Signal Festival has completed its first decade. We have come a long way in the past 10 years. We reach higher every year and so we also need to take the festival program one step further. Therefore, Pavel Mrkus is taking over the role of the festival’s chief curator, who will complement the long-time director, founder and producer Martin Postta, head of the programme department Mario Kunovsky and programme coordinator Daniel Burda in the programme department.
Respected audiovisual artist
Pavel Mrkus has long been involved in audiovisual projects using digital visual and audio media, often in relation to a specific place. He also presented his work at Signal Festival 2017 in the form of the site-specific installation Database. His work has been presented at the Brussels and Venice Biennials, Chelsea Art Museum in New York, Rudolfinum Gallery, Central Bohemian Region Gallery in Kutná Hora, New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague, Brno House of Arts, House of Arts in České Budějovice and the National Gallery in Prague, among others. Together with Daniel Hanzlík, he founded and runs the Time-Based Media Studio at the Faculty of Art and Design of the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, where he has been the Dean since 2015. His work has been exhibited at the Brussels and Venice Biennales, the National Gallery in Prague and the Rudolfinum, among others.
The new decade in the sign of science, art and technology
The new curator will focus mainly on the development of the festival, its long-term artistic direction and accompanying programme, but also on supporting young talent and interdisciplinary cooperation. He draws inspiration for the upcoming editions mainly from the phenomenon of light in relation to the Enlightenment paradigm and the cultural transformation that underpins contemporary concepts of science, technology and art. Themes such as science, art, technology and innovation will dominate the programme of the next decade of the festival.
Save the date for Signal Festival 2023 from 12 to 15 October 2023.