MISC is excited to be invited as the host partner of SKUSY Residency in Athens.
SKUSY aims to establish a yet non-existent working link between the art scenes in Slovakia and Greece. We believe that the experience and professional networks that will organically emerge here will be of benefit not only to the residents but will also spark a mutual exchange. We hope that within the SKUSY platform we will soon be able to welcome a Greek artist to Slovakia.
Embarking on SKUSY begins with the first step, stepping from the known into the unknown. The archaic Slovak expression, reminiscent of tinkers, explorers, and emigrants, speaks of the experience of wandering, of exposure to chance, change, and the effects of the 'other'. The reasons may be many: curiosity, boredom, distress, crisis, or search for rescue. The shared foundation of all journeys is a transformative experience that teaches and strengthens us or, instead, exposes and heals us.
Such experience can be an important component of the creative process: new impulses disrupt mental sediments and provoke new thoughts and reflections. The newly established residency platform SKUSY, wants to create the conditions for new experiences that can resonate and ferment long after the artists have returned home.
The launch of the SKUSY platform took the form of an exhibition hosted by BHD in Athens, September 5th, inaugurated by the president of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová. The exhibition featured the works of the first resident, artist and curator Samuel Velebný, as well as the works of András Cséfalvay, Oto Hudec, and the visual identity designed by Martin Groch.
Opening: Sep 5, 2022
Duration Sep 5 - 17
Wed-Fri 14:00 – 20:00
Saturday 12:00 – 18:00
Address: Zan Moreas 2-4, Athina 117 41
Samuel Velebný is a visual artist, curator, and theoretician. The sources of his work come from a wide range of (sub)cultures and art forms, from the art brut of football stadiums to murals, graphics, and digital animations, to video essays, texts, and curatorial projects. Formally, Samuel works on a basis of a found object, which he re-designs and re-contextualizes employing materials that originate from a chosen topic, either poetically or genealogically. As a curator and graphic designer, he cooperates with Tabačka Gallery and VUNU Gallery in Košice. In 2022, he presented his first solo exhibition at VUNU and took part in a literary residency of the Visegrad Fund in Krakow. From 2021, he has been a full-time Ph.D. Student at the Faculty of Arts at TUKE.
András Cséfalvay is a visual artist, digital storyteller, a young academic from Slovakia currently teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. He studied painting and mathematics in Bratislava, after which he wrote his dissertation at AFAD on the usefulness and reality of fiction. His work explores the relationship of culture and technology, the political and ethical aspects of listening to non-dominant voices, and interpretations of the world. His latest projects look at the relationship between astronomers and indigenous people in the construction of the Mauna Kea telescopes, the flight of dinosaurs as technology for extinction survival, or the re-categorization of the planet Pluto. He is a co-founder of the digital arts platform at the AFAD in Bratislava.
Martin Groch is a graphic designer and illustrator from Slovakia who lives and works in Brussels. His activities range from creating visual identities, and comics, to editing books, magazines, and brand development. A significant part of Groch's clients are cultural, and educational platforms and organizations. His personal style is based on drawing and its expansion from the pages of books into virtual space or architecture.
Oto Hudec is a Slovak multimedia artist who has created and exhibited his recent works in Slovakia, Austria, South Korea, Cabo Verde, Portugal, and the USA. His videos, murals, animations, sculptures, and works for public spaces discuss immigration, refugees, the climate crisis, and the impact of globalization on the environment. His projects often incorporate a utopian perspective as a way to understand food and energy production, tracing the transformation of industrial landscapes or the decline of bees. With topics such as climate change, ecology, and sustainability, he focuses on understanding the causes and their effects on indigenous peoples and rural farmers, rather than finding new scientific solutions. He often works with children and youth from disadvantaged communities on projects. Together with artist Daniela Krajčová, he has worked on Project Karavan, a participatory project with Roma children in Slovakia, since 2013. In 2012 he was a finalist for the Oskar Čepan Award for Young artists. He is a member of the initiative Don't Waste Time.
About the Artists
About SKUSY
SKUSY residency is organized by molekula collective, founded by Zuzana Bodnárová (art
theorist and cultural manager), Tamara Kametani (artist), and Lucia Tkáčová (artist and curator).
As the smallest particle of matter, a molecule can consist of a varying number of atoms in both
simple and complex bonds. Similarly, the molekula collective can connect with an unlimited
number of collaborators, partners, and organizations in the future.
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