Jury
art historian
An internationally renowned scholar and academic, expert in modern and contemporary art, best known for her groundbreaking research on Eastern European art. She studied at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and received her PhD from University College London. She initially focused on the dissident system and unofficial culture of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as transnational and transregional methodologies within pan-European modernism and the formation of relationships in Eastern Europe and Latin America. She currently works in contemporary art, focusing on documentary and video practices and issues of labor migration, minority experiences, human rights, and border politics. She works at The Courtauld Institute in London (part of the University of London, a center specializing in art history) - one of the world's leading organizations in this field.
She is the author of key publications that are considered required reading in this field of research. Her groundbreaking book Networking the Bloc: Experimental Art in Eastern Europe, 1965-1981 (MIT Press, 2019) offered the first detailed overview of experimental art in the Eastern European space. It is the result of research conducted through numerous personal encounters and work with archival material collected in twelve countries. The aim of the research was to refute the prevailing Cold War narrative of the isolation of the Eastern Bloc. In her practice, she persistently explores the complex intersections of art and politics in the former Eastern Bloc, and is currently researching representations of migration, mobility, and war in contemporary documentary and participatory art. He writes regularly about international relations and experimental art of the 1960s and 1980s, focusing on re-evaluating the image of art and life in Central and Eastern Europe within the global field.
visual artist
Undoubtedly the most significant Slovak visual artist. Ondaka's work is studied by the world's leading curators, his works are represented in permanent collections and repeatedly exhibited in the world's most important museums of contemporary art (MoMa, Tate Modern, Venice Biennale...). An internationally acclaimed and respected artist, his projects invite us on a journey of social conscience, but also on a specific excursion through space and time. He studied in Bratislava, the USA and Japan, and belongs to the generation of artists of the 1990s, who were given the opportunity by the social changes after 1989 to build on domestic conceptual art, which had been banished from the official art scene by totalitarianism, but also to absorb impulses and themes from contemporary world art. Ondaka is concerned with the relationship between memory and image, playing with the essence of life, which he often presents with irony; he deliberately balances on the border between art, fiction, and reality—life.
Although his art is outwardly characterized by minimalism and perfect technical execution, he is actually interested in thought processes, subjective experience, the psyche, memories, memory... He deliberately chooses situations that have a decisive influence on human life (first steps, recording the growth of children, games, rituals...). Through his contributions, he forces us to think, tests our attention – he draws our attention to moments that we often do not notice, ignore, or have “simply” forgotten. Ondak is a keen observer of his surroundings, but he does not point things out directly; instead, he consciously hides, conceals, and covers them up. Through everyday moments, he emphasizes the transience of everyday life and at the same time questions the value system.
painter
Winner of the Maľba competition (2012), a powerful voice of his generation, an artist who is not afraid to express his opinion publicly and who, through his open approach and communication skills, makes art (painting) accessible to the general public (publishing zines, podcast on contemporary painting). One of the best-known and most commercially successful Slovak painters. He began actively working on the Slovak and international art scene while still a university student. Initially, he developed an individual program in his work, based on seemingly shocking themes. At first glance, Dúbravský's paintings were playful and visually attractive, but they also explored dark themes, including intergenerational relationships, elements of subordination, complicity, and, in a pioneering move in our environment, homosexuality. In recent years, he has been drawing more attention to our (un)healthy relationship with nature. By depicting insects (bees, ladybugs, wasps...), he reminds us of the importance of these often overlooked animals, which are crucial to human life.
Dúbravský actively exhibits not only in Slovakia, but also abroad – in the Czech Republic, Germany, the USA, Italy, and other countries. His works are presented at international fairs and exhibitions in Europe and the United States and are also represented in the collections of the Slovak National Gallery, the Bratislava City Gallery, and numerous private collections at home and abroad.
art critic and historian
He studied economics, history, and art criticism, which is why his main areas of scientific interest are museology and museography, as well as cultural heritage administration. In 1989, he graduated in business economics from Bocconi University, then obtained a CEMS master's degree from H.E.C. University in Paris. In addition to studying economics, he also attended seminars on sacred scripture, iconography and church history. He obtained a degree in cultural heritage from the University of Milan with a thesis on medieval history. He holds a master's degree in history and art criticism with a thesis on museology. Since 2012, he has been deputy director and chief curator of the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan, the museum center of Intesa Sanpaolo, as well as coordinator and education manager of museum activities.
Since 2006, he has been a member of the steering committee of Ente Raccolta Vinciano, an institution founded in 1905 and based in Milan's Castello Sforzesco, which is considered one of the most important in the world for the study of Leonardo and aims to disseminate knowledge about the works of the great Tuscan master. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including Bramante's Adoration and Titian's Supper at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, The Resurrection of Christ between the Louvre and the Ambrosiana, Caravaggio, Narcissus from the Palazzo Barberini, and Great Art at the Villa Confalonieri in Merate. He is the author of numerous studies, focusing mainly on iconological and iconographic themes. His publications include: Lost and Beloved, Mary Magdalene in the Lombard Renaissance (2014) The Revelation of the Apocalypse, The Fate of Man between Past and Present (2015).