- UNESCO Intangible World Cultural Heritage
..in Prague, 2023 and 2024
«Beneath the Mask» is a spectacular site-specific project, bringing a taste of «Basel Fasnacht Carnival» to Prague. «Basel Fasnacht» starts with a goose bump moment. On a Monday morning in February or early March at four a.m. all lights in the city are switched off and the only illumination shines from two hundred big and thousands of small lanterns, carried by over 15'000 tambours and piccolo flute players, who simultaneously start their music. It is the beginning of carnival in Basel, the biggest city event, a three day festival of creativity, colors and sounds reuniting 25’000 participants and several hundred thousand visitors. In 2017 UNESCO included this tradition in the list of intangible cultural heritage.
Kampus Hybernská Prague - 15th November till 15th December, open every day 10 am - 10 pm
«Basel Fasnacht» consists of four main features: creativity (costumes, masks and movable objects newly created every every year), music (drum, piccolos and brass bands), words (singers satirically commenting what happened through the year) and social integration (in principle everybody can participate). For the city of Basel and its public life the yearly event marks not only the end of winter, but a collective reflection on themes that society has gone through in the past year. It connects its citizens and creates a strong relationship to shared public affairs. Interestingly, Prague Velvet Carnival is a new promising city tradition as well, founded over one decade ago, and partly inspired by Basel Fasnacht.
«Beneath the Mask» brings an exciting site-specific project presenting images and emotions from Basel to Prague, by which visitors can immerse in the world of this unique art of carnival.
Impression from the Basel Fasnacht 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oTurM7gESE
Concept
«Beneath the Mask» consists of a spectacular exhibition at Kampus Hybernská (15.11.-15.12.); a joint parade with Basel groups at the Prague Velvet Carnival (Alti-Steilemmer, Dejavue, Spezi and Grand Wazoo), a 3rd Symposium on Public Festivities (16.11. from 2pm).
Combine Basel and Prague Carnival
Basler Fasnacht
Prague Carnival
- New festival
Objective
- Promote Prague Carnival as cultural event
- Dialogue and exchange between Basel and Prague, Czech Republic and Switzerland
The exhibition
The exhibition aims to convey a fascinating sensual experience of the phenomenon „Fasnacht“. With the help of modern technology, visitors will be taken on a journey through carnival. They will experience colors and shapes, the omnipresent musical tapestry, artistic representations of themes, walking back and forth through the city in a mask, meeting groups and the change of light and darkness in the process.
The parade
The carnival procession in Prague will be joined by a number of guests, cliques and other groups from Basel and will become a major event for the whole city. In the run-up to the parade, it is planned that groups from both cities will undertake joint preparations, work out subjects or exchange ideas. Artists and young people will also be involved in the activities.
The symposium
An interdisciplinary academic collaboration between the Charles University of Prague with other academical institutions, led by the departments of religious studies. The academic event will be wrapped up in a scientific publication to record the observations.
Documentary film
The documentary film will first of all describe the main features of the current forms of carnival; following this, it will provide a deeper insight into the tradition and make the phenomenon more tangible. Certain film elements will also be used for the exhibition.
Exhibition space
The exhibition will take place in the cultural centre Kampus Hybernská in the centre of Prague (https://www.kampushybernska.cz/).
Date
- November 15, 2024: Opening exhibition
- Noverber 16, 2024: 3rd Symposium on Public Festivities
- November 17,2024: Parade throught the city centre: 13th edition of Velvet Carnival, with 4 Basel Cliques and about 150 Basel masked musians. Experience Basel Fasnacht in Prague!
Project management
The project is jointly managed by Prague and Basel and consists of the following persons:
- Olga Cieslarová (Curator)
Researcher at Charles University of Prague, Founder and manager of Velvet Carnival - Lucie Králová (Film and Concept)
Film director, Laureat Krakow International Film Festival - Josef Koblic and Zdeněk Durdil (scenographers)
- Andrea Krejčí (production)
- Kateřina Lánská (PR)
Contact
Olga Cieslarová: olga@sametoveposviceni.cz
Andrea Krejčí: vystava.sametoveposviceni@gmail.com
Fotos: Pino Covino, Jeremy Schmit, Jan Hromádko
Patronage
