mAI type
Author of the exhibition and pedagogical guidance: M.A. Lenka Baroňová
Curator: Mgr. Helena Maňasová Hradská, Ph.D.
Expert cooperation and pedagogical guidance of students in working with generative AI tools: MgA. Jakub Hrdina, Ph.D.
Architecture: sstudents of Spatial Design Studio FMC TBU Zlin
Date: 11. 12. 2024 – 27. 2. 2025
The exhibition presents the output of a pedagogical experiment that focused on the process and means of designing in a situation of rapidly evolving tools of generative artificial intelligence (AI). The aim was not to confront the abilities of the human hand and imagination with the results produced by AI as a contest in search of a winner, but to present the breadth of the spectrum with which the contemporary graphic designer can work, ranging from the minimal assistance of digital tools (based on image work) to the maximum, which is currently the so-called powerful AI instructed verbally, by prompts. At every moment of this process of “mechanization” there is always a need for human, creative intervention and intention. The exhibition attempts to present these moments through examples of assignments typical in the field of typography. We have deliberately chosen the assignments to include aspects considered to be typical of human creative behaviour: visual puns, metaphors, the use of optical illusion, the pursuit of self-expression.
The emphasis on the procedural level of the discussion of the graphic designer’s work and so-called AI is underlined by both the interactive elements of the exhibition and the planned workshops on calligraphy and AI tools in the accompanying programme for the public, primary and secondary schools.
Kruhy na vodě
Curator: Mgr. et Mgr. art. Mária Hriešik Nepšinská, PhD.
Date: 12. 3. 2025 – 17. 4. 2025
The international craft-oriented design competition Kruhy na vodě (Circles on Water) is a platform for confronting new works seeking inspiration in traditional crafts, which has been organised by the The Centre for Folk Art Production at regular two-year intervals since 2000. The mission of the competition is to develop a dialogue about traditional values, their preservation and innovation in contemporary crafts, applied arts and design. The aim is to highlight the need for the transformation of craft, possible intersections into design and to initiate collaborations between craftspeople and professional designers. The The Centre for Folk Art Production is based on the conviction that craft-oriented design, highlighting the culture of handmade utilitarian and decorative objects, is a driving force for innovation also in the field of traditional craftsmanship.
Professional designers and university students who take into account craft approaches in the realisation of contemporary design, or who use tradition in a broader sense as inspiration for experimental design, have entered their works in a separate section A in the open call of the current 12th edition of the competition. In the next section B, artisans and traditional producers of artisanal products with regard to the possibilities of serial reproducibility are presented, emphasising the functional, aesthetic and ecological aspects of the products in their work. It is also important for The Centre for Folk Art Production to support designers at the stage of their professional formation in art-oriented secondary schools, which is why the competition provides them with a space in a separate section C, where they submit works inspired by the practices or patterns of traditional craftsmanship, made from natural and, to a lesser extent, alternative materials.
Among 234 submitted works, the international jury selected 83 artists whose works will be presented at the competition show Circles on Water 2024, which will be held in 2025 in the G18 Gallery in Zlín.
BEST IN DESIGN: BEST OF ’25
Curators: curatorial team of students
Guarantor: Mgr. Vít Jakubíček, Ph.D.
Date: 08. 5. 2025 – 23. 5. 2025
Artists: young designers under 30 years of age; participants in the international competition Best in Design in the categories Communication Design (graphic design, illustration, new media, visual communication and intermedia, etc.), Fashion Design (apparel design, textile design, footwear and accessories design, jewellery design, etc.), Product and Industrial Design (products, interior and furniture design, tool and equipment design, etc.) and Service Design (complex designs for processes, technologies and interactions that drive service delivery). Finalists are selected by an expert jury in February 2025.
Design has the ability to change reality and influence the quality of our lives. Increasingly, the quality of individual design processes matters, opening up new discussions about the direction of design. How to face the current challenges? How to harness the potential of innovation and creativity for a better world? Engaging different voices and perspectives can reshape established norms, promote inclusivity and bring new perspectives on design in today’s dynamic world.
The Best of ’25 exhibition at the G18 gallery will present the works of the finalists of the 16th edition of the international Best in Design competition. From 8 to 23 May 2025, the gallery will be a place to reflect on the direction of the work of young designers. The exhibition is part of the Zlin Design Week 2025 festival.
The Best in Design ’25 exhibition will include an expanded experimental testing of inclusive measures for people with learning disabilities as part of the TAČR Sigma project, called Museums without Barriers, in which G18 Gallery is a partner. Among others, the research will involve the collaboration of Slovak graphic designer Martin Pyšný, who has developed his own font designed for people with learning disabilities, and Ladislava Zbiejczuk Suchá, PhD from the Department of Information Studies and Librarianship at Masaryk University.
Diplomky 25
Curator: Helena Maňasová Hradská
Date: 25. 6. 2025 – 17. 7. 2025
The exhibition of the final works of students from 14 studios from the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at the Tomas Bata University in Zlin has become a traditional event in the G18 gallery. In 2025, it will take place for the eighth time and will once again present the best and most up-to-date work produced at the faculty. The final works produced in various studios focused on art, design, photography and audiovisual arts are among the most important outputs of the faculty. The Diplomky 25 (Theses 25) exhibition is a key event not only for the academic community of the FMC, but also for the wider Zlin art community, which works closely with the faculty. Visitors can look forward to a diverse range of themes and approaches, from traditional to modern media, commercial projects and free works.
HOMO FABER
Curator: Mgr. Vít Jakubíček, Ph.D.
Author: doc. MgA. Jan Jindra
Date: 24. 9. 2025 – 27. 11. 2025
In the file (HOMO FABER), photographer Jan Jindra returns to the same place as 40 years ago when he studied at FAMU in Prague. He continues the original project Cottagers (1985), which was created as part of an exercise in photographic publication course under the guidance of teacher Pavel Štecha. Its aim at that time was to capture the depopulation of Prague on Fridays. He captured how Prague residents left the city on Fridays in convoys of cars heading for cottages and chalets. He photographed loaded cars, portraits of crews and often equipment on roof racks or on trolleys during daylight hours on Fridays. Then on Sunday night, using a flash, he would capture their returns. It was an observation of a kind of rhythmic escape from normalized space. The photographer’s conceptual approach consisted primarily in a fixed location (the penultimate intersection with lights before the exit road from Prague) and the angle of the photograph.
At the moment, photographer Jan Jindra finds a considerably shifted aesthetic at the same place and time (Friday around 3 pm). He actively engages colour as an expressive means of the photographic image. Perhaps the specific day and time are not so decisive in his photographs today, but both sets of photographs resonate with a confrontational aesthetic. Cars in the current project are more than before the status of the successful person. We all live fully in a consumer society and cars are the illusory “shield” of the personality of today. Contemporary advertising signs on company cars evoke the restless and chimerical pulse of our times. Some cars today are actually moving billboards. The exhibition captures the confrontations of these two worlds, and the individual shots and situations in the cars again present unexpected constellations seen from one place.
Nowa sytuacja – Nová situace
Curators: Michał Pietrzak, Tomasz Dobiszewski, Marek Grzyb
Date: 10. 12. 2025 – 25. 2. 2026
The New Situation exhibition is a reflection of changing reality, and conditions. It is a time of change that is coming with full force and no one can escape it. The climate, social and political relations are changing. There are new challenges that need to be defined for oneself and for others. Their rejection, ignorance and apparent indifference to them also creates a new situation, whether we want it or not. Sooner or later, each of us will be faced with a new reality and must accept, embrace or reject it – either way, respond in some way. It is these reactions that are the subject of the exhibition New Situation, prepared by teachers and students of the Department of Akademii Sztuk Pięknych im. Eugeniusza Gepperta we Wrocławiu.