WHAT IF!? at BIO | OKO in Prague

Pop-up Museum on the ‘spirit of 1968’

Event

June 16th till August 11th 2018
Basically every Czech has a story about 1968, even people who were not even born then. 1968 became a traumatic year. After a period of relative freedom during the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia was occupied by Soviet bloc troops. Fifty years after we opened up the WHAT IF!? Pop-up Museum in BIO|OKO in Prague.

There is a Prague of before 1968 and a Prague of after 1968. The revolutionary year is still a trauma for many Czechs and Slovaks alike. The year started in a positive vibe: political leader Alexander Dubcek loosened the regime and the Prague Spring blossomed. Until in August of the same year it came to a dramatic ending. Moscow occupied with the help of hundreds of thousands Warsaw Pact troops the country.

In the summer of 2018, exactly 50 years after this pivotal year, we opened the WHAT IF!? Pop-Up Museum on the spirit gf 1968 in the Prague cinema BIO|Oko. During the opening weekend there were different special activities in which the audience could participate. Visitors could make their very own ‘propaganda animation’ based on iconic images of 1968 and today with the help of the Dutch design collective Propaganda by the People. High school kids followed a workshop and there was a lecture of Jiri Kolda, who was shot during the occupation.

Guided tour through the exhibition

Guided tour through the exhibition

Lecture by Jiri Kolda who was shot during the 1968 occupation. Introduction by editor-in-chief of the Iron Curtain Project Emmie Kollau (left) and interview by Adam Drda (right).

Animation workshop for high school students by Propaganda by the People. The animations were food for thought and led to a lot of personal stories and debate. The students were interviewed and could watch the results in the real big screen of BIO|Oko.

This IRON CURTAIN PROJECT event was organised in cooperation with our partner organisation POST BELLUM and BIO|OKO. The program was supported by the European Commission and the Dutch Embassy in Prague.

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