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Edition 37

Dear friends,
As the year 2009 was declared the Year of Astronomy, the UNESCO proposed to dedicate the 37th ICEFA Lidice 2009 to a theme relating to THE UNIVERSE. Children could draw inspiration from the many following detailed themes: “Discovering the universe“, “How to fly to the stars “, “I wonder what is there on the other planets “, “Sky and stars over my country“, “What an astronomer looks like“.

We received more than 21,000 entries by children from 53 countries this year, with the most coming from Turkey (2 537 entries) and Serbia (2 026 entries). We are pleased to say that, thanks to enhanced publicity, this year witnessed much more participating schools from the Czech Republic (399 as against last year’s 137) and the Slovak Republic (71 as against last year’s 22). Moreover, we received entries from countries which did not participate in previous years, e.g. from Italia, Mexico, Germany, Norway, Austria, Spain or Afghanistan.

Like every year, it was very interesting to compare styles of submitted entries and their degree of elaboration as well as the inventiveness and the creative contribution of a child or a group of children. Most entries coming under the categories of Painting, Drawing, Printmaking and Photography represented children’s vision of the universe and extraterrestrial civilisations, repeatedly exploiting the themes of the Solar System’s planets, constellations, rockets, astronomers and space explorers. Czech schools, unlike the foreign ones, were allowed to submit 3D entries as well as ceramic works, this year representing groups of weird extraterrestrials, space vehicles or models of the Solar System’s revolving planets. Again this year there was presented another type of children’s group work – a school project resulting in a presentation of children’s creative activity. This year’s competition was enlivened by records of such projects, e.g. working with snow or making ice sculptures (Music School Staicele, Latvia), a cosmic feast (Primary school Poljčane, Slovenia) or a cosmic wedding (Primary Art School Prostějov, CR).

Number of entries:

Out of the total 21,731 entries from 53 countries 1,467 were selected by the Panel of Judges to win prizes. Children from abroad received 593 prizes, out of which 48 were individual medals and 18 were medals to schools for their collections of exceptionally good works of fine art. Most of them were won by children from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania. The eye of the panel of judges was caught also by pictures by children from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Peru and Mexico, which make a welcome change in the exhibition every year.

Czech schools were awarded 729 prizes, out of which 48 were individual medals and 32 were medals to schools for their collections. Among the most successful were children from the Primary Art School Kolín, the Primary Art School Strakonice, the Primary Art School Most, the Primary Art School Plzeň and the House of Children and Youth Ulita from Prague. This year’s prize of the Panel of Judges was awarded to the above-mentioned Primary Art School Kolín for an extraordinary collection of paintings, drawings and printmakings. Slovak schools won 145 prizes this year, out of which 8 were individual medals and 8 were medals to schools. The most successful were children from the Primary Art School Spišská Belá, the Primary Art School Žilina, Gaštanová Street and the Primary Art School Prešov.

The 37th International Fine Arts Competition culminated in the exhibition of winning works, which was opened ceremonially at the Lidice Gallery at Lidice on 27 May 2009, in the presence of many ambassadors and political and cultural figures of the Czech Republic, including the first Czechoslovak in space, Vladimír Remek. This time the ceremonial opening was enlivened by workshops of the National Technical Museum and talks about the universe. As has become a tradition, also laureates from abroad were invited. This year it was an 8-year-old girl Ioana Bianca Anton from the Vasil Conta school at Iasi in Romania and a 6-year old girl Frederika Krompaská from the Primary Art School Spišská Belá in the Slovak Republic.

The exhibition at Lidice will continue till 1 November 2009, then, in a reduced form, it will be to be seen at other places of the Czech Republic – at the Primary Art School Most Gallery, at NKP Ležáky, at the Museum of Trades and Building at Drnovice, at Techmanie in Plzeň and even at such an exotic place as the village of Lidice in distant Brazil. You are cordially invited to visit these places.

Ivona Kasalická, Head of the Lidice Gallery and Curator of ICEFA Lidice
May 2009

Rules for the 37th edition of the International Children’S Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice 2009

Taking into account the new Constitution of the International Children’s Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice of 26 Sep 2006 in force and its provisions regarding the organization of the exhibition, in order to ensure and achieve the aims contained in the Constitution as the fundamental document on the organization of the relevant project, the Organizer issues the following rules (conditions).

1. The announcing date of the 37th edition of the International Children’s Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice 2009 (hereinafter ICEFA Lidice): May 2008.
2. The closing date for accepting entries: 15 March 2009.

3. The proposal for the budget of ICEFA Lidice 2009:
   Until the proposal for the budget of 2009 is presented to the promoter, i.e. the Ministry of Culture of the CR, pursuant to its dispositions, the Organizer is entitled, if needed, to reimburse the travel expenses related to the ceremonial announcement of the winners of the current edition of the ICEFA Lidice competition at the Lidice Gallery to selected child winners and their accompanying person (i.e. one adult) under the following conditions:

   1. reimbursement of travel expenses under 500 km: by train, by bus, by car or by public transport,
   2. reimbursement of travel expenses over 500 km: by train, by bus, by car, by public transport or by air from the international airport nearest to the place of residence of the winner to Prague and back.
4. The date of the session of the expert panel of judges: 7 and 8 April 2009.
5. The date of the ceremonial opening of the exhibition and the competition prize awards: 27 May 2009.
6. The date of the deinstallation of ICEFA: 1 Nov 2009.
7. These rules come into effect on 7 Jan 2009

V Lidicích dne 7. 1. 2009

JUDr. Milouš Červencl
ředitel Památníku Lidice