News

08.09.2010
BIG DAY

Je 8. září a téměř celý tým Ostrava 2015 je v Praze, kde se dnes rozhodne o tom, jestli získáme titul Evropské hlavní město kultury pro rok 2015 nebo si jej domů odnese Plzeň. Celý den nám chodí sms zprávy, ve kterých vyjadřujete Ostravě podporu. Moc děkujeme!!! 

Fotografie z dnešního dne a naše pocity ze všeho, co se dnes děje, najdete na facebookovém profilu Ostravy 2015.

Děkujeme také zato, že jste přišli podpořit Ostravu na Masarykovo náměstí. Vyhlášení výsledku můžete sledovat živě také na programu ČT24 od 16.30 hodin. 

Váš tým Ostrava 2015

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07.09.2010
Ostrava 2015 is hosting the commissioners today who will tomorrow decide its fate

A delegation of Sir Robert Scott, Danuta Glondys, Olga Poivre d´Arvor-Kubelková and Roman Bělor along with representative from the European Union and Czech Ministry of Culture arrived in Ostrava from Pilsen yesterday evening. Right after breakfast, the commissioners set off for the Old Arena - club for culture and information 2015, where they toured the offices and met top members of the Ostrava 2015 team. Then they left for Lower Vítkovice before a scheduled luncheon. Greeting the commissioners today, in addition to the Ostrava 2015 team, are distinguished figures from Ostrava's cultural life, city leadership, architects, and other professionals who are involved in the project.

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06.09.2010
Students are coming from Manchester to find out what Ostrava has to offer

  

Next week, on Tuesday 14 September, a group of students from the University of Manchester arrive in Ostrava. The Geography Department of this school is one of the best in Europe, and its professors are among the very top in their field. Manchester is also an incredible example of how a former industrial city can become a centre for culture and science. Ostrava 2015 is therefore participating in the students' programme. After a week's visit and study of all available materials, the students will try to objectively assess Ostrava's chances for modernization and restructuring. We spoke about the students' excursion, whose main area of interest is our city, with Tomáš Drobík from the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development at the University of Ostrava.

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06.09.2010
This year’s Ostrava Camera Eye festival will offer international and national competitions, outdoor screenings and even a TV series marathon

The second year of this international film festival, which was established as part of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015, is fast approaching. The film festival will be officially opened on Thursday 23 September at 7 pm with the film Uncle Boonme, which was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. The first evening of the festival will take place in a unique location: the so-called Veronikárna in Lower Vítkovice. "We would like to present the Lower Area of Vítkovice in a different way than one can normally see it. Viewers will have to walk through the entire Vítkovice complex to get to the so-called Veronikárna and will therefore have an unusual industrial adventure even before the screening itself," says festival director Jakub Felcman.

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04.09.2010
4 000 runners took part in Relay Run 2015!

Far from all of them were professionals, and to run 2 015 metres wasn't such an easy feat for everyone, nevertheless they all joined in and helped to make sure the wooden relay baton with "Ostrava 2015" on it reached all corners of the city. "Perhaps the commissioners will also notice our joint effort, and in a couple of days Ostrava will win the title of European Capital of Culture 2015," proclaimed Radana Zapletalová from the Ostrava City Council's Culture Commission at the ceremony to mark the end of the run on Friday afternoon on Masaryk Square.

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03.09.2010
Ostravans are running for the second day to support of Ostrava 2015

The second day of Relay Run 2015, with which groups and individuals running together to express their support of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015, is in full swing. The Relay Run, whose individual segments measure 2 015 metres, began yesterday before 8 am in front of the entrance to the SK Vítkovice stadium. The end of the two-day relay run is planned for 4:20 pm today on Masaryk Square in the city centre. Ostravans young and older altogether ran an unbelievable 120 kilometres! They ran through every city district and historical neighbourhoods, running through places where under normal circumstances they do not go.

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03.09.2010
The photography of Viktor Kolář: “It is a gift to be able to tell a story in pictures,” says Dita Pepe

Thursday 2 September proceeded the spirit of photography. At Prague's Mánes exhibition hall and at Ostrava's Old Arena, simultaneous book launches were held for the new photography publication Viktor Kolář OSTRAVA, which is issued in part to mark the photographer's upcoming 70th birthday next year and partly on the occasion of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015. While the author personally attended the book launch in Prague, Ostrava guests had the opportunity to see the fifty-minute film Viktor Kolář Close Up. The evening was moderated by the theatre and film director Radovan Lipus, who successively invited to the microphone the photographer Dita Pepe, Ostrava 2015 Project Director Čestmír Kopecký, the poet Jaroslav Žila, and finally Ostrava Mayor Petr Kajnar, who is the godfather of publication. More >>>

02.09.2010
World-renowned photographer Viktor Kolář launches his new book OSTRAVA today

The best-known "urban photographer" in the Czech Republic, Viktor Kolář, is set to release his hotly awaited new book OSTRAVA. The book launch takes place today at 6 pm simultaneously in Ostrava and Prague. In Ostrava, it is being held at the Old Arena along with a screening of the film Viktor Kolář Up Close; in Prague, the event will be attended by the photographer himself. The book is being issued on the occasion of Kolář's upcoming 70th birthday and also on the occasion of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015.

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02.09.2010
The Old Arena has prepared a regular Sunday programme for children in September

The Old Arena creative team has prepared a rich cultural programme for the youngest audiences as part of its Summer Theatre Stage. Every Sunday in September, parents and their children may attend theatre performances, participate in fun games and contests, watch an unusual festive fashion show, draw their own comics in the city centre, or take a course on self-defence and martial arts. The programme for children will take place at the Old Arena - club for culture and information 2015 on Masaryk Square (Masarykovo náměstí) and also at the Summer Theatre Stage in Komenský Park near the New City Hall. More >>>

01.09.2010
Jiří Žižka presents his photographs at the Jiří Myron Theatre

On Thursday 2 September at 5 pm at the Opera Gallery in the foyer of the Jiří Myron Theatre, the opening takes place for an exhibition of photographs by Jiří Žižka. The introductory words will be by Professor Jindřich Štreit. The exhibition presents a collection of photographs created during the artist's bachelor's and especially at the end of his master's studies at the Institute of Creative Photography at the Silesian University in Opava. Žižka, through the lens of his camera, focused primarily on the particular environment of a hospital for the mentally ill and also on the specific atmosphere of Opava and the daily lives of its residents. Thursday's opening ceremony will begin with an performance by members of the opera company of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre - Anna Nitrová will sing with piano accompaniment by Jana Hájková. After this event, visitors are invited to move to the Old Arena, where the launch of the publication OSTRAVA by Viktor Kolář begins at 6 pm.

31.08.2010
The Ostrava Center for New Music will hold a special concert on Friday

On Friday 3 September starting at 7 pm, the Ostrava Center for New Music, which is a partner of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015, is holding a special concert in cooperation with the Janáček Philharmonic. It will be held at the Ostrava House of Culture and it will also launch the 2010/2011 concert season of Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava. Played at the concert will be véus sobre cores (2007) by the Brazilian composer Rafael Nassifa, the Czech première of Symphony No. 1 (1955) for boy sopranos and orchestra by the Saint Petersburg composer Galina Ustvolskaya (featuring soloists Heldur Harry Pölda and Voldemar Kauts), the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Alban Berg from 1935 (featuring soloist Hana Kotková), and the composition Fragment (1998) by Petr Kotík, who also takes up the baton to lead the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra from the conductor's podium. More >>>

30.08.2010
Guided tours of the Šlapeta Villa met with unprecedented interest

On the last two Saturdays in August, around two hundred fortunate people had the opportunity to view a Functionalist pearl of Ostrava and one of the city's four national cultural monuments: the Šlapeta Villa (also known as the Liska Villa) in Silesian Ostrava. Visitors weren't deterred either by the stultifying heat on the first Saturday or by heavy rain and temperatures of around ten degrees Centigrade the second Saturday. Everyone came to see the villa, built in 1935-1936, which was opened to the general public for the first time thanks to Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015. Gratitude for making the house publicly accessible, however, goes primarily to the owner of the villa, Mrs Drahoslava Doležílková, who decided to support Ostrava's candidacy project in this way. In addition to the Ostrava 2015 team, the National Heritage Institute played a large role in the organization of the guided tours. More >>>

30.08.2010
As the new school year begins, the Academia Cultural-Literary Centre officially opens

As we already informed you, the Academia Bookshop in Ostrava, which was slated to close in April, was saved. The bookshop, reduced from two floors to one and preserving its Literary Café, has been serving customers since the beginning of August. But as of 1 September at 5 pm, the Academia Cultural-Literary Centre is in full-scale operation. Attending the opening ceremony are Ostrava city government officials, officials of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and other distinguished guests. The Ostrava 2015 team believes that the Academia Cultural-Literary Centre will be a worthy successor to the Academia Bookshop in Ostrava and will become an important cultural spot in the region.

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30.08.2010
Cinema in the Moonlight adds extra screenings

Cinema in the Moonlight, which was prepared for film fans at the end of August by the organizers of the Ostrava Camera Eye film festival, is offering additional film screenings from Monday 30 August to Wednesday 1 September.

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28.08.2010
Pyramid Over Ostrava lit up, but it was more visible outside the city centre

A pyramid is one of the classic items that most Czechs would like to tick off the list of sights they've seen on a dream vacation. A pyramid is also one of the basic elements of architecture. "The fundamental architectural principles I encounter every day are scale and proportion. A pyramid is simply an archetype for me. It is something that everyone knows about but does not know how big it is, because it stands in the desert and you have nothing with which to compare it," explained David Kotek, who came up with the idea for the Pyramid Over Ostrava. A version of the famous Pyramid of Cheops created from light shone above Ostrava for the first time on Friday 27 August. Unfortunately, due to unsuitable weather conditions and strong ambient light, it was not optimally viewable from Masaryk Square, where hundreds of people had gathered for its gala launch. The Pyramid Over Ostrava, however, is a unique and monumental project that will last an entire month, until 25 September, and the Ostrava 2015 team wholeheartedly supports the architects from Projektstudio and congratulates them on their courage to experiment and on their endeavour to offer Ostrava modern architecture created with light. "The pyramid will reveal its secrets gradually. It has the whole month to do so. Yesterday, the wind kicked up a lot of dust, which scatters the light. We breathed well, but even so it thickens the beams of light. The men in charge of the lighting are already addressing the situation," added Kotek as he spoke about the première evening. More >>>

26.08.2010
Katowice 2016 welcomed Ostrava 2015

From Ostrava to Katowice is only a few dozen kilometres, and therefore a meeting of the creative teams of both cities, which are vying both for the title of European Capital of Culture, is almost a given. On Wednesday 25 August, at the Katowice gallery and SARP club, which usually holds architectural exhibitions, a meeting took place with Ostrava 2015 project developer Markéta Volná, Katowice 2016 project director Marek Zieliński, Radana Zapletalová from the Ostrava City Council's Culture Commission, Ostrava Gallery of Fine Art Director Jiří Jůza, and Tadeáš Goryczka and Jaroslav Němec from the Association for Ostrava Culture (SPOK). More >>>

25.08.2010
“Whoever gives Ostrava the chance to show what it has to offer will come away surprised and changed” – an interview with Filip Jedelský

For the entire past week, the 13th annual Folklore Without Borders festival of local folklore groups with international guest ensembles took place in Ostrava. It ran from Monday 16 August to Friday 20 August, and during that time 17 folk groups from the Czech Republic and abroad performed in in various districts of Ostrava, with three of the concerts - on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - being staged on Masaryk Square in the city centre. The organizers dedicated these three concerts to supporting Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015. Taking part in the festival preparations were the civic association The Society for Culture and the Arts in Ostrava and the Hlubina Folk Song and Dance Ensemble. The vice president of the civic association is Filip Jedelský, whom we talked with about the festival itself and also about Ostrava and its culture in a broader sense. More >>>

25.08.2010
Summer cinema whetted film-goers appetites for the Ostrava Camera Eye festival in the fall

The second annual Ostrava Camera Eye film festival, held as part of Ostrava's candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015, begins in less than a month, on 23 September 2010. The past five days, however, allowed Ostrava film enthusiasts to sample a little appetizer - an evening summer cinema series called Cinema in the Moonlight. From 19 to 23 August at various locations throughout the Ostrava, there were outdoor projections of such films as Miloš Forman's legendary Black Peter (Černý Petr), Capricious Summer (Rozmarné léto) by Jiří Menzel, and the black tragicomedy Prefab Story (Panel Story) by Věra Chytilová, which drew nearly two hundred viewers to Hrabůvka. More >>>

24.08.2010
We invite you to a lecture about the Roma people and a tasting of traditional Roma dishes

They live among and right next to us. The relationship between Roma and the majority Czech society is very complicated, and the current situation could probably be described as mutual estrangement. That's all the more reason for Ostrava 2015 to support the Schůdky (Little Steps) civic association, whose main objective is to break down these barriers. Moreover, they are doing it in an ingenious ways - through food, which is something that connects us all. The first dinner with traditional Roma cuisine, which Schůdky organized in June at the Slunečnice (Sunflower) restaurant in Ostrava, was a great success. You, too, can enjoy a tasting of Roma food together with a lecture about the Roma people. Starting at 6 pm on Thursday 26 August at the Old Arena, you can sample Christmas cabbage and šinga. Natálie Bernard, who established the civic association in April of this year, told us not only what dishes you can expect to taste at the dinner but more about Schůdky and what the association has on the horizon. More >>>

24.08.2010
We are planning a relay run in support of Ostrava 2015

Already on 8 September it will decided whether Ostrava is the first to the finish line in the race for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015. Come and stretch your muscles while supporting Ostrava in its long-term effort. The motto of Ostrava's candidacy is "a place for a happy life", and one aspect of that is an active lifestyle and sport. On 2 and 3 September, therefore, all of Ostrava is invited to come out and run. More >>>