The winning project of the open call Future for Europe: Reform and Liberty
In cooperation with the Slovak Institute in Rome, we announced an open call at the beginning of June entitled "Future for Europe: Reform and Liberty" intended for students of the AFAD to submit their artistic proposals. In the two-round selection process, the project of Martin Jurík, a student from Studio of Glass, was awarded.
The content of the open call was focused on the topic of freedom - not only its importance within the framework of the social system, but also on the reflection of the personal (un)freedom of imprisoned juveniles. Students of art schools from EU member countries were supposed to reflect on short texts created by young prisoners during a creative workshop. You can read the full text of the open call here: https://www.vsvu.sk/en/events/Y7veB1Ob/the-future-for-europe-reform-and-liberty/
Twelve AFAD students from different departments applied for the open call, and they all responded in their specific way to the submitted assignment.
In the end, the Italian curators chose an intermedia installation by a student from Studio of Glass Martin Jurík as part of their exhibition concept.
Martin Jurík wrote about his proposed project:
"(...) I do not dispute the writer's claims, but I am thinking about their possible context and continuation. I try to look at the described reality through a lens that does not take into account the truth of the story, rather it works as a free narrative - or does it really (?). I work with the contrasts of asserted and experienced; I open the discourse of this relationship. I am aware of the issue of written language as a communication medium, so I have to work with imagination to a certain extent. The austerity and as if the lack of colour of the text has a purposeful effect on me, it is strange that it reminds me of postcards that children write from camps (summer camps, etc.). When I was little, I used to write similar letters from nature camps, always descriptive, austere and unnaturally positive. Even though I cried for my mom every day, I always wrote at most about bad weather or bad lunch. Such an approach can be a reaction to non-verbalized emotional deviations that are consciously buried under larger - higher conclusions layered by us. Is it free not to confess?'
The selected work will represent the Slovak Republic at the international exhibition, the first edition of which will take place this November in the former San Michele juvenile prison in Rome. Subsequently, the exhibition will travel to other Italian cities.