Czech and Slovak scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals are challenged to introduce the subject of their project, research or studies in a short presentation limited to six minutes. A signature program of SVU NY, since 2014. In English.
Presenters
Ivana Andersen (visual art)
Katerina Dvorakova Mankova (photography)
Eva Giannone (baking and Energy USA, natural medicine)
Roman Lewkowicz (folk dance, Limboracik)
Katerina Lu (ballroom dance)
Jakub Mihalik, PhD (Fulbright Scholar at New York University - Philosophy)
Michal Racyn (Fulbright PhD student at Columbia University - Slavonic Studies)
Rene Georg Vasicek (creative writing & experimental writer)
Otto Zizak, Jr (restaurateur, musician, farmer, generalist)
Moderated by Christopher Harwood, Ph.D., Columbia University.
Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $5. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. RSVP online through Eventbrite.
About
Eva (Pestukova) Giannone, an entrepreneur and a baker, was born in Olomouc, Czech Republic. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Prague, where she attended the Hospitality High School. Upon graduation, she worked at a travel agency which inspired her to come to New York. Her love and passion for the hospitality business led her to work at well-known establishments as general manager at Amy’s Bread. That is when she realized that her true passion was baking and started her own baking business specializing in cookies. She had the opportunity to collaborate with numerous event planners to supply their Holiday gifting. In the early 2020 she opened a dealership for Energy, a Czech company which manufactures and distributes herbal supplements. She became a consultant and a therapist for Energy USA and is helping her clients to stay or become healthy.
Otto Zizak, Jr., a native of Poprad, Slovakia, came with his family to New York in 1990. He studied psychology, music and creative writing at CUNY. He conducted research in developmental and experimental psychology, and his study on variables affecting grammar acquisition among young children was published in 2002 by Cambridge University Press. As a musician during the 1990s, he founded an experimental rock band Morgan’s Canon, recorded four albums and performed at venues such as CBGB’s and Webster Hall. In 2018, he released “The Merciless Transcendence of the Machine,” a solo piano/voice album. As a restaurateur, he founded the Korzo Restaurant Group in 2006, focusing on farm-to-table comfort fare in New York City, including five restaurants. Since 2019, Otto has run the Zizak Preserve, an organic-practicing farm in Hopewell, NJ, supplying produce to his artisanal burger shop, Ottoburger. Its success led to a partnership with the Brick Farm Group, one of the nation's truest sustainable food operations, and Otto became manager of its two pasture-to-table divisions.
Katerina Dvorakova Mankova, a native of Valtice, grew up in Breclav in the Moravian wine country of the Czech Republic. After graduating in Public Administration from the Metropolitan University of Prague, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. In 2017, she moved to New York with her family due to her husband's diplomatic posting. Her interest in photography began at a young age and is still developing today. After moving to NYC, she became a member of The United Nations Photography Club and won its annual photography competition in 2019. In 2021, she created a photographic supplement for the Czech Center’s exhibition Bohuslav Martinů: Life and Work in the USA. Besides her NYC street photography, Katerina continues to document events organized by the Czech Center New York and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York.
Ivana (Sterbova) Andersen grew up in the Czech Republic, Libya and Malta. She received her MA in international law (LLM) but later decided her heart was not in it. She worked as a travel agent and an Emirates Cabin crew member for 3 years. Among other jobs, she is a freelance artist with a passion for impressionism bringing her paintings to life on large canvases using acrylic colors. Having been fortunate to travel the world and explore cultures and landscapes, she draws inspiration from her trips and experiences. She has shared her love for art teaching classes at the Université Populaire du Canton de Genève and exhibiting her work in various galleries and at art salons in Australia, Dubai, Qatar, Malaysia, Switzerland and in New York. Ivana also designs ceramics, jewelry, and handbags.
Michal Racyn, born in Ukraine, has lived since 2004 in Brno with his parents. He is a 2022 Fulbright scholar at Columbia University and a PhD student of the Department of Slavonic Studies at Masaryk University. His research focuses on the intellectual history of Russian emigration during the Cold War. Its main objective is to analyze the reception and transformation of Eurasianist ideology and philosophy within the intellectual environment of Soviet and US academia. His research is primarily based on the analysis of archival materials located in Prague (Slavonic Library), Saint Petersburg (Anna Akhmatova Museum), and New York (Columbia University, Bakhmeteff Archive).
René Georg Vasicek, a lo-fi novelist, was born in Austria in 1969 to Czech parents defecting from Czechoslovakia. He grew up in the Pine Barrens of Eastern Long Island and has lived in New York City since 1995. René earned an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and was awarded an NEA fellowship. Currently, he is an adjunct lecturer at Lehman College in the Bronx. His debut novel, The Defectors, is loosely based on the experiences of Czechs and Slovaks in a totalitarian regime. Other books include Machine, Cyborg, Jörgensen and the Machine, and 404 Error, a collaboration with the UK experimental writer Zak Ferguson, which is forthcoming from Equus Press in Prague. He lives in Astoria with his wife and two sons.
Jakub Mihalik is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Currently, he is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at New York University, doing research in the philosophy of mind and consciousness. He grew up in Prague and studied philosophy at Charles University, earning his PhD in 2016. In his PhD thesis, entitled Consciousness in Nature: A Russellian Approach, he investigated the relation between qualitative consciousness and physical brain processes, arguing for a non-reductive approach to consciousness inspired by the insights of Bertrand Russell. From 2019 to 2021, Jakub carried out research at the University of Hertfordshire (UK), examining relations between the inner structure and metaphysical theories of consciousness. Apart from being a philosopher, Jakub is a husband and a father, as well as a guitar player, singer and songwriter in an indie-rock band that released two albums.
Katerina (Matinu) Lu, a native of Prague, studied at the University of Economics and worked briefly for a commercial bank upon graduating. Later she joined the Prague Circus Agency and the N&H Arts Agencies, negotiating contracts for artists and acrobats. In 1993, Katerina came to the US to teach at the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Boston, becoming an accomplished professional ballroom dancer over almost 2 decades. Now, she and her husband dance competitively only as a hobby, still training 10-12 hours weekly. They have won over ten Senior USA National Ballroom titles, three times the British Open Championship (a.k.a. the Blackpool Festival), the World Championships and numerous major titles across the USA and the world. Katerina’s day job now is tutoring Czech and English. Although she now calls the United States home, Prague will always have a special place in her heart. She travels there regularly to see her family and friends.
Roman Lewkowicz started folk dancing in Binghamton, NY, at the age of three. As a teenager, he attended several folk-dance intensive camps and workshops in upstate NY. In 1997 he earned his BA from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he received a scholarship to join the Eastern European folk ensemble, the Tamburitzans, enabling him to learn from some of the most prestigious choreographers in Europe and the United States. He toured all over the US performing in over a hundred shows per season. In 1998-1999, he was a professional dancer and choreographer with the professional Slovak-Rusyn folk dance company PUL'S in Prešov, Slovakia. Over the years, he has taught choreographies for two amateur Slovak ensembles, Karpat'anin and Dúbrava in Presov. Since 2002, Roman has been a dancer, instructor and choreographer for the Slovak folk ensemble Limbora and its children's group Limboracik (ages 6-14) in New York, helping to build skills and repertoires of both groups.
The event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York Chapter, with support of BBLA. In partnership with the Consulate General of the Slovak Republic in New York.