News

ARCHITECTURE DAY AT ALFRED

28.09. 2014

Alfred open its gate on 5th October from noon to 3PM, as a part of Architecture Day. Guided tour (in czech) by prof. Ctibor Turba starts at 1PM.

In 1997 mime, choreographer, director, and professor Ctibor Turba opened the Divadlo mimů Alfred ve dvoře (Alfred in the Courtyard, the Theatre of Mimes). During the following two years 11 performances were created in the theatre, which went on to be presented at international festivals, while foreign groups' performances came to the Alfred. In March 2001 professor Turba decided to give up the artistic and organizational management of the Alfred ve dvoře theatre and hand over its spaces to the Motus association.

Alfred ve dvoře (Alfred in the Courtyard), the stage for new theatre, presents progressive performance works and unique creation-based projects. The focus is on contemporary directions in live art, especially on physical theatre, visual performance and experimental works.

Motus, Prague is the platform around which many prominent Prague-based independent artist groups have been formed since 2001, including: Krepsko, Handa Gote Research and Development, Secondhand Women, Wariot Ideal, Stage Code, Boca Loca Lab, and DoMA/At Home. Individual artist/creators working at the Alfred ve dvoře have included Ioana Mona Popovici, Petra Tejnorová, Andrea Miltnerová, Anna Polívková, Petr Šourek, Martina Musilová, Howard Lotker, Dušan D. Pařízek, Jakub Folvarčný and many others.

Works created by those artists repeatedly represent Czech culture and innovation abroad among other in London, Berlin, Zurich, Budapest, Sofia, Zagreb, Aarhus, New York, Seoul or in Caracas.

The architects of the building of the theatre are akad. arch. Jindřich Smetana and ing. arch. Tomáš Kulík (http://www.anima-tech.cz), the construction took place October 1996 - March 1997. The Alfred ve dvoře theatre is one of the few newly-built 20th century Prague theatres constructed specifically to operate as a theatre space. The building has the character of a garden theatre pavilion. Its concept of portals arranged in steps and interconnected with glass panes allows for optimal geometry inside the space and also corresponds with the park-like design of the courtyard. It is certainly the only theatre built after 1989 whose construction was supported by the City of Prague. Actual construction work was conducted by Metrostav.