Building on our past experiences, this year’s Summer School unfolded under the theme of Rehearsal, continuing our exploration of collective creation, social imagination, and the entanglement of art, ecology, and community. Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the residency gathered a diverse group of artists, designers, performers, and thinkers in the village of Maříž, where we spent ten days experimenting with the idea of rehearsal as both a method and a way of being together.
SUMMER
SCHOOL 2025
Speculative Experiment and Rehearsal in Practice
Throughout the residency, we approached rehearsal not as preparation for something finished, but as an ongoing process of tuning relations, between people, places, stories, and materials. The local landscape became our stage and collaborator, shaping how we moved, built, and listened. From sound experiments and textile improvisations to walking performances, each day unfolded through a rhythm of exploration and response.
Together, we created temporary architectures, stories, and gestures that blurred the boundaries between art and life. The residency culminated in a collective public gathering in Maříž, an open event that shared glimpses of what had emerged: fragments of performance, song, sculpture, and storytelling woven into one celebratory evening.
The traces of these rehearsals continue to live on through our shared documentation, an upcoming publication, and the future broadcast of the films created during the residency.
FROM MAŘÍŽ TO LEIPZIG
The outcome of this year’s Summer School continues to unfold beyond Maříž through our collaboration with the independent TV collective Hitness Club from Leipzig. Together we are carrying the traces of our shared time into new dimensions, as several experimental films created during the residency will soon appear within their broadcast where they will find new audiences and contexts.
In spring we will visit Hitness Club in Leipzig to transform our rehearsal into an exhibition, a performance, a celebration of what still hums between us. If you wish to follow the trail and join us there, you can sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop.
Photo credits to Oscar Ström
Thanks to residents
Anna Maczky, Anna Hokesova, Františka Iblová, Tilda Ka, Ferdinand Schuster, Anna Jegorova, Sinclair Brazier, Jasper Riehm, Petr Racek, Henrik Miettinen, Viktoria Naumuk, Karolina Stastna, Erfan Sabzipoor, Marte Bosma, Anežka Jelínková, Natalia Szymańska, Isabella Bock, Geo
Leštnice team
Františka Malasková, Gabriela Sojková, Isabell Alexandra Meldner, Jack Laing Aiken, Jan Vagaday, Julian Boháč, Giulia Morlando, Aaron Maar, Nicolas Prokop, Philip Chemayel, Ondřej Novák