Educational programmes for grades 6–9

How do our activities affect events on the other side of the world? What influence do they have on people from different cultures? What can we learn from them?
Czech painter Otto Placht lives with a tribe in the Amazon jungle. In his work, he combines native and modern artistic traditions. We will work with his painting Grass to enter into the depths of the jungle while creating our own depiction of the rich diversity we stand to lose if we do not take proper care of our planet.

Who are the people that Josef Čapek captured in his paintings? Why did he paint them? Why do the figures look like they have been composed from geometric shapes?
In this programme, we will work with Čapek’s Organ Grinder to introduce students to the world of geometric shapes and people who have been less fortunate in life than others.

How are we influenced by chance or by a predetermined order? What are structure and line?
In his paintings, Zdeněk Sýkora moved from realistic images to geometric abstraction while applying mathematical principle to his art. Participants will attempt to create a painting using an unusual random-order method.

What are prejudices? Where do they come from? How do they affect us? What kinds of prejudices existed under communism in the Czech Republic? What might have determined them?
Participants will learn about the work of Jaroslav Vožniak as they become part of a Dada performance in the spirit of the Šmidrové art group, of which Vožniak was a member. Throughout his artistic career, Vožniak’s work was characterized by the group’s absurd wildness, which among other things reflected the irrational and atmosphere of surveillance of Czechoslovakia’s social and political scene at the time.