Which Czech public holidays are we truly able to experience authentically? What role do memory and cultural institutions, schools, churches, the media, or even shopping centers play in them? What do we actually celebrate on days off work? That we don’t have to go to work? And what if we go anyway? What stories do we tell about ourselves on important dates?
Státky is a year-long series of events taking place in 2026 in collaboration between Terén, Divadlo 3+kk, and creative teams selected through an open call. The series critically reflects on the social significance of Czech public holidays and offers artistic reinterpretations of their meanings. It invites the public to experience a unique year of Státky: hybrid events, mutated celebrations, and subversive provocations.
Nine events connected to the current set of Czech public holidays. Nine creative teams and approaches, ranging from design and architecture to activism.
Public holidays—days off work designated by the state to commemorate significant dates—can be seen as an important instrument of the politics of memory, as well as a performance of statehood and of national and civic identities. They represent one of the ways the state manifests itself in public space and communicates what citizens are expected to identify with. But what values can actually form a social consensus in our society in 2026?
The lived reality of these days off is often far removed from the official meanings attached to the holidays. Many people question their relevance today or encounter barriers that make it difficult to relate to them personally. The aim of the series is to create space for those who seek different ways of experiencing public holidays, who wish to reinterpret them, or who recognize themes within them that have been pushed to the margins.
Státky directly build on Terén’s activities in the Klub zastupitelů. We gather in the city’s representative spaces and bring live art into council chambers and the outdoor atrium. The key to opening the Klub zastupitelů for us lies above all in its symbolic potential. Here we focus on topics of a public rather than personal or intimate nature: questions about how we negotiate the society we live in and what institutions serve us in that process.
Programme
1/1/2026 – NEW YEAR
Matyáš Dlab, Anna Prstková, Kristýna Businská, Libor Brzobohatý
A New Year’s Eve livestream from the Brno City Councilors’ Club.
This New Year’s video work relates to the public holidays New Year’s Day and the Day of the Restoration of the Independent Czech State. As the opening event of the entire series, it allows the audience to enter more deeply into its central themes and offers a key for understanding the intention of the whole STÁTKY project. The work combines an expert perspective with a relaxed freestyle approach, merging a documentary format of talking heads with a live broadcast from a New Year’s Eve party.
29/3/2026 – EASTER
besiidka (Nikola Chromečková, David Hotárek)
Baked Easter! How are spring, eggs, flour, water, and yeast connected? The design studio besiidka, led by Nikola Chromečková and David Hotárek, critically reflects on Easter traditions. The event will take the form of a community gathering centered on the preparation of ritual pastry. The dough will be provided by the Brno bakery Těsto, which specializes in high-quality sourdough.
1/5/2026 – LABOUR DAY
Fasáda (Helen Kukulová, Anežka Ondračková, Vojtěch Zajíček)
A curated program structured around an eight-hour working day aims to confront the history of Labour Day with the present. As part of the event, a special issue of the magazine Fasáda dedicated to the theme of work will be launched. The Fasáda project operates between the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Fine Arts as a space for student work and as a flexible curatorial and creative collective.
8/5/2026 – VICTORY DAY
Divadlo Setkání (Tobiáš Nevřiva, Tereza Dostálová, Nela Štěpánková)
A special commemorative ceremony celebrating animals with extraordinary merits in wartime situations. The collective Divadlo Setkání focuses on environmentally engaged performative work, particularly on the theme of interspecies encounters.
5/7/2026 – DAY OF THE SLAVIC MISSIONARIES CYRIL AND METHODIUS
Zuzana-Markéta Macková, Tomek Pawłowski-Jarmołajew
A linguistic and cultural tasting by the Czech-Polish artistic duo examines the meaning of the holiday of Cyril and Methodius. The artistic and curatorial team Zuzana-Markéta Macková and Tomek Pawłowski-Jarmołajew will introduce Interslavic, an artificial language designed to be understandable to most speakers of Slavic languages. The experiment raises questions about the impact of the dominance of English in everyday communication.
6/7/2026 – JAN HUS MEMORIAL DAY
Following the recommendation of the expert committee, we decided not to select any of the submitted projects for this holiday.
28/9/2026 – CZECH STATEHOOD DAY
Eva Truncová
What does the Czech lion tattooed on the forearm of Alena Schillerová mean? Architect and architectural theorist Eva Truncová will focus on the topic of state symbols and the representation of national identity. Several subversive interventions in the space of the Councilors’ Club will be complemented by an authorial lecture and speculations on contemporary as well as possible future forms of state symbols.
28/10/2026 – INDEPENDENT CZECHOSLOVAK STATE DAY
měkký í (Michaela Kocandová, Valentýna Vránová, Zuzana Staňková)
Who selects those who receive honours—and for what merits? Can awards be granted only by those in positions of power? The feminist art group měkký í will develop a methodology for selecting candidates for the Order of the White Lion and prepare its ceremonial presentation on October 28.
17/11/2026 – STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY DAY
Ester Hotová, Robert Vlček
The Councilors’ Club as a space for active civil society. In 2023, the exhibition The Struggle for a Better World Did Not End with Velvet was held at Galerie Sibiř, mapping post-revolutionary anti-globalization, squatters’, anti-fascist, and climate movements. Ester Hotová and Robert Vlček will present a further developed and updated version of the project.
20/12/2026 – CHRISTMAS
Libor Staněk et al.
The transformation of Christmas through the lens of personal history. Dramaturg, poet, and musician Libor Staněk returns to archival VHS recordings and continues them through a correspondence dialogue with his parents. Family video, family business, family Christmas. A documentary portrait of family memory against the backdrop of economic transformation.
Curatorial team: Matyáš Dlab, Anna Prstková, Libor Brzobohatý
Project coordination: Kristýna Businská
Hosted by: Zuzana Fuksová, Samčo – brat dážďoviek
The series is produced as a project of Terén in collaboration with the independent Divadlo 3+kk. The projects were selected through an open call in autumn 2025.