Virtual Biennale Prague
The international project Virtual Biennale Prague, which is based on the principles of non-verbal and intercultural communication. The project is a good example of incorporating an educational aspect into artistic practice through the confrontation and exhibition of artworks. This project’s two categories separately present works from professional artists and designers and college students. The platform for an international poster exhibition called Virtual Biennale Prague was founded in 2007 and has already introduced several global topics (e.g. Global Crisis, Discrimination, Corruption, Fake News, Wake Up Call etc.).
The project is supported by the Altán Klamovka Gallery in Prague (Lenka Sýkorová) and the Sutnar Faculty of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (prof. Karel Míšek, Jakub Konupka). In 2020, the 11th Virtual Biennale Prague with the theme Wake Up Call interconnected 259 artists (146 professionals and 113 students) from 20 countries and 49 universities from around the globe. Over the past few years, there has been an increase from 150 participating artists to 300 and from 20 universities to 50.
We see drawing as a tool of non-verbal communication across continents and nations that is omnipresent thanks to the Internet. This non-profit project is sustainable; it is environment-friendly because it reduces regular costs (it minimizes printing and travel expenses). The project is based on D.I.Y. principles, eliminates large institutions’ impact and focuses on a new form of an artistic visual message that has no boundaries among nations. Posters are evaluated online by professional graphic designers. Therefore, the project easily reaches people outside the EU (Mexico, China, the USA, etc.). Using a visual language, we are developing an exhibition that shows the impact of digital technologies and the ever-present Internet, which is a permanently available visual material; however, behind these irreversible changes, it is possible to capture the author’s statement through drawing and typography as evidence of cultural legacy, national identity and diversity.
organising committee / Karel Míšek (Czech Republic, chairman of the committee), Lenka Sýkorová (Czech Republic) a Jakub Konupka (Czech Republic)