OBJECT:PARADISE

In January this year, we gathered to commemorate and celebrate the late Prague writer and novelist Phillip O'Neil.

‘Imagine somewhere a great and splendid hall where everything is done to produce joy and merriment – but the entrance to this hall is a nasty, muddy, horrible stairway, and it is impossible to pass without getting disgustingly soiled and admission is paid by prostituting oneself, and when day dawns the merriment is over and all ends with one’s being kicked out again. But the whole night through everything is done to keep up and inflame the merriment and pleasure.’

As Phillip wrote himself, writing “doesn’t make the darkness go away, but it makes it easier to live with” — a sentence that continues to describe not only his practice, but the enduring gift of his work to those who read it.

The video below documents the evening. Thank you to everyone who came to share a memory, a piece of his writing, or a piece of writing to commemorate him.
Rest in peace, Phillip..

In Memory of Phillip O'Neil | A Prague Reading ‘Imagine somewhere a great and splendid hall where everything is done to produce joy and merriment – but the entrance to this hall is a nasty, muddy, horribl...

"I first came across the name OBJECT:PARADISE online through short videos where a man recites a poem while, next to him, a woman ecstatically smashes a chair or a computer. The verses are in English, but the scenes are happening in the centre of Prague in front of random passers-by. In another video the poet even has the book he’s reading from burning in his hands. And everything is filmed in nostalgically old-school VHS. I immediately slipped into the curiosity of an amateur detective – what kind of parallel literary life is going on in the streets of the metropolis?"

Read the full recount here:
https://objectparadise.com/Thought-Beat

(Remembering OBJECT:PARADISE : Thought & Beat as written by Ondřej Macl in iTvar. Photos by Eduard Germis & Adela Hrdličkova)