Site-Specific Exhibition Beneath the Mask

Beneath the Mask is a spectacular site-specific project, bringing a taste of Basel Fasnacht Carnival to Prague. The opening night is to be held on 15 November 2024 in Kampus Hybernská The exhibition is available every day from 10 am to 10 pm until 15 December 2024. The exhibition is part of the Velvet Carnival which strives to reanimate the way events of the Velvet Revolution of 17 November 1989 are remembered and commemorated.

The festival draws its inspiration from the traditional Basel festival of Fasnacht, whose history reaches back into the Middle-Ages and for many is a source of great pride to the city. The Velvet Carnival procession comprises approximately 120–350 active participants and as much as 13 initiatives (depending on years). It took place for the first time in 2012 and 2017 will be its sixth season.

Basel’s Fasnacht always begins on one February or early March Monday at 4 am. All lights in the city are switched off and the streets are illuminated only by two hundred big and thousands of small lanterns, carried by over 15,000 tambours and piccolo flute players, who begin playing at once. This is the beginning of the carnival, a three-day festival of creativity, colours, and sounds reuniting 25,000 participants and several hundred thousand visitors. In 2017, UNESCO included this tradition in the list of intangible cultural heritage.

 

Name of the Project and Registration Number: Beyond Security: Role of Conflict in Resilience-Building. Reg. Nr. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004595.