Theme: (Extra)ordinary heroes

We are here, you are here. We will soon be in the clear and go to places
where typestyles shine and on cloud nine new vistas open worlds sublime.
Where one more time... and again mere words will revitalize,
civilize, harmonize and never beat around the bush.
And our effort will be more than just a consequence
but the noble cause to survey
what scent to smell which tones to play
how deep to dive how far to stray
though you were once in disarray.
(You aren’t any longer.)
You are a school of dreams and (extra)ordinary heroes.
Now. And every day.

Slovak National Theater
Pribinova 17
Bratislava, Bratislavský kraj, 811 09
Slovakia

elledanse

Since its establishment in 2007, elledanse has been operating in reconstructed premises of a former slaughter house in Bratislava’s Miletičova street. The space is run as a multi-use non-commercial contemporary art centre providing a space for dance, movement and physical theatre as well as performing arts. Elledanse theatre represents a platform combining professional theatre and a space for rehearsals and activities of elledanse Dance school with more than 400 members. In june, elledanse will say goodbye to its space.

Pavla Geschwandtnerová & Tereza Rebeka Koreňová

Pavla and Tereza are one of the first graduates of a local Montessori school In Bratislava. Pavla loves singing, drawing and karate. Tereza loves sports - she is a triathlonist. Both of them are active in their community. In spite of their young age they have already participated to a number of conferences, meetings and discussions where they shared their views on their learning experiences. They are passionate advocates of partnership rather than power-based relations between parents, teachers and kids.

Tante Elze

Tante Elze is originally a solo project of musician, singer and producer Veronika Seppová who was joined by filmmaker Tomas Prištiak. Veronika studied filmmaking, which is directly reflected in the atmosphere of her music whose essence is made up by a piano, vocals, electronic sounds and sometimes violins. The music of Tante Elze is influenced by many genres, from classical music to primitive hip hop rhythms. Veronika is also the vocalist of The Global Optimistic project and a singer with producer Jimmy Pe. Tomas works as a journalist. Currently, they are both preparing their debut album.

Adriana Debnárová

Adriana freshly graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, where she studied architecture. During her internship in Copenhagen, she was involved in a project of designing a research station in Antarctica. Architecture for extreme environments became a subject of her diploma thesis for which she received the Archiprix 2015 international award. Adriana loves experimental, unconventional architecture that combines technology and art - architecture that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of the discipline.

Fedor Gömöry

Fedor Gömöry has been exploring the properties of substances with zero electrical resistance, so-called superconductors, his whole life. At the Institute of Electrical Engineering, he leads projects aimed at developing innovative solutions for the electronics and energy industries. He considers his biggest success to be the establishment of an internationally respected research team with competences including learning about new materials, through theoretical methods of modeling their behavior, all the way to the design and testing of laboratory models. One of these models is a magnetic invisibility cloak. Fedor’s publication with the description of the manufacturing process and verifying the cloak’s functionality has sparked large interest in the areas that are (seemingly) unrelated to magnetism.

Fero Paulíny

For eight years, Fero has worked for the Fair-play Alliance – a watchdog trying to tame political power and monitor politicians' actions. He is responsible for the White Crow Award, organizes anti-corruption events, prompts politicians to publish details about their property and then communicates all of this online.

Jan Rybář

Jana Rybářa ľudia poznajú najmä ako odvážneho novinára a fotografa. 13 rokov pracoval ako reportér zahraničného oddelenia denníka MF DNES a navštívil veľké množstvo pozoruhodných miest, ako napríklad Afganistan, Irak, Čečensko či Guantánamo. V roku 2004 vyhral hlavnú cenu v súťaži Czech Press Photo. Po dobrodružstvách vo vojnami a konfliktami postihnutých oblastiach sa rozhodol usadiť a dnes riadi vlastnú kreatívnu agentúru a skúma, ako je možné fungovať bez veľkých médií. Okrem toho už stihol napísať niekoľko kníh vrátane detektívky Čtvrtá kostka, ktorá sa stala bestsellerom.

Jozef Schovanec

Josef Schovanec is an extraordinary French mathematician and philosopher, a graduate of the prestigious Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences Po) in Paris. As a child, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a milder form of autism. Soon after, teachers, classmates as well as renowned psychologists branded him as incapable of leading a normal life. After several years of continuous torment, Josef was able to turn his lifelong handicap into an advantage and today is an inspiration to many. He speaks ten languages, including Czech, exotic Persian and Sanskrit, enjoys travelling and lecturing about autism. In 2014, he wrote a book called One Screw Loose in which he writes about what the autistic world looks like. The book is about a life of hardship, but presents also many humorous situations.

Julia Roig

Julia Roig is the President of Partners for Democratic Change (Partners), a global organization with a successful track record of building civil society and broad partnerships to effect democratic change. As President, Julia Roig has not only solidified private sector partnerships to reach development goals, but also spearheaded linkages with entertainment and advertising industry leaders to support peacebuilding efforts (most recently, pro bono campaigns aimed at supporting peace talks in Colombia and combating religious intolerance in Europe). Prior to joining Partners, Julia directed a Rule of Law Initiative in Belgrade for two years. She has also spent five years in Bogota working on community justice and dispute resolution in Colombia.

Martin Pyšný

Martin Pyšný is a graphic designer. He never was a good student. To avoid learning from textbooks and having to abstract information from boring and long specialized texts he decided to study at an art college after high school. Now he creates fonts and typesets texts for people with learning disabilities. He does not want to focus on creating new forms for things that already work well, but rather focuses his attention on issues that are avoided. His dream is to grow greengages.

Matúš Čupka

Matúš Čupka is a co-founder of the volunteer initiative Green Guide and executive director of the civic association Why Not? With other residents of Bratislava, he organizes regular volunteer events. Together they collect garbage from the streets, eliminate illegal dumps, repair sidewalks or point out various city issues through investigative or temporary interventions in the urban space. He constantly strives to find time for trips to the mountains and is the proud father of a newborn son.

Nikos Georgantzis

Nikos Georgantzis is a professor of behavioural economics at the University of Reading. He studied Economics at the University of Piraeus and has an MPhil degree from the University of Wales. He got his MA and PhD from the European University Institute. Previously, Nikos obtained a chair in Economic Theory and Experimental Economics at the Universitat Jaume I, becoming the co-founder of one of the largest experimental economics labs in Europe and the world, the Laboratorio de Economía Experimental (LEE). His research interests range over a broad spectrum of topics, including economic psychology, microeconomics, behavioural economics and labour economics, to name a few.

Owen Harris

Owen Harris is a game designer, lecturer and lover of all things playful. When he is not working on DEEP, a virtual reality game he designed, he heads the studio of the award winning bitSmith Games and teaches in DIT's new BA programme in Game Design. He has spoken all over Ireland and Europe on game design, community building and production. His mission is to bring about an increased awareness of the value of playfulness in everyday life.

Richard Jaronek

Richard Jaronek spends most of his time underwater with the largest predators of African waters. A shark lover, writer, traveller, photographer and diver who documents marine life – especially the life of large white and tiger sharks. Sharks let him touch them, even establish some sort of mutual communication.

Viera Lutherová

Viera Lutherová works as a school counsellor and psychologist in Kremnica, Slovakia. She is an active member of Institute of psychotherapy and sociotherapy. She writes a lot and gives lectures all over Slovakia intended for teachers, psychologists and educators in foster homes. She likes to facilitate for groups, talk to people, help others and herself in personal growth.

Zuzana Gombošová

Zuzana has been studying and working in textile and shoe design for the past 8 years. She recently graduated in Material Futures programme from Central Saint Martin's College of Arts and Design in London. Her work has been reviewed in international media that described her as "a graduate to watch". In her practice she merges her interest in science, scientific principles, new technologies and, most of all, her unceasing curiosity in materials. She believes that materials define who we are and how we live. She is convinced that when it comes to the creative process, categorisation of any kind is out of place and one has to go across the disciplines, often even behind one's own limits.