The organizers of the Signal Festival didn't let the coronavirus pandemic stop them. The festival of digital and creative art will take place from Thursday 15 October to Sunday 18 October. Visitors can newly look forward to an additional festival route in Holešovice, which will complement the popular routes leading through Karlín and the historical corners of the Old Town.
The eighth edition of the festival will follow the very current theme of Plan B. The organizers and visual artists want to explore together what we can do for planet Earth and how to behave sustainably, on top of which many artists are responding to this year's pandemic.
The most prominent Czech names of this year include the artists Milena Dopitová, Jiří Černický or the designer duo Vrtiška & Žák. Famous foreign worshops won't be amiss either.
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Ecology is the central theme
Dopitová will present the kinetic object Jeff at the Štvanice hydroelectric power plant at the festival, thus drawing attention to the effects of the unhealthy existence of modern society on the nature around us.
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Kinetický objekt Jeff od Mileny Dopitové u vodní elektrárny na Štvanici.Source: archiv Signal Festivalu
Visual artist, creator of experimental and intermedia projects and head of the Painting Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague Jiří Černický will prepare a mysterious and impressive projection of aquatic animals hidden in the depths of the ocean, which, surprisingly, can turn into a bearer of a clear ecological message. Visitors will find his installation Archaic News in the beautiful gardens of the St. Agnes Monastery.
The interactive, playful and energetically completely independent kinetic installation Flourish of Light was created for the festival by designers Roman Vrtiška and Vladimír Žák. Visitors themselves will be able to set the technological flowers into motion in the area in front of the Main Point Karlín building. One of the most anticipated works of art is a magnificent 3D projection from the Spanish studio Onionlab, which will turn the well-known environment of the Industrial Palace at the Prague Exhibition Grounds into a unique experience.
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Instalace Onionlabu Superar v Průmyslovém paláci.Source: archiv Signal Festivalu
Support for young Czech artists
Kateřina Blahutová, the winner of the open call Signal Calling, organized by the festival in cooperation with PrusaLab, will be vying for the attention of visitors with a playful crowdfunding interactive installation Living Forest, which responds to the topic of deforestation of the natural landscape. The festival established a strong partnership with the Time-Based Media studio at the Faculty of Art and Design of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. The students will present their installations in the courtyard of the Clementinum.
Even a pandemic can be seen in a positive light
Visitors can also look forward to the popular videomapping on the church of St. Cyril and Methodius on Karlín Square.
"We enjoy exploring further possibilities of the genre. The projection of the German studio Weltraumgrafik is abstract and hypnotic. They are responding to the global pandemic that has changed everything, but not entirely for the worse. They see the disaster as a new beginning. We don't want to be only negative and sad. Together with the artists, we would like to look for unusual solutions and alternative scenarios,"
says festival manager Matěj Vlašánek.
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Birdscape od Kláry Míčkové na stěně Klementina. Source: archiv Signal Festivalu
The organizers face a hygienic challenge
The organizers are planning to include new locations with a smaller capacity and a number of measures that will make the festival as safe as possible.
"Since the beginning of the crisis, we have known that we would continue with the preparations for the festival and that we wanted to make it happen. We have intensively discussed its safety with leading Czech epidemiologists. We have maximally reduced the time that visitors will spend in one place and thus the length of installations that run in a loop. Installations are reasonably planned so that no one has to stay longer than 15 minutes. We are also planning very strict hygiene measures for the staff you'll meet at the festival, as well as frequent disinfection of all festival premises. Of course, we have to be aware that anything may happen,"
