Fri 11/7 19:00
Karel Škrabal: Jedu • Vítrholc: All We Need Is Underground

7:00 PM / Karel Škrabal: Jedu / Author Reading

An author reading by the poet, journalist, and founding member of the artistic group Vítrholc. Škrabal’s latest collection Jedu (2024, Větrné mlýny) is not just a selection of his previous works, but a novel in verse reflecting the author’s life story and social changes. It is an energetic manifesto of contemporary life on the margins—full of irony, sarcasm, and uncompromising honesty. In the collection, Karel Škrabal blends everyday life with existential questions, often in a linguistically frantic pace that captures the hectic and uprooted nature of today’s world. The author draws inspiration from his life, the city of Brno, the underground scene, and the cultural landscape that shaped him.

8:00 PM / Vítrholc: All We Need Is Underground / concert

After 21 years, the artistic collective Vítrholc released their second album this year, titled All We Need Is Underground (2025, Guerilla Records). The new record features melodically rich, earthy, and sharp guitar riffs, electronics, sampling, and energetic yet trip-hop-infused hypnotic rhythms. The music evokes some of the best moments of classic Czech underground — its darkness and atmosphere. However, this is just one guidepost; the album’s sound is completely contemporary, pulsating, original, energetic, and fresh.

Equally important as the music are the lyrics and their delivery. The album features poems by members of the collective (Karel Škrabal, Daniel Maňas, Dominik Bárt, Krista Kašpar), but Vítrholc also includes other notable authors beyond their core group (Jan Zábrana, Daniel Hradecký, Mirka Ábelová, Roman Krištof). Both female and male voices sing and recite, adding to the album’s overall diversity. The lyrical content is just as vital — darkness, rawness, life stories, perspective, and wit.

Vítrholc is a loose collective of poets, musicians, and performers, one of the most distinctive presences on the Czech and Slovak scene. It was founded in Brno in the 1990s, initially as a group of poets publishing texts in the Vítrholc Almanac. Later, it evolved into a performative-musical recital ensemble, where drums, electronics, and guitar accompanied poets during performances in rock clubs. Over time, they moved from improvisations to composed melodramatic performances, wrapped in computer-generated musical loops.

Today, besides composing and concert programs, Vítrholc is also engaged in author readings, sporadically continues publishing the Vítrholc Almanac, and is not afraid to experiment with exhibitions and performances. On stage, Vítrholc currently features Jaroslav Škvarna, Karel Škrabal, Dalibor Maňas, Palo Pohořelský, Krista Kašpar, Eli Hondl, Elena Pecenová, Filip Klega, Dominik Bárt, and Alexandr Borovička. Slovak poet and lyricist Mirka Ábelová occasionally performs with the group.

Admission: 200 CZK (students and holders of disability cards receive a 50% discount at the venue)

This event is part of the Textconnexion 2025 project, supported financially by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Pardubice Region, and the Statutory City of Pardubice.

www.nedelnichvilkapoezie.cz
www.vitrholc.bandcamp.com