A2 is a Czech cultural bi-weekly reflecting culture in the broad sense of the word, including social events and politics. Published every other Wednesday, it offers 40 pages about literature, film, art, theatre, music, and of course politics.
A2 was established in October 2005, published as a weekly until December 2008. A2 is an abbreviation of the address of the editorial office in Americká street 2 in Prague, peculiar both for its architecture and atmosphere.
Our main effort is to approach quality living art in context - be it the context of other art categories, the context of civil society or the context of both Czech and international art production. We seek works and tendencies giving a true picture of our time, frequently a more sensitive, accurate, prompt and irritating one than we would like it to be.
Contents
Every issue offers a selected cultural service: cultural tips (a selection of events for the following two weeks in the form of a poster with an original graphic design) and two pages of mini-reviews of new books, CDs and DVDs, exhibitions and theatre performances.
A great part of each issue consists of reviews of all kinds of art works and expert publications, followed by an essay, an interview, media criticism, short fiction, sections dedicated to subcultures or civil resistance, as well as social commentaries dedicated to both Czech and international issues. Every fortnight, the main theme of the issue is introduced. A2 was the first one to introduce many a new topic to the Czech milieu, such as AIDS and activism, fanzins and web blogging, DIY, contemporary Czech drama or women in subcultures. Serious “academic“ topics (such as or contemporary literary theory, documentary film, Austrian migration literature, videoart etc.) are discussed in a comprehensible way attractive for the readers. The summer issues usually offer a whole range of voluminous portraits of contemporary world authors or the best of the latest comic books.
In 2007, A2 organized an international competition in essay writing called Essay it! (http://essay-it.com). Since 2007, A2 has organized the Stimul music festival each year (www.stimul-festival.cz).
A2 is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (www.mkcr.cz), Nadace Český literární fond (www.nclf.cz) and International Visegrad Fund (http://www.visegradfund.org).