s e j n b o h e m i ae r o s a
"It was the nature that created them so precisely.
These pyramids surround and divide the rocky landscape".
Bohuslao Balbino: Miscellanea Historica Regni Bohemiae, 1679
Bohemiae Rosa Bohemian Paradise trailer / Speleum Veneris
p a r t i c i p a n t s j o u r n a l
d r a w i n g s I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII
B o h e m i ae R o s a V
S i t e B o d y E x p l o r a t i o n
Bohemian Paradise
26 August - 2 September 2003
International Interdisciplinary Open-Air Workshop for dancers and artists exploring the relation among body, art and landscape by Milos Sejn, Frank van de Ven and guest teachers Vera Jirousova and Vaclav Cilek
Bohemiae Rosa Project
Academy of Fine Arts in Prague
Terra Felix Association
Czech Republic
Since 1995 Milos Sejn and Frank van de Ven have co-operated in their bi-annual interdisciplinary open air Body-Site Explorations in various National Reserves in the Czech Republic. Earlier projects took place in Kokorin Valley, Plasy Monastery, Bohemian Karst and in Bechyne Monastery and the Luznice River.
This 5th edition of the Bohemiae Rosa Project, which will take place in an area known as 'Bohemian Paradise', is connected with the extended effort of the Terra Felix Association and proposes to investigate 'Site Specific' through the integral theme of w a l k i n g. Visual artists, poets, dancers and different specialists in historical landscape will be working in and wandering through the Bohemian Paradise landscape.
We will explore the relations between body, landscape and art. The body is a landscape in itself moving within the larger frame of the given surrounding environment. In analogy with the various physical and imaginary layers of the landscape formations, we will elaborate the multiple layers of the body and see how they correspond and resound within different environments.
We will focus on:
- process of walking and wandering, walking silently, pilgrimage, by day and night
- various ways of experiencing one's body and 'tasting' aspects of the landscape
- processional experiences, working with time, peripatetic records, drawing, writing, immediate contact with the elements of the landscape
- mental topography of a location, myth, archaic mind and genius loci
- geology, archaeology and history of the Bohemian Paradise as a model of self: layers, vertical connections, labyrinths, joy and melancholy
The workshop expects a creative and open participation of 15-20 artists as well as interested students. No previous (dance) training is necessary but the workshop will be physically and mentally demanding, therefore a good overall condition is required. Trekking and staying in the open, in itself, will provide an entrance into the body/landscape theme. At the last day of the workshop (September 2, from 19.30 to 21.30), the public can view a two-hour "on line live presentation" at: http://www.radiojeleni.cz
Milos Sejn works in the fields of visual art, performance and study of visual perception, and conducts workshops, such as Bohemiae Rosa. Currently he teaches multimedia and the relationship of nature and art as needs of the mind at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and focuses on immediate creative possibilities, based upon relations between historical humanized landscapes and intact nature. http://www.avu.cz CD ROMs: Colorvm Natvrae Varietas (Centrum for Culture and Communication in Budapest c3, 2000); Make Your Own Island/Make Your Own Forest (Utrecht School of the Arts, Institute for postgraduate and professional higher education in the Arts, 2001)
Frank van de Ven is a dancer and director who spend his formative years in Japan working with Min Tanaka and the Maijuku Performance Company. In 1993 he founded with Katerina Bakatsaki 'Body Weather Amsterdam' as a platform for training and performance. Interest in practice and theory led to working with other dancers and theorists in extracting concrete strategies for dance from the theories of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari evolving around the question 'How to make yourself a Dancing Body Without Organs'. Together with Peter Snow (Monash University) he performs the famed Thought/Action Improvisations. An ongoing collaboration exists with musician Daniel Schorno, artistic director of Steim in the 'Noughts' project.
Vera Jirousova is poetess and art historian. Her interest lies in connecting visual art to expression in words and she has prepared many exhibitions, recently on the work of Czech/French poet and artist Bohuslav Reynek. She currently works as curator in National Literature Monument in Prague.
Vaclav Cilek is a Quaternary geologist who specializes in landscape development, past changes and interactions between prehistoric cultures and the environment. He teaches students of cultural anthropology at Charles University, CR, Prague and North-western University in Evanston, USA. He is interested in the narrow area where archaic mind is confronted with contemporary culture.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
DATES
26 August - 2 September 2003, arrival day 25 August
LOCATION
Meeting Place: Palace of Wallenstein - Museum, Valdstejnovo nám. 1 (town square), 50601 Jicín, Czech Republic
phone: +420-493532204,
E-mail: muzeumhry@centrum.cz
Accessible by train Prague, Main station - Nymburk - Jicín or by bus Prague Florenc (direction to Spindleruv Mlyn, station nr. 23) or by car from Prague, cross Mladá Boleslav
FEE
Workshop Fee (including Bohemiae Rosa CD ROM):
Euro 300 (students Euro 250)
(adapted price for Czech participants, please contact us)
The fee includes insurance and membership.
Accommodation in landscape and food provided by Bohemiae Rosa Foundation.
Travel expenses cannot be reimbursed.
Fees will be collected upon the arrival of the participants (25 August).
The number of participants is limited. We recommend early applications.
Please bring sleeping bag, backpack, tent, warm and waterproof clothes, raincoat and hiking boots for eight days living outdoors.
Make sure your equipment is in good condition! We will walk for 8 days through the Czech Paradise (Cesky Raj) and camp in varied places. To ensure
the maximum freedom of exercises and concentration during our walking excess
luggage will be transported by car.
APPLICATION
Send a statement describing your motivation for participation
including a short biography, before 31 July 2003 to Bohemiae Rosa,
Milos Sejn, Pod Lipami 906, 50601 Jicin, Czech Republic
or to E-mails: bohemiaerosa@tiscali.cz
INFORMATION
Frank van de Ven / frank.bwl@wanadoo.nl
Milos Sejn / bohemiaerosa@tiscali.cz
http://home.tiscali.cz/bohemiaerosa
http://www.cesky-raj.info/engli
*site n., pl. -s [Latin situs "place, position", from sinere "to leave, place, lay"] 1. the actual or planned location 2 the place or scene of something (a camp site) / site vt., to place on a site or in position: locate
*body n., pl. -ies [OE, bodig, cask] 1. the whole physical substance of a man, animal or plant 2. the trunk of a man or animal 3. a corpse 4. [Colloq.] a person 5. a distinct mass [a body of water] 6. a distinct group of people or things 7. the main part 8. substance or consistency, as of liquid 9. richness of flavor
*landscape n., pl. -s [Dutsch landschap, from land + -schap "-ship"] 1. a picture of natural inland scenery 2. a portion of land that the eye can see in one glance
*wander vb., wan-dered, wan-der-ing [OE, wandrian] 1. to move about aimlessly or without a fixed course or goal: ramble 2a to deviate (as from a course): stray 2b to go astray morally: err 2c to lose normal mental contact (as delirium or madness)
*walk n., pl. -s [vb OE, wealkan "to roll, toss"] 1. a going on foot (go for a walk) 2. a place, path, or course for walking 3. distance to be walked 4a manner of living 4b social or economic status (various walks of life) 5a manner of walking 5b a gait of a four-footed animal in which there are always at least two feet on the ground
PICTURES
Anton Pucherna, The Trosky castle, colour etching, 1797
Josef Manes, August, one part of zodiac for astronomical
clock in Prague, 1865 - 66
original
background: Josef Manes, drawing from Bohemian Paradise, 1869
html
background: ms, Down the Maple Brook /Giant Mountains, 1992