Ondřej Kašpárek, Martin Pošta, Josef Průša
Installation, Signal Festival

About Signal Calling with Josef Průša, Martin Pošta and Ondřej Kašpárek

On the magazine's website Czech Crunch recently released interview with Josef Průša, Martin Pošta, director Signal Festival, a Ondřej Kašpárek z PrusaLab. They discuss the past, present and future of the joint open call Signal Calling. If you are interested in how the installations were created Reflex, Living forest, Hydra, Nexus and this year's Listen to the waves, and also where the entire Signal Calling challenge is heading and what benefits it has for all participants, be sure to read the full interview here.

„Five years ago, we were thinking about how best to showcase the capabilities and possibilities of 3D printing and other technologies to the public. And Martin came up with the idea of joining forces, providing artists with an interesting background, and giving us the opportunity to show what we can do with the machines,“ describes the origin of the cooperation for Czech Crunch Ondřej Kašpárek, director PrusaLab.

Signal Calling and its winning projects

Signal Calling there is an open call organised Signal Festival in collaboration with Through PrusaLab, which invites artists, designers, technical engineers and other creatives to create innovative installations connecting light and technology. The aim of the call is to support the creation of works that respond to current scientific or technological trends while bringing a new way of interacting with public space. The call takes place annually, and its winners receive support in the form of both finance and access to equipment and professional background.

Reflex

Installation Reflex, designed Peter Vacek a Adam Cígl, is a kinetic sculpture made up of 91 robotically controlled mirrors that move according to an ingeniously designed choreography adapted to the specific environment in which the installation is placed. The work was exhibited at Signal Festival in the year 2019 and captivated audiences with its ability to transform the image of the surrounding environment, creating the illusion of liquid reflections.

Living forest

Installation Living forest from Kateřina Blahutová was an interactive project on Signal Festival 2021, which, in addition to its artistic value, also had a charitable nature. Visitors activated the movement of the trees by dropping in coins and all proceeds from this collection went to support the organisation We are planting trees, which focuses on afforestation projects and new tree planting. The installation thus contributed to the restoration of the Czech landscape and sustainable forest management.

© Signal Festival – Tomáš Slavík

Hydra

Installation Hydra it was designed as the winning project of the call Signal Calling 2022 by a team of authors Ondřej Drahokoupil, Vítězslav Plavec a Filip Zeman. The work is inspired by natural organisms and their ability to adapt to inhospitable conditions. It uses tubes filled with a fluorescent chlorophyll solution and its property of changing colour in response to UV lighting. Thanks to its dynamic movement and lighting effects, Nezmar resembles a living organism.

© Signal Festival – Tomáš Slavík

Nexus

Installation Nexus, the winning project of the call Signal Calling 2023, was designed by the team Lukáš Dřevjaný, David Minařík, Michal Mitro a Luboš Zbranek. It is an assembly of approximately 300 acrylic modules that serve as a volumetric display for three-dimensional light animations. The animations run based on a prepared choreography that creates a dynamic visual effect using light sequences.

instalace Nexus

Listen to the waves

Listen to the waves is a transmedia sculpture designed by Kryštof Brůha as part of this year's challenge Signal Calling 2024. This installation lies on the boundary between a light object and an interactive data totem. Audire Fluctus monitors electromagnetic activity in its surroundings, such as radiation generated by the electrical grid and communication means, and visualises it using a special medium called Spectraflux. This medium changes the refractive index of light, thus creating a dynamic colour texture that makes the otherwise invisible force field of the city visible.

„Working with Signal really gave us a boost. When Covid hit, we were forced to close the workshop, and if we hadn't had this proven partnership, we probably wouldn't have jumped into the hardware accelerator for startups. It's quite similar, but while the collaboration with Signal is on art projects, the accelerator is for business things.“ explaining for CzechCrunch Josef Průša.

This year's Signal Festival takes place from 10. do 13th October 2024 and we will be exhibiting as many as three installations. The first piece is Listen to the waves, located on National Theatre piazza. The second installation is a kinetic sculpture Reflex, which can be found on Karlovo náměstí. And finally, in the underpass to the National Theatre piazza, you will find Prusa Totem, which demonstrates that Original Prusa 3D printers they can easily manage to print even upside down.

We look forward to seeing you at the Signal Festival 2024!