Gabriela Smetanová is currently on the residency in Paris

Residence in Paris Architecture Alumni club

Since the beginning of January, Gabriela Smetanová, a graduate of the Master's degree in Architecture at the AFAD, has been on a research residency at the Cité internationale des arts with the support of our academy.

Gabriela's research focuses on the artistic and architectural group VAL, which was active in Slovakia from the 1970s to the 1990s and consisted of the artist Alex Mlynárčik, the architect Viera Mecková and the architect Ľudovít Kupkovič. Their work is characterised as visionary architecture, as well as close to the concept of prospective architecture formulated in the 1960s by the French art and architecture critic and theorist Michel Ragon.

FUTURE PERFECT SIMPLE CONTINUOUS curatorial concept (Iva Durkáčová, Mira Kubáňová, Ľuboš Kotlár, Martina Mäsiarová, Ján Skaličan, 2020, Slovak National Museum, Bratislava).

Attic curatorial concept (Iva Durkáčová, Mira Kubáňová, Ľuboš Kotlár, Martina Mäsiarová, Ján Skaličan, 2018, Bratislava City Gallery, Mirbach palace, Bratislava).

Building for the rescue service in Prague (2023, competition design, 1st place, team: Martin Jančok, Gabriela Smetanová, Michal Janák, Zuzana Kovaľová).

MAG D A reader Touching from the Distance (2024, editors: Gabriela Smetanová, Ľubica Hustá, Ľubica Segečová).

During her residency, Gabriela intends to conduct archival research directly in Parisian collecting institutions and to focus " on the significance of French cultural influence on the territory of Czechoslovakia during the second half of the 20th century, expressed through its impact on VAL, or more precisely, through the exploration of similarities or differences in the representation of and thinking about the future."

Nineteen AFAD graduates from fields such as painting, performance, design and art theory applied for the fifth open call. The commitee at the AFAD (composed of: Barbora Komarová, Miroslava Urbanová, Beata Jablonská, Jozef Eduard Masarik and Lucia G. Stach) selected six candidates for the second round. Subsequently, the committee at Cité (Vincent Gonzalvez – Director of the Residency Department, Souraya Kessaria – Program of Residencies and Partnerships) chose Gabriela Smetanová for the first residency in 2025 and Magda Stanová for the second one from April to June.

The Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava has established a long-term cooperation with the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, within the framework of which it will send twice a year authors from Slovakia working in the fields of visual arts, design, architecture, restoration and art theory. Those who graduated from the AFAD or are currently studying at a doctoral degree can apply for the residency - regardless of field, field of research or age.

Another open call for art and research residencies in Paris will be announced later this year for another two residencies in 2026. Follow us on our social media and website for updates.

Partners:

Slovak Institute in Paris
Cité internationale des arts Paris
Tatra Banka Foundation