The third – and at the same time final – residency of the current IF Lab 2025/2026 edition took place in parallel with the Sensorium, festival, a platform for contemporary experimental and club music, in Bratislava. We found excellent facilities for the workshop at TU–BA, a café, co-working, cultural, educational, and social space within the Bratislava Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning. Our shared time was devoted primarily to discussions on finalizing the projects and transforming them into a format suitable for presentation in a gallery setting. Participants had the opportunity to consult their projects not only with the tutors but also with other guests of the program. In addition to a workshop with intermedia artist Borisem Vitázkem, we also took the opportunity to connect with Zbyňkem Baladránem,curator of the Display, and discuss with him the practical aspects of realizing the final exhibition. The creative collectives presented their projects publicly for the first time and subsequently consulted them with visiting critics.
Lecture and Workshop with Boris Vitázek
Intermedia artist Boris Vitázek presented a selection from his project portfolio and spoke about ways of articulating his work to the public. During the workshop session, we focused primarily on practical aspects related to exhibition preparation. Boris’s experience and advice were undoubtedly a valuable contribution at this stage.
Online Presentation and Consultation with Zbyněk Baladrán
Zbyněk Baladrán, curator and co-founder of the Display provided us with insight into the gallery space, both metaphorically and literally. He guided us through the space virtually and spoke briefly about the possibilities and limitations of the Display gallery venue.
Public Showcase
The public presentation of works in progress offered the Sensorium festival audience an opportunity to learn about what the IF Lab 2025/26 creative collectives are working on, which themes they are exploring, and why. All participants chose to use this opportunity not only as a space for the conventional sharing of intermediate research outcomes in the form of lectures, but also as a moment to publicly test more performative modes of presentation, including performative readings, audience participation, and tactile experiences
Consultations with Guest Critics
Following the presentations, the groups met with invited professionals from the Bratislava cultural scene: Igorem Rjabininem, visual artist and educator; Igor Rjabinin, developer, researcher, educator, and open-source enthusiast interested in intersections between mathematics, art, and programming; and Máriou Beňačkovou Riškovou, curator, cultural manager, and expert in cultural policy. All three praised the decision of all collectives to present their projects in a performative manner during their feedback sessions.
Sensorium festival
The subsequent Sensorium festival program and the informally spent time immersed in contemporary club music provided a perfect conclusion to an intensive period of shared work. Many thanks to our Slovak partners!
The Inspiration Forum Lab is organized by Ji.hlava IDFF’s Inspiration Forum in cooperation with Kersnikova Institute, Sensorium and Display – Association for Research and Collective Practice.
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The project is co-funded by the European Union, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and Czech State Fund.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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