The Political Animal read The Insect Play
Kunstraum, 17 November 2018

To accompany Anna Hulačová's 'Graceful ride', Kunstraum collaborated with The Political Animal to produce a public reading of 'The Insect Play' – written in 1921 by Josef and Karel Čapek – within the exhibition and activated by dynamic sound and lighting. Hulačová has produced a series of insect masks for the event to be worn by the readers.

This work of political satire follows the character of a tramp on his journey through a multi-layered and complex society inhabited by a multitude of insects. The Insect Play's comic allegory serves to illuminate the competing philosophies doing battle in Europe in the early twentieth century. Each act of the play interrogates the values of a different sectors of society – the bourgeoisie, the capitalists, and the socialist worker.

On the night, The Insect Play was read live by Thomas Cuckle, Camille Bréchignac, Camille Houzé of Kunstraum and Natascha Nanji, Rachel McRae, and Olga Koroleva of TPA.

Photography by Rowan Lear