Saturday, October 4
Sunday, October 5
Daile Theatre, Chamber Hall
Brivibas iela 75
4:00 PM
Duration: 50 min.
Tickets: 5 Ls

VIDEO WINDOW (1.fragment)

VIDEO WINDOW (2.fragment)

Water Dances
A theatre of objects dancing in the water

Idea and performance: Petr Nikl
Music: Arvo Paert

Performance
The performance has been inspired by Arvo Paert's music. Water ballet of small objects and re-made toys takes place under the accompaniment of minimalist compositions. The author of the performance, Czech artist Petr Nikl states: "I have taken the role of a crazy fisherman who like a monstrous child is rummaging in the playground of his pool - In the time of memories and associations. The mirror that lies on the bottom of the pool about 5 cm deep reflects my improvised shadow play on a hanging canvas, creating a constantly moving picture. The performance has no other dramaturgy in it, except for immediate ideas, feeling of music, interaction with the audience and everything that is a part of the play. It is an open piece, which is influenced also by the space, in which it is installed."

Workshop
In collaboration with the Latvian Academy of Culture
October 1-4 Petr Nikl will lead a master class in Riga, at the Latvian Academy of Culture for the students of puppet theatre course, who after that will help the artist in the performance.

Author
Petr Nikl (1960) is a Czech artist. In 1987 he graduated from Prague Academy of Arts and in the same year became one of the founders of the artistic group "Stubborns" (Tvrdohlavi). Petr Nikl's talent gained official recognition in 1995 when he was awarded the prestigious Jindrich Chalupecky Award, named after the non-conformist art theoretician (1910-90), who researched and promoted works of art difficult to define that had received contradictory evaluations. Petr Nikl is among those artists for whom a two-dimensional canvas and contemplative solitude is not enough. In the very same year 1995 Nikl founded the puppet theatre "Mehedaha", which started out as a living-room theatre. His turning to theatre proves his personal contact with the indefinable creatures, made by himself. In the graphic drawings, installations and puppet theatre shows by Petr Nikl three key themes - dreams, the world of childhood and the world of the artist - merge together.

At the “Archa Theatre” in Prague Petr Nikl together with friends made visual musical performances, as well as stage design and costumes for opera "Opera la Serra" (1994) and productions "Inside the Mirror" (1998) and "Behind the Mirror" (1999), co-operation between Czech and South African artists.

"I like being surrounding by things and regrouping them… A great amount of energy may be found in the gaps, in the empty spaces between objects, in the relationships between them… I built a puppet theatre at home. It contains the microcosm of relationships, focal points and spaces. I like watching things in motion - their proportions, their colour, their swiftness - everything. I am fascinated by the inexhaustible character of objects." (Magazine Vytvarne umeni, 4/94)

On the basis of article by Maria Bilkova "Scholar in the Landscape of Dreams. Petr Nikl", kindly made available by the Czech Theatre Institute.

Links
Projects of Petr Nikl at the "Archa Theatre" in Prague www.archatheatre.cz/english/index.php?page=archiv_a_02
Graphic art of Petr Nikl www.galerie.chrudim.cz/nikl_grafika.htm
Biography and pictures of projects (in Czech) www.muzeum.clnet.cz/galerie/autori/nikl.htm

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