The word “samizdat” appropriates the Soviet words for “self-publishing,” used in the past to refer to the underground production of prohibited or regime-critical texts. Today, “samizdat” continues to be a form of resistance-by-existence: literally “self” publishing — assertions of “being” through private & public actions, zine-making, broadcasting, vlogging, graffiti & other ephemeral, site-specific means. In the face of war, genocide & other existential forms of oppression, the refusal to be “erased” may represent the ultimate act of resistance, in the awareness that NOTHING ELSE NEED BE EXPECTED OF IT. In this, it radicalises the old idea of aesthetic autonomy, the liberty of those who — even by a momentary act — do not vanish
Prague Microfestival (PMF) & Object:Paradise, in collaboration with Ha!Art (Krakow) & the Lviv Art Centre, seek to open a discussion with local artists, activists & theorists engaged in collective & individual resistance against the neo-Soviet regime’s world-devouring nihilism.
PRAGUE MICROFESTIVAL (PMF) is an annual fusion of experimental art, writing, film, theory, dance, music & performance: a multilingual laboratory for critical cultural dialogue. Past themes have included Decolonisation, Futurism, Resistance & Experiment, & Rage Against the Algorithm.
OBJECT:PARADISE is a Prague-based performance collective that creates “happenings” as a form of experiential, context-dependent poetry. Their public interventions are recorded in a series of film documentaries (OBJECT:PRAHA), radio broadcasts (OBJECT:PARODY) & zines (KROTCH).