Published: 30.09.2020
The Lidice Memorial is the main organizer of the 48th year of the “International Child Art Exhibition Lidice 2019”. Despite the social situation which has complicated life not only in schools but in all spheres of our lives, this year included 22,216 works of art from more than 70 countries around the world. This exposition is a multi-layered global synergy in a single specific place. Following UNESCO’s announcement, the theme of this year is “Landscape”. The key objective of this event is to help maintain international peace by developing cooperation in education, science and culture by promoting respect for human rights and the rule of law.
ICAE Lidice is a one-round competition for children aged 4 to 16 years from all types of schools and organizations that work with children including kindergartens, elementary schools, art and music schools, special schools, child and youth leisure centres, children’s homes, multi-year grammar schools, and other secondary schools. Individuals are also welcome to participate. The jury consists of art education teachers and artists who select around 1,400 works for the exhibition. High-quality works are awarded with a certificate of merit, while the best works are awarded with the Lidice Rose Medal.
Our faculty joined the project last year when the theme was “Chemistry”. This year’s theme “Landscape” is also one of the priorities of FChT. The Faculty focuses on environmental studies and offers a relevant study programme—Environmental Protection. This year the exhibition offered 1,359 works from 76 countries around the world. The works depict colourful horizons of forests and meadows, but also urban developments and panoramas.
The opening ceremony of the 48th year of ICAE took place on 24 September 2020 at 11 a.m. in the Lidice Memorial Gallery and on behalf of FChT was visited by Ing. Petra Kalendová Ph.D. and Ing. Hana Doušová Ph.D. Regarding the current epidemiological situation the participation in this event was restricted. Due to hygienic and safety reasons, the ceremony was attended only by medal winning children from the Czech Republic and children from schools awarded with the Jury Award. This special award was manufactured by the artistic glassmaker Jiří Pačinek. The award was a glass artefact in the form of a painting palette.
The award ceremony was opened by the performance of a brass orchestra and fipple flute trio from Marie Podvalová Art and Music School from Prague 9-Čakovice. This was followed by an opening speech given by the director of the Lidice Memorial Eduard Stehlík and the Mayor of Lidice Veronika Kellerová. Then the awards were presented to the medallists from the Czech Republic and the Jury Awards were given to Czech schools and one foreign school from the hands of five VIP guests and FChT representatives. The awards included 214 medals, of which 144 were individual and 10 for children’s teamwork. The Faculty presented a total of 85 “painting and drawing kits” containing the basic artistic aids for both small and big drawers.
The ceremony took place in the garden of the Lidice Gallery and was accompanied by a birds of prey exhibition organized by Czech falconers. The participants had an opportunity to join the “Water magic” programme, which was a reminder of the theme in one of the previous years. The theme of the last year’s ceremony was chemistry and the event included a “Chlorophyll isolation” presentation. The traditional activity accompanying the ceremony was the planting of the Lidice rose.
This year’ ceremony was organized by the new curator Stanislava Doleželová Bočanová and the artistic director Dagmar Šubrtová. Due to the closure of the national borders, this year’s jury consisted exclusively of Czech teachers, artists and professionals with long-term experience in visual arts and teaching children.
After the ceremony the participants had an opportunity to visit the exhibition directly in the Lidice Gallery in small groups. The exhibition is open to public from June this year until January 2021.
Ing. Petra Kalendová, Ph.D.
Ing. Hana Doušová, Ph.D.
