Exhibition by Slovak artists ‘Searching for Beauty’ breaks records in Brussels

BRATISLAVA, BRUSSELS, 20 October 2016 - A total of 23 865 visitors visited the ‘Searching for Beauty’ exhibition in Brussels from 8 July to 18 September. According to an official report by the Parlamentarium, where the exhibition was installed, 7 out of 10 visitors to the Parlamentarium visited the exhibition: in other words, a record level of attendance.

The ‘Searching for Beauty’ project, by Michaela Čopíková and Veronika Obertová (together known as Ové Pictures), and curator Mária Rišková of the Slovak Design Centre, was set up to mark the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union and aims to present Slovakia as a progressive country of talented people.

The Klik Animation Festival in Amsterdam showed an interest in hosting the successful exhibition, which is to travel there at the end of October.

The event’s six day programme includes premieres, presentations, screenings, workshops and exhibitions - with Searching for Beauty being one of them. "As the main organiser, we are happy that the show will be viewed in a different context - other than the one in which it was premiered, at the Parliamentarium in Brussels. In Amsterdam, the city of design, visual culture and experiments, many visitors from around the world dedicated to professional animation and design will get to see the exhibition. The work of the Slovak artists will therefore be displayed on the international scene, which is an invaluable experience that all of our creators need so much," said the director of the Slovak Design Centre, Mária Rišková.

This artistic project aims to seek and define beauty in unexpected and everyday moments alike. It consists of paper objects that use short animation frames in a time loop just as they used to operate in the early optical zoetrope, diorama, or praxinoscope toys. The clever revival of these objects using electronics by the design studio DevKid (Ján Šicko and Roman Mackovič) allows viewers to see the objects in the exhibition put into motion and watch the storyline flashing the images.

In the virtual world, the project includes a web GIF gallery called www.searchingforbeauty.sk, where the Slovak and European population can contribute with the results of their own work.

Ms Rišková has praised the work of the artists, Ové Pictures, and that of DevKid, which spanned almost a year.

"Presenting precisely these people, who are dedicated to multimedia at the highest level, is currently the best move when it comes to promoting Slovakia on the international scene”, she said. Visitors to Slovakia can see the ‘Searching for Beauty’ exhibition in Bratislava early next year.