Spot Fest

We have decided to dedicate the summer months to the presentation of domestic school production—so interestingly diverse and often very innovative thanks to the students’ young point of view. The exhibition Spot Fest is kind of a summer festival—a showcase of short video spots created throughout several years as part of a series of workshops at MediaLab at the Department of Visual Communication AFAD led by Veronika Obertová and Michaela Čopíková. In their short animated videos, the students respond to different tasks; for example, they materialize their own feelings of fear or create spots that accompany music. Many of these animated videos can be characterized by introspective intimacy and also—or because of that—they operate on the verge of absurdity. Moreover, the short length of the spot leads the author towards visual shortcuts, which generally constitute an inspiring factor while creating humour. Therefore, humour and a touch of absurdity represent characteristic features in these projections. At the same time, these video spots are a showcase of different animation techniques, which stems from the school assignment and, in the context of this exhibition, it provides the visitor with a fresh variety—using hand drawn animation, 2D animation of paper or combined 3D animation while creating the movement by the stop motion technique. Besides all the previously mentioned characteristics, which result from the assignment and the used medium, these video spots provide an insight into the world of the young generation of artists. Motifs, which they deal with, indirectly document the background of their sources of inspiration.

MediaLab* is a specialized space at the Department of Visual Communication AFAD in Bratislava. It creates a technological, theoretical and human environment for the study of important phenomena, such as time, interactivity and multimediality in (visual) communication. MediaLab* is a result of a direct initiative of the designer and lecturer of the department Ján Šicko, who, in 2005, started to organise workshops and presentations for students, focusing mainly on VJing and animation. MediaLab* focuses on practical issues of work with technologies, but also discusses the broader context of multimedia culture. In the context of the Department of Visual Communication, it covers border areas and thematic overlaps of graphic design.