MetaFilter posts tagged with czechrepublic

World's Longest Invisible Fence

webhund — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:59:13 -0800

Twenty years ago this month, the nearly 700 mile border between East and West Germany started to disappear. "The fence is long gone, and the no-man's land where it stood now is part of Europe's biggest nature preserve. The once-deadly border area is alive with songbirds nesting in crumbling watchtowers, foxes hiding in weedy fortifications and animals not seen here for years, such as elk and lynx. But one species is boycotting the reunified animal kingdom: red deer." According to the Bavarian National Forest Park Service, scientists [link in German] have recorded nearly 11,000 GPS locations for 'Ahornia," a red deer who appears to never enter the Czech Republic.

1989, revolution in Eastern Europe

Kattullus — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:49:20 -0800

The BBC World Service has put together a special report on the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe (they also have a simpler portal). There is a wealth of material, including TV reports on key events from the BBC archives, interviews, a map timeline, a report on Catholicism's role in the 1989 revolutions, a first-hand report of what it was like to gather news in East Germany during that time and much more.

Ulrich von Liechtenstein of Gelderland would not be pleased

djgh — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:33:18 -0800

Q: Which was the last country in Europe to establish diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic?
A: Liechtenstein. However, one thorny issue remains. Post-WWII, the Benes Decrees confiscated some land belonging to the Liechtenstein Royal Family situated in the modern-day Czech Republic.

This includes the castles of Valtice (previously Feldsberg) ^{Wiki|Photos 1|Photos 2}, an "excellent example of the Baroque style" and Lednice (previously Eisgrub) ^{Wiki|Photos 1|Photos 2}, a "result of the Neo-Gothic reconstruction of 1846", which also houses a renowned winter garden. These castles are within a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In 2004, the value of the castles was estimated to be €100m. The area of the land is over 600 sq mi, or ten times the size of the principality of Liechtenstein itself.

Stereotyping our way to a better EU

LMGM — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:05:47 -0800

SatiricalCzechArtFilter: A massive art installation at the European Council building in Brussels has raised hackles. Bulgaria, in particular, is not pleased at being represented as a "Turkish Toilet." Comissioned by the incoming Czech presidency of the EU, this has caused something of a PR scramble for them; in the case of Bulgaria, the Czech ambassador has been called to Sofia, Bulgaria to explain (see first link). The piece looks like a giant set of snap-out plastic pieces, like one would find in a model set (e.g., a model airplane). Each country is represented with the shape of its territories, modified to reflect and lampoon some stereotype of the country. France, for example, is covered by a sheet declaring "On strike!" in French. The Netherlands are shown flooded with water, with a series of minarets showing above the water line (interpreted in most news accounts as a reference to religious/racial tensions in NL). As the official press release on the EU2009.cz website declares, the artwork was commissioned to take contributions from 27 artists from all the member states of the EU. However, the original artist, David Černý (personal website), admitted to a Telegraph reporter that he faked the names and did it all himself (with 2 accomplices). There is now some debate about what to do with the embarassing art installation before it's official opening on January 15, but already the reporter that broke the "There were no 27 artists" story is arguing that the piece should remain. "Official" brochure for Entropa (PDF, 5mb), complete with concept drawings, explanatory commentary and CV's of the faked artists from each country. Images: BBC.co.uk: 'In pictures: Entropa installation' (only a few of the countries are included) Aktualne.centrum.cz: Concept drawings of most of the countries (in Czech, but you can figure out which image represents which country; "předchozí" means "previous" and "další" means "next")

They're coming outta the goddamn walls.

Artw — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:20:25 -0800

The žižkov television tower in Prague was pretty weird looking to begin with, since 2000 it's gotten much stranger...

Countries that look like their Phillips curve

tepidmonkey — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:50:27 -0800

Some countries are shaped like their economic Phillips curve. Japan bears a strong resemblance to its Phillips curve. The Czech Republic does too, a little. And Canada’s similarity to its Phillips curve it less obvious, but it’s still there.

Black Light Theatre

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 08:47:26 -0800

The Black Light Theatre of Prague ("Černé Divadlo" or simply Black Theatre) is a Czech performance style characterised by the use of black box theatre augmented by black light trickery. Although this performance style can be found in many places around the world, nowhere is it more prolific or specialized than in Prague. Some sample images: 1 2 3 4. YouTube: 1 2 3.

metafilter MetaFilter metaFilter

Pretty_Generic — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 02:43:45 -0800

Like magic, the vibrating broomstick of progress sweeps the Czech Republic. (Czech government likes celebrities).

The 25 Member EU

MidasMulligan — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 17:26:39 -0800

The European Union welcomes 10 new members! As I write this, the celebrations have started as Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia become members of the EU today. While some folks are gonna party like crazy, others are warning of doom and gloom. What do you think? Will this have significant effects on global culture, politics, and economics - or will it merely represent a paper change within the rarefied world of European diplomats, with little other than localized effects on day to day life?

What's an a-political artist to do?

gesamtkunstwerk — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 19:01:24 -0800

David Cerny: frilly pink tanks, babies climbing TV towers, and the president feeding slops to the director of the national gallery out of giant asses. Why, this could only be the NEA gone awry! Actually, it’s Magic Prague, the land of Franz Kafka and Milan Kundera, and the artist, like the dissidents of past generations, would rather not do political art , political art. His latest sculpture ridicules the perverse situation in which the country finds itself post Havel: a place where right-wingers like President Klaus and national gallery director Milan Knížák— a past collaborator with secret police, and worse, completely idiotic and banal performance artist — prosper and rub shoulders at the expense of those with a conscience and good taste. Like David Cerny. This isn’t the freshest post, but I’ve been waiting to join Mefi for a long time, and today is the first day I can post.

Prague Spring

plep — Tue, 12 Aug 2003 05:59:00 -0800

The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Posters, pamphlets, social protest material. 'In the morning hours of August 21, 1968, the Soviet army invaded Czechoslovakia along with troops from four other Warsaw Pact countries. The occupation was the beginning of the end for the Czechoslovak reform movement known as the Prague Spring. This web site contains material from the days immediately following the invasion, and they reflect the atmosphere in Czechoslovakia at the time: tense, chaotic, uncertain, full of pathos, fear, and expectation... '
Related :- the Berlin Wall and East Side Gallery; A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall; Szoborpark in Budapest, with its gigantic Cold War-era statues.

fidelity — Fri, 19 Apr 2002 02:51:44 -0800

The Ossuary in Sedlec in the Czech Republic is a chapel, built around 1511, decorated in 1870 by a local woodcutter. His material? Human bones.

tranquileye — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 06:58:57 -0800

Smoking creates "indirect positive effects." A report from tobacco giant Philip Morris concluded that the Czech government saved money because of the "indirect positive effects" of the early deaths of cigarette-smokers. PM makes about 80 percent of the cigarettes smoked in the Czech Republic. Said a Philip Morris spokesman: "Tobacco is a controversial industry, but we are still an industry and sometimes we need some economic data on our industry."