Speech by the Rector at Matriculation

 

Dear students, dear colleagues!

 

The matriculation ceremony for first-year students is a formal occasion intended to welcome you into the life of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. As of today, you become part of the academic community and, at the same time, an artistic community with its own values and qualities.

Our Academy is an open and free institution, focused on you, our students, on your education, creativity, development and support. We consider you the most important part of our Academy. All our efforts, artistic, research and educational, are centred around you. However, you will very quickly discover that, alongside providing education and support, we are also an institution guided by strong values. We believe it is important to guide you towards becoming well-rounded individuals: people who are not only creative and wise, but also committed to humanistic values and actively engaged as citizens for the benefit of their community, society and our country. The role of our teachers is to engage you in conversations that may help you find a balance between your individual artistic development and dedicating yourselves to goals greater than yourselves. In my view, these are interconnected aspects that create the foundations for a strong and authentic life.

 

The Academy of Fine Arts and Design is an institution that cares deeply about the direction in which our society is heading and is committed to building a culturally developed, mature and self-confident Slovakia.

 

One of the major concerns of our Academy is Ukraine. Our most important partner institutions are located in Ukraine, in Uzhhorod, Lviv, Kyiv and Kharkiv. Today, Ukraine is an extraordinarily courageous and determined country, defending not only its territorial integrity against Russian military aggression, but also the rest of Europe. It is thanks to Ukraine that we live in a country without war. Prime Minister Fico's political alignment with Russia is shameful. I feel ashamed of it whenever I visit Ukraine. This makes us all the more determined to devote our efforts to our Ukrainian partners. We think of them, care about them, help them and, above all, collaborate with them. The relationships we have built with Ukrainian institutions over recent years will endure. They are founded on trust, solidarity and determination. I believe that one day Ukraine will enter an era of peace, but peace without justice is not peace. The Prime Minister's empty rhetoric about peace is merely a relic of communist thinking. Genuine peace is impossible without the condemnation of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 

Since 2023, the year of the most recent parliamentary elections, we have been closely monitoring developments in the cultural sector. We have actively and critically participated in public discussions about the functioning of the Ministry of Culture. Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová and former Secretary-General of the Ministry's Service Office Lukáš Machala bear full responsibility for the dismantling of Slovakia's cultural infrastructure. They have been responsible for the closure of Kunsthalle Bratislava and for appointing professionally unqualified individuals with little connection to the arts to leadership positions at the Slovak National Theatre (SND), the Slovak National Gallery (SNG) and the Slovak National Museum (SNM). This fundamentally undermines the quality and authority of these institutions. The Slovak Arts Council was also supposed to serve you, our students. Today, however, it is an institution lacking public oversight and professional expertise, with opaque financial flows that do nothing to support the presentation of high-quality visual art, design and architecture. Our Academy has consistently drawn attention to this dismantling of cultural infrastructure through public statements, demonstrations and other activities. We are aware that these efforts have often failed to produce tangible results, but we could not abandon our critical response. Our efforts will not be in vain. In the long term, they strengthen our future resilience against politicians who lack education, cultural awareness and humanistic values.

 

Our Academy has a strong commitment to cooperation with non-profit organisations and the third sector. Projects across several departments focus on this type of collaboration. Non-profit organisations and the broader third sector frequently contribute to improving the quality of life in Slovakia and advancing the common good. They work to foster social cohesion, bringing people together and building relationships based on shared values and goals. This public-benefit sector supports numerous social programmes addressing poverty, social exclusion, women experiencing abuse and minority communities, as well as environmental protection, access to healthcare and the preservation of cultural heritage. At the same time, I recognise that this sector often performs functions that should be fulfilled by the state, or compensates for the state's failure to fulfil them. In doing so, it helps mitigate polarisation in our society, something that probably troubles many Slovak politicians. A divided and polarised country is easier to control, as constant conflict distracts us from remaining vigilant against corruption and injustice. The experiences that our teachers and students gain through such collaborations offer another important benefit. They fundamentally transform the identity of our Academy, making us more perceptive and sensitive to suffering, mistreatment, injustice and unfairness. Non-profit organisations and the third sector are our natural partners, and I am personally extremely grateful for this kind of cooperation.

 

Slovakia is currently facing a very difficult situation, to which the Academy of Fine Arts and Design frequently responds. Socially critical themes are becoming increasingly prominent in students' semester projects, addressing issues such as the position of women in society and the lived experiences of queer people. Your fellow students in higher years are also engaging with state and national symbols. These are often exceptionally courageous subjects. It is encouraging to see young people who are not afraid to address pressing issues that help us confront problematic situations within our society. At critical moments, the Academy will always stand by them, because freedom of artistic expression is the most important value in art. It is protected by the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and by the academic rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Higher Education Act. All the decisions you make as you search for your own themes, artistic language and, later, directions in artistic research will be carefully discussed with you and supported within your departments.

 

It is especially during difficult times that we learn mutual trust and solidarity, helping us stand firmly together. Only now, after several challenging years, do we fully realise just how important our Academy is as an institution. It is a pillar of freedom and democracy in Slovakia. Protect this legacy. It is extraordinarily precious and important.

 

Assoc. Prof. Mgr. Bohunka Kolesová, PhD.

Matriculation Ceremony, 19 October 2026

Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava