Klasika

Over the last one hundred years, thousands of Czechs participated in an informal counterculture movement called tramping. Drawing inspiration from fantasies of the Wild West, Czech tramping adapts and appropriates the clothing, cultural practices and geographic signifiers of the American frontier. Although its participants have traditionally identified themselves as apolitical, recent Czech scholarship has examined how seemingly individual acts of ‘escapism’ can amalgamate into a politics of resistance. Klasika explored the utopian possibilities of Czech tramping alongside the work of Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge, with a special focus on their notion of the ‘real’ public sphere. The project spanned a year and a half and culminated in a live performance event blending musical theatre, popular song and creative non-fiction\documentary forms. Over thirty artists working in music, theatre, film and visual arts contributed work for both the live performance and a series of events and artworks inspired by project themes.