhy, Eva Soukeníková and their guests.

Hlavní sál E.0.
20:30 – 22:00 Hyb4 Divadlo: Kafka has left the building
The documentary-fictional Prague performance-cabaret Das Thema – To téma stages Kafka a hundred years after his death in its own unbiased way. In a maze of clichés and anniversary celebrations, it asks what is left of Kafka today. It explores the intersection between the writer's life and work and the commercialisation of both.

📚 21. 3. Thursday
Hlavní sál E.0
20:00 – 21:00 HYB4 Hudba: KAFK Marold Langer-Philippsen (DE) + Lotus Wash (CZ)
Marold Langer-Philippsen's (DE) auditory journey in the footsteps of Franz Kafka with the technical means of his time – radio, telephone, speech, typewriter and newspaper. The radio and media artist, performer and scenic artist is originally from Munich and lives between Berlin and Bratislava. David Herzig (Lotus Wash) (CZ) is one of the leading underground producers of the Czech electronic scene. His music represents spontaneous communication between man and machine.

📚 22. 3. Friday
Čítárna C.0
18:30 – 19:30 Pub Quiz: For a beer with Kafka
Who really was Franz Kafka? A writer, a philosopher, but also a Jew, a German and a Prague resident. Come and learn more about his multilingual identity and experience Prague in the first half of the 20th century.

📚 23. 3. Saturday
Prostory KH
18:00 – 23:00 Collecvtive Performace Kafkův snář (Kafka's dream)
The week-long programme entitled Kafkus Hybernská 2024 will culminate in a collective performance that for several hours transforms the courtyards and cellars of the Campus into bizarre scenes from the works of Franz Kafka. There will be reading, typing, insurance, dancing, starving and music-making. We're interested in Kafka the sly, Kafka the green, Kafka the funny and Kafka the dark, Kafka the lovelorn. The main theme is the dream and the goal: an ocean cruise! A few dozen ghosts, a few hours before sailing: a dream journey, a journey to the grave, a journey to a new world. Kafka says: „You have dressed up ridiculously for this world.“

The unrepeatable collective performance „Kafkův snář“ (Kafka's dream), which will revive the spirit of Kafka's works. The event will involve performers of different backgrounds.

Vojtěch Bárta, Petr Borkovec, Kamil Bouška, Timofey Golev, KALD DAMU students, IRMA sound ensemble, Richard Kramár, Anna Luňáková, Ondřej Macl, Jane Scalabroni, Mariana Senftová, Alžběta Stančáková, Vojtěch Vacek and others.

A programme for primary and secondary schools in Didaktikon has also been running all week. You can see this programme here.

The aim of the project is to re-establish a relationship with the work and life of Franz Kafka, despite the school curriculum and established social myths. Revisiting and rediscovering what is commonly associated with Kafka – and through him, with German Prague – one hundred years after his death.

Organized by: Kampus Hybernská, z.ú.

project partners: Univerzita Karlova, Goethe Institut, Kafka 2024
Patronage: Velvyslanectví Spolkové republiky Německo v Praze
Financial support: Česko-německý fond budoucnosti

Author of the visual: Bety Suchanová