Ivan Palacký: A Crack in the Darkness
– Czechia
Musician, architect, sound artist and poet. Born in 1967 in Uherské Hradiště, his main profession is as an architect. He is an improviser and sound experimenter using a unique instrument, an amplified single-bed knitting machine Dopleta 180. He keeps a sound diary of all his travels, recording snippets of stories, acoustic anomalies, and sounds that captivate him. In 2022, he published a poetry collection titled Škody jsou tajné (The Damages are Secret), which received recognition from the jury of the Magnesia Litera literary competition. They stated: "The highlight of the book is a series of playful and imaginative texts featuring distinctive female protagonists, set in both real and metamorphic forms of Brno. The jury appreciates the book's imaginative power and its semantic gesture – every darkness has its luminous crack." (photo © Tomáš Doležal)