Robert Smolík and Veronika Vlková look together at the work and legacy of visual artist, performer, educator, and art theorist Joseph Beuys. His thinking brought a radical shift in the 1970s, when art came to be seen as part of every human life and as a way to change the world. In the glare of lightning blends the setting of a theatre performance and an exhibition with elements of séance, healing ritual, and celebration of art and creativity. It invites anyone bold enough to get muddy into a landscape of objects that hold the seeds of transformation. In a quiet dialogue, Smolík and Vlková search for ways to reconnect with the Earth and its inhabitants. As a creative duo, they smoothly follow up on their previous collaboration with Terén on Návštěva, a production presented in South Korea, Mexico, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia, and numerous Czech festivals.
Robert Smolík
Visual and theatre artist Robert Smolík focuses primarily on puppet-making and stage design. He collaborates with theatres and ensembles such as Alfred ve dvoře / Motus, Terén, Naive Theatre Liberec, Buchty a loutky, and the theatre collective Handa Gote Research and Development. Smolík lives in Jíčín, where he co-founded the puppet theatre Škrobotník, Šlundra a Šibrová together with Radka Mizerová and Veronika Svobodová. He currently works as an assistant professor at DAMU, Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre. He was nominated for a Czech Lion Award for the film The Magic Quill (Čertí brko) in the category of film set design.
Veronika Vlková
Veronika Vlková is a visual artist, illustrator, and educator. She has long been engaged in work for children, children’s therapy, and children are also often a motif in her personal artistic practice. As a children’s book illustrator, she often collaborates with Jan Šrámek. Among their award-winning works are the book To je metro, čéče (“That’s the Metro, Dude”), which received the Most Beautiful Czech Book of the Year award in the category for children and young adults and was included in the selection of exhibited illustrations at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2020, as well as Apolenka z modrotisku (“Apolenka from Blueprint”), for which the duo won the Illustrator of the Year award at Czech Grand Design 2020.
