Stairs, a frequent architectural element in Žižkov, offer questions: What does the way down and what does the way up mean? Who and what will we meet? Your past or future? And right now, isn't the hardest thing to meet yourself? The Who Did I Meet? project is based on the history of the crossroads of three city districts called the Prague Gordian Knot, so that the memory of a place becomes the source of its revival.
At the beginning of our search there are always questions and suggestions that can be transformed into images in connection with a specific place – in our case a staircase, which is a frequent "figure", an element of Žižkov's hilly location.
We chose the stairs located in the territory known by urban planners as the Prague Gordian Knot. In their view, this area is "a key but also objectively one of the most complex places in Prague." This is where the Royal City of Prague, the territory of a monument reserve registered in the world cultural heritage list, but also the city monument zones of Karlín and Žižkov meet. Crossroads and pathways intersect here, through which thousands of people flow every day. People's destinies, past and present meet here.
An image of a staircase transformed by movement into a bridge, into a track with sleepers, into a tunnel that had to be pierced so that people could cross the border. The original ramparts later became borders, and the borders became scars.
Who did I meet? Who was that man? Who was that woman?
Who can't I forget? What can't I forget?
What scars need to heal?
What from the past is still behind us?
Doorframe ... shape in space ...
From where? To where? Inside and outside?
What is the memory of a space? And how is it manifesting itself today?
Escape, return, repeated encounters, conflict, joy, reconciliation, enthusiasm, farewell, sadness, I meet my past, the past of my families.
Concept, choreography, direction
Eliška Vavříková, Jaroslava Šiktancová
Music
Dušan Navařík, František Kukula
Performers
Katarina Hudačková, Omar Torrico Real, Daniela Kolková, Adéla Vávrová, Anna Šefrnová, Kamila Paličková, Adéla Voldrábová, Vojtěch Bartoš
Partners
HAMU, BodyVoiceBand
