13

The exhibition compared famous dystopic visions of the future as described 
in their novels by Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, 1932), George Orwell 
(1984, 1949) and Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, 1953) with the current social 
situation. The primary aim of the authors of the books was to galvanize 
readers and point out possible future threats – controlled splitting of society 
into castes; controlling the population based on psychological manipulation 
and fear, and victory of superficial mass-media culture over a society that 
valued books. The exhibition showed where their predictions were wrong, 
and where current reality has exceeded their dark visions many times over. 

The Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori (appellation of people who 
isolate themselves from the rest of the society) was included as a separate 
exposition thanks to cooperation with Norwegian Japanologist Lars Nesser 
and theatre studio Farm in the Cave.

The same topic was developed in the dancing performance Disconnected, 
which was created for the spaces of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. 
The performance and the director Viliam Dočolomanský received the Opera 
Plus Award for the best choreography in 2015.

Additionally, a dance workshop under the leadership of Kenneth Flak, dancer, 
choreographer, and instructor from Norway, was part of the accompanying 
programme of the exhibition.

Brave New World

DOX Centre for 

Contemporary Art

Prague (CZ)

Concept of 

the exhibition

Leoš Válka

Curators 

Leoš Válka, 

Michaela Šilpochová

The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art is a multi-functional space for presentation of 

contemporary art, architecture and design. It was created thanks to a private initiative 

through the reconstruction of a former factory in Prague’s Holešovice district and 

its mission lies in presenting Czech and foreign contemporary art in the context of 

important social topics that create and change the world today.