Brno 15.-17.5.2014

Caitlind Brown & Wayne Garrett (CAN)

Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett work with diverse media and materials ranging from incandescent light bulbs to re-appropriated waste. Exploring themes of public interaction, art in unexpected spaces, re-use of domestic waste, community collaboration and play. The duo has worked together on numerous pre-demolition installations, most notably The House Project and WRECK CITY. Their CLOUD works have been shown in Calgary, Moscow, and Chicago and also visited Prague last October, where the CLOUD became one of the biggest crowd-pullers of the SIGNAL Light Festival. The most recent projects of the Brown & Garrett duo are SOLAR FLARE in Calgary and NEW MOON presented in Lexington, Kentucky. Despite all the new installations, they have not lost all their love to the CLOUD and the CLOUD, after visiting Singapore, is coming back to the Czech Republic to be part of the CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series.

Andrej Boleslavský (CZ)

Andrej Boleslavský is a new media researcher and artist with ten years of experience; he has been a member of CIANT - International Centre for Art and New Technologies since 2010. He was a co-developer of Armed Assault and ArmA2 computer games by Bohemia Interactive and of the training software for the Eurocopter Tiger helicopter and Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. He specializes in creative development platforms VVVV and Arduino that he used to develop technological solutions for several art projects, such as The Experiment Arctic presented at the festivals Ars Electronica 2009 a Cellsbutton#3. His latest project, ArchiBio live mapping, was first presented at the last year’s SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague. From May to September 2014 this project will travel the Czech Republic as part of the CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series.

František Skála (CZ)

František Skála Graduated from film and television graphics at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP). He won a series of awards for children’s books illustrations. As a sculptor he created a number of remarkable objects and installations and was one of the designers of the interior of the Palác Akropolis Club. Founding member of the art group TVRDOHLAVÍ (The Stubborn), he is also an active member of the vocal and dance theatre group Tros Sketos. František Skála was invited as a guest artist to several foreign universities and his works were presented in multiple solo exhibitions and were recognized by many Czech as well as international awards. He also participated in the 45^th Venice Biennale where he arrived on foot, although the start of his journey was 850 kilometres away. At the last year’s SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague he presented a dreamy installation House of Shadows; this installation is now to travel other Czech cities as part of the CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series. Moreover, you can also visit his exhibition entitled “Cesty” (“Journeys”) in Oblastní galerie Vysočiny gallery in Jihlava, until 18^th May.

SPAM (CZ)

This project of Vladimir 518 and David Vrbík features also a frequent guest, Ondřej Anděra of the WWW group. The project deals mainly with synchronization of visual and audio elements - laser, video and light - into one entirety and its composition and decomposition. Apart from small gallery projects, SPAM prepared a number of performances – Karel Gott Prager, BIT project designed for the front of New Scene building of the National Theatre or Another Bric for the Rudolfinum Gallery. They also created visuals for the Vladimir 518’s concert tour – Gorila vs. Architect and Idiot or the SPAM 5 project for the opening night of the Czech Olympic House in London. At the last year’s SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague,  SPAM presented their video projection entitled “SPAM/ Interpretation of black and white structures of Zdeněk Sýkora” that will also be shown as part of this year’s CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series.

Josef Šafařík (CZ)

He earned his PhD at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP) in glass in architecture/new technology applications in architecture. His main interests are sculpture, new media and medal art. He has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions and in several sculpture symposia. Since 2009 he has been an assistant professor in the Karel Industrial Design Studio of the Institute of Industrial Design at the School of Architecture of the Czech Technical University working together with Prof. Marian Karel. On the occasion of the official opening of the Faculty of Architecture building in 2011 he created a project entitled Tetris and Laser Cube. To the last year’s SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague he contributed by his special “Sun” video projection. The project is now going to travel several cities of the Czech republic  as  part of  the CZECH THE LIGHT project.

Rony Plesl (CZ)

Honored by many awards such as the Red Dot Design Award or Good Design Award, Rony Plesl is currently working on big architectural and his own projects. His work is featured in many prestigious galleries in the Czech Republic and abroad. Since 2008 he has been the head of the Glass Design Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. He works for prestigious clients in the Czech Republic and abroad; for four years he worked for the Barovier & Toso glass works company, the oldest family company in the world. He was the art director of the “Cartier” exhibition in Prague and he has also worked for the German SAHM company for ten years. In 2012 he was awarded by The Best Designer of 2011 award by the Czech Grand Design jury. Last year he received particular attention from the Pivo, Beer & Ale professional magazine recognizing him for his designs for the Budweiser Budvar Brewery by „The Most Impressive New Beer Glass“ award. In October 2013, Rony Plesl contributed to the SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague by exhibiting his Uranium Figure light sculpture. And this sculpture will also be part of the CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series giving this work of art an opportunity to shine in new contexts.

Jakub Nepraš (CZ)

Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague – sculpture and new media. His work has been featured on various local and foreign exhibitions since 1992 and can be seen in many  collections (Nanjing Biennale, Gwangju Biennale Korea, Expo 2010 Shanghai, Museum Colecção Berardo Lisbon, SIART Biennale Bolivia...) and at festivals (ARS electronica, SPARK Minneapolis, Transmediale Berlin, Videonale 12 Bonn) around the world. He believes that the world overtaken by the technologies became a sort of “second nature” and so he freely transforms it in his video paintings and original amusing microcosmoses. At the last year's edition of the SIGNAL Light Festival in Prague his video installation entitled „The Moth“ was presented under one of the arches of the Charles Bridge. The CZECH THE LIGHT cultural events series is going to borrow his „Metropolia“ video projection, in which he is trying to cope with aspects of metropolitan living.