Jan Hladil & Michal Šupák (CZ) → FIGURA VARIUS

08:00 → 19:00
  • Signal AR
  • Augmented-reality installation

About project

Signal AR is an augmented reality experience that requires downloading the Signal festival mobile app from the App Store or Google Play. The installations were created during the 9th Signal Festival in 2021 in response to the pandemic. It is a long-standing Signal project and is still on display during this year’s 11th edition. It is also the way to stay connected with you all year round.

Selected locations will offer the possibility to view the art installations through your mobile device. We recommend visiting the sites during daylight hours, between 8:00 – 19:00, depending on the season.

This audiovisual work was created in collaboration between visual artist Jan Hladil and composer Michal Šupák. Using NOTCH VFX, a unique software tool for professional visual content creation, a real-time generated, audio reactive spatial abstract and geometric composition was programmed, which dramaturgically follows the dynamics of the musical background: its variety, vibrancy and positive energy. The project was originally conceived as a Signal Festival contribution to the National Theatre’s Nation to Itself event in support of a culture bereaved by the pandemic crisis. Now it is presented to you in a new redesigned form as augmented reality mapping on the architecturally unique Kooperativa building in Prague’s Karlín district. The progressive expression of the building gives the work a new dimension and substance.

About artist

Czech visual artist Jan Hladil studied graphic design and then supermedia at Prague's VŠUP. During his studies he worked intensively on mastering the entire process of video creation in all its forms. He works as a VJ and does video installation and content creation for the audiovisual label Lunchmeat. In addition, he collaborates, for example, with Laterna magika on the New Stage of the National Theatre. In his free work he focuses on the interpretation of social, cultural and physical processes, which he translates into an artistic way of knowing through specific visual representations. He has presented his audiovisual works at the National Gallery, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague City Gallery, Chemistry Gallery and Zdeněk Sklenář Gallery.

The music for the installation was created by multi-instrumentalist Michal Šupák. He was born in Trenčín in 1988. He attended a Polish primary school, then studied piano and grammar school in Ostrava at the Janáček Conservatory. He has received several awards during his lifetime for his piano playing. He is a member of the band Post Noisy Pots.

  • Patron of installation

    Kooperativa