2024: A year of trains, zines, cables, and resistance

The OBJECT:PARADISE team recounts some of its most memorable moments from 2024.

2024 began 8hrs east of Prague in cozy overheated bunkbeds on the overnight train to Košice. We drank store-bought haiku, wrote knock-off božkov, and waved our shared flag at Tabačka Kulturfabrik in the January haze. Greeted by our dear friends at Slam Poetry SK, we premiered our collective project: Performance, Deformance, Reformance along with on-site readings, actions, and sounds.

And in a city where, just outside of its borders, culture & expression is monitored, we felt your honest and passionate desire to create, sustain, and preserve community through diversity and resilience. We thank you for welcoming us into your circle.

We drank store-bought haiku, wrote knock-off božkov, and waved our shared flag at Tabačka Kulturfabrik in the January haze.

In February, we ventured back to Krakow, ground zero of Performance, Deformance, Reformance, for the final chapter of our first international language happening. It was the Kazimierz last standoff at the Artefakt Cafe where we played and displayed our propaganda notions in the nook book room with friendly familiars who witnessed it all unleashed August previous.

And after that year and a half of scheming, teething, and happening, we clapped our softened hands & took them on the final train back home to Prague where we would later find each moment engraved. Thank you for letting us get to know you, Krakow, Budapest, and Košice. See you at a potraviny in Žižkov soon.
From February thru December we sat in chairs to let our hair dangle and tangle still in ecstasy. We hosted several zine workshops at Místečko and Kampus Hybernská where we snipped, sipped, glued, and smoothed 56 pages of works from 24 different creators for five new issues of KROTCH Mag.

Thank you for helping us push the O:P Manifesto thru foldable Žižkov monoliths in opposition to the Vinohrady monarch. Your voices are carried in the back pockets of many.

Thank you for helping us push the O:P Manifesto thru foldable Žižkov monoliths in opposition to the Vinohrady monarch.

In April, we brought a 100m video cable to the Art Brut Gallery and invited our community to watch a one-time film premiere. One-time because it would never happen again; never happen again because what was projected was being filmed in that moment (100m outside the venue).

The project was titled “Anti-Climax” and nothing happened out of script, because there was no script–only improvised movement & direction. And when we entered the venue with the camera, the method of capture became the subject, the shared moment between the performers & the audience the object.

In June, we launched OBJECT:PARODY, a monthly variety show in partnership with Shella Radio at Planeta za, Ankali. The radioshow exposes the (in)decencies of the artworld that Prague (mis)represents by featuring creative works & reports from KROTCH Mag along with interviews from our OBJECT:VAULT series, critical discussions, and music from the Prague scene.

Thanks again to our KROTCH contributors and those who came out to our live listening sessions in the Planeta za summer garden. We look forward to the next season of this project in 2025!

...exposing the (in)decencies of the artworld that Prague (mis)represents

Later that month, we traveled to Ukraine to meet with local organizations, collectives, and artists to learn about their methods of resistance in Ukraine’s westernmost metropolis: Lviv. What resulted was a 30-minute documentary and full-length book that captures these voices & happenings titled “Existence is Resistance.”

From the Naked Forms festival at Dzyga Gallery, to the punk show at the Kotelyna squat, to the intimate moments in Ed’s Miniatures painting workshop, we learned that, no matter the form or medium, the very act of creating can be a form of resistance.

Our hearts are with our Ukrainian neighbors and the many voices we encountered during our five days in Lviv. In 2025, we will return to premiere the film and book born of your resilience. Sláva Ukrajině!

In August, we were invited to Inverze Literární Festival in Ostrava to share the OBJECT:PARADISE Manifesto with a screening of O:P III. And when people came up to us after the film and asked, “Is this really happening in Prague?” we responded, “it was then, and when you come it will be as well–only differently.”

We made many new friends and would like to thank you all for sharing the nice evening and early morning with us. We fell asleep under a tree near the river, and it was nice there even under the blistering August.

And when people came up to us after the film and asked, “Is this really happening in Prague?” we responded, “it was then, and when you come it will be as well–only differently.”

In October, we brought O:P to the Prague Microfestival, complementing its 3-week interdisciplinary literary and arts festival with a showcase of works from this year and past with installations, films, and works from our community. Thanks to those of you who came to a workshop, attended a happening, or joined at the Czech premiere of Existence is Resistance. We are forever grateful to be given the opportunity to continue to create, share, and explore with you.

And so, 2024—our year of trains, zines, cables, and resistance—closes with hands softened & spirits sharpened. From the smoky haze of Košice to the backrooms of Krakow, the streets of Lviv to the gardens of Žižkov, we found ourselves tangled in the ecstasy of creation and defiance.

We’ll carry yr voices in our back pockets, your stories folded into our manifesto, and yr resilience tattooed on the insides of our eyelobes. 2025—come at us sideways. We’ll meet you at the potraviny to fly flags and make noise.

- OBJECT:PARADISE, January 1st 2025.

Photos by Katka Rybárová, Tyko Say, and Louis Armand.

Read more about our team here, and check out our Manifesto while you’re at it!