PROGRAM NASTEVŘENO 2025 / En
The Nastevřeno Festival brings contemporary live art and regional theatrical production, focusing on the Southern Suburb – a district undergoing transformation – physically, socially, and environmentally. The thematic focus of this year’s edition is the space on the edge between past and future, function and dysfunction, home and transit. We ask: Who are the people living here? And who could – or would want to – use these places in the future?
At the same time, the festival broadens the perspective on public space toward wider questions of transformation: from energy to identity, and to places and landscapes that are disappearing, emerging, or changing beyond recognition. Artists from the Czech Republic and abroad will present various views of a world transforming in real time, through performances, theatre productions, sound interventions, public space games, and shared experiences.
Nastevřeno 2025 invites us to slow down, to observe, but also to ask: When is the time to act? Where does the space for contemplation end and the space for responsibility begin?
WEDNESDAY May 14 / OPENING
SUGAR CUBE | Community Cleanup
Wednesday 16:00 – 18:00 / Park in front of the former Central Canteen Production Facility, Škoda Works, Korandova 17 /
One forgotten place. A few hands unafraid of dirt. The festival of action art begins in a site soon to disappear – in the park outside an abandoned industrial kitchen. This year’s festival is dedicated to the overlooked and forgotten spaces around us, approached through a shared act of transformation. Sugar Cube – whether sweet or gritty – is the first taste. We invite everyone who wants to take part in a meeting of art, care, and the transformation of public space. After the event, a communal feast awaits. Come help launch the festival together and show that public space belongs to you too!
Festival Opening and Community Feast
Wednesday 18:00 / Ivan Martin Jirous Bridge – in front of Moving Station /
The official opening of the festival will take place on the bridge in front of Moving Station – a place that connects the neighborhood, people, and stories. We’ll gather for a performative feast featuring unusual flavors and diverse cuisines. Come taste, meet neighbors you may not yet know, and get to know the festival guests around one shared table.
Divadlo Na Peróne: SAD NEWS FROM A SAD LANDSCAPE + Discussion | Theatre
Wednesday 19:00 / Main Hall Moving Station /
Presented as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the project Pilsen – European Capital of Culture 2015.
Beyond seven mountains, seven mines, and seven border crossings lies a landscape where tears fall like rain and sorrow pours endlessly. A land where flowers barely bloom before they wilt. In this nearly deserted region stands a small, worn-out, barely functioning hotel, where a mother, her daughter, and a single employee dutifully carry on the craft of hotelkeeping. What happens when, after many years, someone chooses to return? And is there any point in leaving at all? Is the grass really greener elsewhere—or just drier and more scorched than here? Sad News from a Sad Landscape offers a hyperbolic response to these questions, reflecting on the motivations behind departure—physical or otherwise. Miscommunication can lead to devastating consequences.
The play, inspired by Albert Camus (himself inspired by a newspaper article and his travels across Europe), is a meditation on searching, hope, meaning, and the absence of God. Part Beckett, part Burton or Kafka, and very much life itself—in its most existential crisis and the mud we sink into. Perhaps even Godot checks into the charmingly ugly hotel… or maybe he won’t come at all. Let’s wait. Let’s see. Let’s hope.
Text: Jana Wernerová, Tereza Trusinová
Concept: Jana Wernerová, Peter Kočiš
Direction: Jana Wernerová
Dramaturgy: Mário Drgoňa
Set & Costume Design: Daša Krištofovičová
Music: Miro Tóth
Lighting: Martin Sovič
Sound: Palko Matia
Production: Peter Kočiš, Jana Wernerová
Cast: Jana Wernerová, Anna Suráková, Alexandra Sokolová, Michaela Domovcová, Jakub Muranský, Peter Kočiš
A post-show discussion will follow in the Small Hall at Moving Station.
THURSDAY May 15
Sviatlana Silich & Yanina Arlova: Ghost Charging / performance
Thursday 17:30 / Husovo square /
The performance Ghost Charging explores the act of charging as an exchange of energy between natural and human-made systems. The artists use biodegradable materials such as eggshells and algae, blending art with science. Through biocomposite “chargers,” or so-called anti-chargers, they return energy to the Earth. The piece incorporates interactive tactile activities—like massaging screens—that highlight physical interaction with technology. The project merges ecological responsibility, sensory experience, and sustainable scenography, inspiring a new relationship with both nature and technology.
Yanina Arlova and Sviatlana Silich are performers, theatre practitioners and visual artists. They collaborate on projects exploring new forms, biomaterials, and the relationships between humans, nature, and technology. Together, they created the performance We Are, the Octopus for the Alfred ve Dvoře Theatre. Sviatlana Silich is also a co-founder of the PYL collective—a theatre group grounded in critique of anthropocentric worldviews and known for its distinctive visual language based on DIY principles.
Čtvrtník – Opletalová – Vavřínová – Žůrek: THE GOLDEN ASS / Theatre
Thursday 19:00 / Main Hall Moving Station /
The Golden Ass is a puppet theatre production for adults, delivering humor, exaggeration, and strong emotions set against the backdrop of ancient Rome. Director Jan Žůrek, drawing on his own experiences in politics, brings to life a story full of love, hate, magic, and unexpected twists. The creative team combines traditional puppets with contemporary themes and features original live music by Elisa Sofie Opletalová. The Golden Ass bridges tradition with pressing social questions and will resonate with audiences seeking bold, innovative artistic experiences.
Cast: Jan Čtvrtník, Elisa Sofie Opletalová a Johana Vavřínová
Music: Elisa Sofie Opletalová
Script & Direction: Jan Žůrek
t.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e.: MUTANTE / performance
Thursday 20:30 / Park in front of the former Central Canteen Production Facility, Škoda Works, Korandova 17 /
Mutante is a duet between a performer and a live musician. In this hybrid work created in Vietnam, choreographers and visual artists Pierre Larauza and Emmanuelle Vincent pursue their intermedial quest between dance and sculpture, questioning the notion of sculpted movement. They team up with the Franco-Vietnamese dj D A N G, who makes the noisy and lively streets of Saigon resound on stage, superimposing his deep electronic beats on traditional music. Mutante is inspired by a distinctive feature of urban life in Vietnam, where women riding motorbikes completely cover their bodies and faces to protect themselves from the sun and smog. As dusk falls, they uncover themselves, revealing energetic and powerful bodies. t.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e. interprets this transformation through a choreography of concealment, opening a dialogue about the „mutation“ of female identity. Mutante is a celebration of emancipation and the presence of women in urban space.
t.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e, founded in 2003 in Hong Kong by Emmanuelle Vincent and Pierre Larauza, merges dance with visual art, creating choreographies in hybrid forms where scenography plays a central role. Since relocating to Brussels in 2004, they have performed around the world—from Europe to Asia and Africa—appearing at international festivals, in galleries, museums, and public spaces. Their multidisciplinary approach blurs the boundaries between art forms and challenges traditional notions of audience experience. Their projects have been presented in more than 25 countries across five continents.
FRIDAY May 16
Lucie Páchová: THE BODY IN WAITING / Sound Installation
Friday 14:00 – 18:00 / CAN, Bus Station – Hall /
A vibrational, binaural sound installation for one waiting visitor. An intense, immersive relaxation massage with sounds and vibrations created by the voice and low sine waves for visitors waiting for a bus. This experience is for those who are not in a rush, who are not afraid to sit in a chair that offers an alternative to dull benches. The perception of gentle vibrations from the resonating chair, which permeate the entire body, connects with the sound impulses felt through headphones. The multichannel sound creates a specific audio-corporeal experience.
Lucie Páchová is a sound artist, contemporary composer, experimental musician, and improviser. Her work includes multimedia projects, sound installations, performances, and sound art compositions. She writes for various musical groups, composes chamber and orchestral music, and actively engages in educational and organizational initiatives. She also leads workshops on voice, improvisation, and field recording. She studied multimedia composition at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where she completed a doctoral study focused on the theory of free improvisation. Her long-standing and most prominent ensemble is the band Talaqpo, which presents music inspired mainly by travels across East Africa.
THE SECRET CORNERS OF JIŽNÍ PŘEDMĚSTÍ / Guided Walk
Friday 14:00 / Meeting point in front of Moving Station /
How far does the festival reach? And what happens beyond the main stage? Join the curator for a walk through the hidden corners of the Jižní Předměstí—along the long wall of the Škoda Works and beyond, to places where art intersects with everyday life. We’ll make stops at familiar as well as abandoned locations, take a look at the curatorial intentions, and hear a few stories from around the corner.
Bassam Abou Diab: DABKE FUSION / workshop
Friday 15:00 – 18:00 / Emil Škoda Park, near the Bus Station /
Dabke Fusion is a contemporary dance workshop inspired by the vibrant folk dance of the Levant region,specifically focusing on the Lebanese dabke from the Bekaa plains. It explores the concepts of weight and lightness in movement, emphasizing strength, softness, angles, and curves through elements like jumping, bouncing, and shaking. The workshop offers a playful and energetic atmosphere, allowing participants to explore these movement qualities in an interactive environment.
Bassam Abou Diab began his professional career as an actor and dancer specializing in traditional Lebanese dance. He studied theatre and acting before transitioning to contemporary dance. He was a long-time member of the Maqamat Dance Company. His solo creative research focused on Arab religious rituals in physical theatre, laying the foundation for his choreographic works The Siege/L’Assedio in Italy and Home in New York. He later gained international recognition with performances such as Under the Flesh, Of What I Remember, Eternal, and Pina My Love. In 2021, he founded Beirut Physical Lab to support emerging artists in contemporary dance.
UHO: OPENING HOURS / performance
Friday 18:00 / CAN Bus Station /
Will you have UHO—universal brown sauce—or caviar? Doesn’t matter—we’re closed. And I want a smoke. An interactive, site-specific performance and installation created for a closed-down station buffet.
UHO—short for HO HO collective. Or perhaps universal brown sauce (in Czech, UHO is also slang for a bland school-lunch gravy). Or maybe just something universal. Depends how you look at it. This multi-genre ensemble was formed at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts as a new, young collective of women artists—Saša Reljićová, Julie Marečková, and Kateřina Urbánková—seeking a space for self-expression through artistic practice, blending dance, physical theatre, and performance.
Eliška Brtnická: THIN SKIN / performance
Friday 19:00 / Main Hall Moving Station /
Thin Skin is a meditative piece of movement-based installation. The world appears as a graphic model, a landscape of lines. Metal rods intersect with the bodies of performers who attentively respond to the physical feedback of the material—their partner in motion. Moving sculptures emerge and dissolve. Their archetypal skeletons can be wrapped in meanings or simply left to flow. The body leaves its imprint in matter, an image lingers in the mind, time bends. This “intuitive physics” demonstrates the most fundamental principles of existence within the Earth’s gravitational field.
Trapeze artist Eliška Brtnická has long been engaged in artistic research within the realm of contemporary circus. She asks: What is a trapeze? What forms can it take? How does this shape influence bodily movement, and what does that movement communicate to the viewer? Her work is marked by strong visual elements. In Thin Skin, she approaches the trapeze as a kinetic and active sculpture. It is deconstructed, its parameters radically altered—its new protagonist, a long, slender iron rod.
Trapeze artist Eliška Brtnická has long been engaged in artistic research within the realm of contemporary circus. She asks: What is a trapeze? What forms can it take? How does this shape influence bodily movement, and what does that movement communicate to the viewer? Her work is marked by strong visual elements. In Thin Skin, she approaches the trapeze as a kinetic and active sculpture. It is deconstructed, its parameters radically altered—its new protagonist, a long, slender iron rod.
created and performed by: Eliška Brtnická a Alžběta Tichá
sound design: Stanislav Abrahám, Roman Džačár
lighting design: Martin Špetlík
light technician: Prokop Vondruška
costumes: Tereza Kopecká
materials: Prokop Vondruška
video: Kryštof Čížek
Exorcist Gesamtkunstwerk: BETON BALLET / performance
Friday 20:30 / Moving Station – Hall /
Beton Ballet is a performance inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s iconic Triadic Ballet, which merges inventive synthesis of form and movement while gradually losing its original meaning and emotional weight. Perhaps it once visualized a dream of a safe and beautiful world—a world that some were lucky enough to inhabit, even if only briefly. In this work, the collective ЭG turns its attention to resistance—to the lifeless, soulless matter that has become an everyday presence. They explore this concept by creating a costume made of concrete, a material choice that fundamentally shapes the nature of the performance. The result is a sculpture, inspired by Schlemmer’s aesthetics, formed live before the eyes of the audience. As the material hardens, the performer becomes completely immobilized. The most important—and simultaneously most hopeful—moment of the event is the destruction of the sculpture.
Exorcist Gesamtkunstwerk (ЭG) is a multimedia performance group founded in 2011 in Belarus, currently based in Montenegro. Their work conceptually explores post-sculpture, continually asking: How can the traditional sculptural form be revitalized through performative gesture? Their motto is: “The sculptor as performer, the performer as sculpture.” The group is known for bold, raw performances that draw from existential experiences and cultural narratives. Since 2011, they have created around 50 performances across Montenegro, Germany, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Belarus. In addition to their own work, they organize collective performative events, such as the International Post-Sculpture Festival at the Zair Azgur Museum.
DJ Martin Meise & DJ Spleen / Party
Friday 21:30 / Main Hall – Moving Station /
A DJ set packed with deep beats and hypnotic techno. The official festival party.
SATURDAY May 17
Iza Štrumbelj Oblak: WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO BE AN ARTIST / Interactive Performance
Saturday 13:00 – 17:00 / Park in front of the former Central Kitchen Factory, Škoda, Korandova 17 /
Let’s transform the cafeteria, park, and their immediate surroundings into a space where the harshness of adulthood has no place, and where childlike unorthodoxy is a value in itself. Let’s create a carefree zone where everyone can have fun and ignore the opinions of others, filled with exaggerated concerns and responsibilities. The main method will be play – the common denominator of our childhood, a medium for learning, socializing, and discovery. The event When I Grow Up, I Want to Be an Artist consists of several participatory actions in the form of joint games and challenges, grounded in our shared past.
Iza Štrumbelj Oblak graduated in Photography from VIST – Faculty of Applied Sciences in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She continued her studies in the Master of Fine Arts program at the HDK-Valand Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden. In her artistic practice, she mostly works in the realm of performative and participatory art, which she often combines with video and photography. Drawing inspiration from her daily needs and desires, her projects serve as a tool for engaging with society, fulfilling personal aspirations, and confronting her fears. By placing art in public spaces, she aims to encourage people to question their established ways of life and expand the boundaries of what is possible, acceptable, and joyful.
Asli Hatipoglu: MASSAGE PARLOUR / performance a wellness
Saturday 14:00, 15:00 and 18:00 / – limited capacity, reserve your spot here / School on Nerudova Street /
A special massage parlour where visitors are invited to both give and receive massages—not to people, but to yeast and bacteria—as part of a collective preparation of a fermented drink. The entire experience is guided by a fictional instructor in an unusually conceived space that playfully challenges conventional ideas of hygiene and personal boundaries. Guests are served drinks created through this communal fermentation process, which raises questions about whether traditional food practices requiring direct bodily contact—whether by hand or foot—can still survive in the age of capitalism.
Asli Hatipoğlu (TH/TU) is a multimedia artist whose practice centers on interdisciplinary social projects: participatory dinners and installations curated against the backdrop of culinary history and agricultural politics. She highlights the changing nature of our relationship with food. From microscopic bacteria to domesticated silkworms, Hatipoğlu’s work critically reflects on our connection to the environment and ourselves. Through performative actions, she explores production and supply chains to reveal how humanity influences other organisms.
Bea Kovács: DRY SPELLS / interactive performance
Saturday 15:00 and 16:00 / limited capacity, reserve your spot here / Park in front of the former Central Dining Factory, Škoda, Korandova 17 /
Alcohol is a fundamental part of our society — it accompanies rituals of celebration, sorrow, and bonding, and is the most acceptable way to alter our consciousness. The spirits we consume deeply affect the body and mind, and while drunkenness can be harsh, the abstinence phase often opens the door to real hell. Everyone toasts the drinker, but few know how to care for the alcoholic. People get angry when you refuse a drink but disappear when addiction truly takes hold of you. In a reinterpretation of the Japanese tea ceremony, the author invites us to the outskirts of Plzeň’s South Suburb, where we will collectively explore states of consciousness shaped by alcohol. While the tea ceremony cleanses and replenishes, alcohol is often associated with traces and decay. Participants will choose their own path and, during the journey, taste two Transylvanian teas with healing properties.
This event carries no moral message, just observation. We will explore our deeply ingrained human need to fill our mouths and minds with intoxicants — only to escape the one thing that always catches up with us: reality.
Bea Kovács is a versatile Hungarian writer, editor, theater critic, and cultural journalist from Romania. Bea specializes in personal storytelling, using first-person narratives that focus on individual experiences and emotions. The outline of her debut novel, focusing on experiences from her hometown, won the Communitas Artistic Fellowship for Literature in 2021. Her work often explores the intersection of inner landscapes and urban spaces, employing techniques such as dérive and mindfulness meditation.
Emel-Elizabeth Tuulik: THE RECIPE OF BELONGING / performance
Saturday 17:00 / Park in front of the former Central Dining Factory, Škoda, Korandova 17 /
The Recipe for Belonging is an event that explores the surprising culinary intersections of Czech and Vietnamese cuisines. Through identical and commonly used ingredients, it connects different cultures and opens a space for reflection on food as a carrier of identity, memory, and belonging.
Emel-Elizabeth Tuulik is a performer and writer working in several cities across Europe. Her work focuses on female narratives and mythology. In her performances, she brings to life around 20 alter egos, from figures in ancient mythology to TikTok culture, thereby concealing her own identity.
Bassam Abou Diab: UNDER THE FLESH / performance
Saturday 19:00 / Big Hall, Moving Station /
How does the body react to the threat of death? What survival tools does it create? Under the Flesh is a contemporary dance performance that explores the body in a war context – its instincts, memory, and survival abilities.
Bassam Abou Diab began his professional career as an actor and dancer in traditional Lebanese dance. He studied theater science and acting, later transitioning into contemporary dance. He was long associated with the Maqamat Dance Company. His solo creative research focused on Arab religious rituals in physical theater, laying the groundwork for his choreographic works The Siege/L’Assedio in Italy and Home in New York. His international recognition grew with performances such as Under the Flesh, Of What I Remember, Eternal, and Pina my Love. In 2021, he founded the Beirut Physical Lab to support emerging artists in contemporary dance.
Angela Nwagbo: CONFLUENCE / performance
Saturday 20:15 / Big Hall, Moving Station /
Czech-Nigerian performer Angela Nwagbo presents a personal account of cultural, linguistic, and social identity in her performance Confluence. In dialogue with Senegalese percussionist Siaka Toure, the artist addresses themes of ethnic identity and interculturalism, telling a story of seeking cultural, linguistic, and social belonging. The work oscillates between physical theater, dance, documentary, and anthropological theater, reflecting the journey of self-discovery for a Czech of mixed heritage. Through artistic means like music and fashion, which blend African and Slavic folklore, and a unique physical language combining Western and African dance, Confluence brings closer the still utopian idea of harmony between African and European cultures. Angela Nwagbo is a multidisciplinary performer of Czech-Nigerian origin. Siaka Toure is a polyvalent percussionist and kora player from Senegal
Filip Jakš: SOUND OF ARCHITECTURE / Sound Performance
Saturday 21:00 / Meeting point in front of Moving Station /
Filip Jakš amplifies and brings life to the spaces where he performs a composition, in which columns, walls, and metal elements themselves become musical instruments. In his work, he explores the acoustic possibilities of industrial spaces and locations with the potential to resonate. Through his performances, he engages with the concept of site-specific, focusing on how a space comes to life when we assign it meaning, memories, or content. He is fascinated by forgotten buildings where the original purpose has faded, the space has fallen silent, and it has lost its original „language.“ In abandoned spaces, new meanings can resurface when exposed to sounds that awaken our imagination. What was the noise that once reigned there? The purpose of this event is to revive the idea of the space through playing on what remains of the building, thereby assigning new meaning to a place that has lost its original function.
Filip Jakš is an exhibition curator, contemporary art theorist (PhD graduate from the Academy of Art in Prague), musician, and sound artist. His work explores themes such as the invisibility of art, the boundaries between conceptual art and concrete poetry, and the search for the sound form of art. In his practice, he transforms various spaces into wind, rhythmic, or string instruments. He often draws inspiration from the space where his concerts take place or from phenomena and sounds present in the environment.
SUNDAY May 18
Terrain: THE VISIT / Theatre / performance
Sunday 11:00 and 15:00 / Small Hall, Moving Station /
A slightly odd hostess lives in a space with animals, mushrooms, and dreamlike creatures. She cooks colors from flowers, herbs, fruits, and spices, and enjoys painting. While doing so, she either remains silent or mumbles something. She will be happy if you come to visit, see the paintings, sit down, and experience the miracle of a shared meeting. If you wish, you can paint and drink some juice.
The Visit is a theatre performance for children, their parents, and everyone who enjoys visiting. Visit is an attempt to show things up close. To approach the moment when color is born, to feel how it soaks into the paper, to see how the brush is held, how it glides across the surface, or how it resists. It’s a look at ordinary and simple things that, when observed closely, speak the language of miracles. The performance is a conversation between painter and illustrator Veronika Vlková and puppeteer and scenographer Robert Smolík. It is a dialogue at the crossroads of an exhibition and theatre.
Visual artist Robert Smolík primarily works in puppet-making, illustration, and scenography. He contributed to the puppets for the film Kuky se vrací (Kuky Returns) and was nominated for a Czech Lion award for Film Scenography for Čertí brko (The Devil’s Feather). He collaborates with various theatres such as Alfred ve dvoře / Motus and companies like Buchty a loutky and Handa Gote Research and Development. He currently works as an assistant professor at DAMU in the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre. Artist Veronika Vlková focuses primarily on illustrating children’s books, which she creates in collaboration with visual artist Jan Šrámek. Their latest books include the award-winning To je metro čéče and Apolenka z modrotisku (Apolenka from Blue Print), for which the duo received the Illustrator of the Year award at the Czech Grand Design 2020. She works in the Malba 3 studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno.
