Signal is a festival of digital and creative culture. In 11 years, it has welcomed more than 5 million spectators in Prague.

More about the festival

Signal is a festival of digital and creative culture. During its ten years of existence, it has welcomed more than 5 million visitors in Prague. It links contemporary visual art, urban space and modern technologies. It has become the most visited cultural event in Czechia. The programme is created by renowned foreign and Czech artists in the area of light design, visual and digital art, AI and conceptual art. The festival likes to educate itself as well as its visitors. It links the historical backdrop of beloved Prague with state-of-the-art technologies and contemporary social issues. Signal festival is one of the greatest producers of contemporary art in our country. It supports the youngest generation of local artists and originated the creation of over seventy installations that were created especially for the festival. It organizes side-events for children, professional public and students. It cooperates with numerous foreign festivals and cultural institutions.

The festival was founded by producer Martin Pošta, curator Jan Rolník and artist Amar Mulabegovič from the art group The Macula. After the success of videomapping on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Old Town Astronomical Clock, which was carried out in 2010 by The Macula with Martin Pošta, the idea of a broader presentation of the field of lighting art in the Czech Republic arose through the festival.

The preparations for the first year lasted a total of 3 years. The organizers managed to bring big names from all over the world to Prague and to establish the tradition of the festival of light with the support of the capital city of Prague, the city districts of Prague 1 and 2 and other partners.

Artistic council

The Artistic Council is an independent advisory body of the Signal Festival. It includes invited personalities from various cultural fields. The Artistic Council oversees the long-term development and quality of the Festival as a cultural institution and helps to establish long-standing partnerships with institutions that are key to the Festival's development as an internationally renowned showcase of audiovisual arts. Participation in the Signal Festival Artistic Council is voluntary, an honorary and unpaid position.

Martin Pošta

Martin Pošta is the founder of several important cultural events and a long-time cultural manager. He graduated from the Prague University of Economics and Business and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). He worked for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (IFF) and produced films and documentaries, including Czech RAPublic. He participated in creating the movie Even Mice Belong in Heaven and founded designSUPERMARKET. He worked as an editor-in-chief at TV Nova and later as a producer at the audiovisual art association The Macula. In 2013 he co-founded Signal, a festival of digital and creative culture. He graduated from the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland. He has previously curated the Spotlight Festival in Bucharest, Lux Helsinki, and the Lux Doral project in Miami. He is currently co-curating Signal Festival and festivals in Hong Kong and Riyadh.
Pavel Mrkus

Pavel Mrkus is visual artist, together with Daniel Hanzlík he founded the Time-Based Media studio at the Faculty of Art and Design, J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, where he acted as Dean from 2015 until the beginning of 2023. Pavel Mrkus mainly uses new technologies in his work. He has long been involved in audiovisual projects, in which he uses digital visual and audio means, often in relation to a specific place. His works have been presented, among others, at the Brussels or Venice Biennial, Chelsea Art Museum in New York, Rudolfinum Gallery, Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region in Kutná Hora, New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague, House of Arts in Brno, House of Arts in České Budějovice and the National Gallery in Prague. Since 2023 he has been the head curator of the Signal Festival, for which he has developed a three-year curatorial concept called Ecosystems.
Jan K. Rolník

Jan K. Rolník is curator and producer. He has founded, produced, curated, conceived, organized or directed various projects including the Prague Quadrennial 2007 and 2019, the Signal Festival, and the Permanent Nature Exhibitions at the National Museum in Prague, Theatre Architecture in Central Europe (book, exhibition, workshops, web database), the Institute of Lighting Design Prague, the global network OISTAT, the Czech Pavilion at EXPO 2015 in Milan, Italy, and the Interpretation Centre in Erbil, Iraq.
Anna Švarc

Anna Švarc is an architect, urbanist, project manager and currently also a Prague Metro architect. She studied at the Faculty of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and UdK in Berlin. She worked for OMA, Netherlands, Eva Jiřičná, Lifshutz Davison Sandilands and Studio Egret West in London, where she contributed to the creation of the London Underground Design Manual. Since her return to Prague, Anna Švarc has cooperated with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development regarding the Prague Metro and The Footbridge Holešovice - Karlín International Design Competition. She is currently dedicated to revising the design of the new Prague Metro line D and integration of artistic works within its premises. Simultaneously, Anna Švarc has initiated the aesthetic restoration of the existing stations and adjacent public spaces. She takes stock of the original works of art and raises wider awareness of the aesthetic qualities of the architecture and art of the metro. One of the main items on her agenda is to arrange for the current artistic scene to enter the public premises of the Metro in all its forms and manifestations.
David Kořínek

David Kořínek is an artist and university teacher. He has been working at the Department of History and Theory of Arts at the FAD JEPU in Ústí nad Labem since 2022 and is also the Vice Dean for External Relations and Internationalisation. Until 2022 he was the Head of the Department of the Centre for Audiovisual Studies at FAMU in Prague. He leads courses at UMPRUM and Scholastica. In 2008, he co-founded with Federico Díaz the Supermedia Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague of which he was the head until 2018. He attained the academic title of Associate Professor at UMPRUM. At the Department of Media Studies at MU he founded the Digital Media academic discipline and headed the Media Laboratory. He worked as a dramaturg at Czech Television, with which he has been cooperating for a long time. Since 2007 he has been a member of the Rafani art group, which regularly exhibits in European galleries and institutions. The group's work includes a variety of media, from gallery installations and public space works. The group has won numerous awards. The artworks of the Rafani group can be found in institutional and private collections.
Marie Foltýnová

Marie Foltýnová has been the curator of public sculpture in the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague since 2013. She studied art history at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. She participated in the preparation of the Prague program of support for contemporary art 2% for art in public space, today the program operates under the name Art for the City. Since 2018, she has headed the Department of Public Sculpture Management of the GHMP.
Markéta Fantová

Markéta Fantová is a performance designer/scenographer and team collaborator with extensive artistic team leadership and education program-building skills. She has worked and continues to work in theaters, galleries, and visually inspiring sites in both the United States and Europe. From 2016 to 2023 she had been concentrating on shaping one of the most important festivals dedicated to scenography/performance design, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Space (PQ) in the position of an artistic director. She took on a new challenge and is developing an international education platform for lighting design and technology students from many different countries as part of the Next Robe Generation program.
R/FRM - Jindřich Ráftl

Jindřich Ráftl (1987) graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Architecture of the Technical University of Liberec (FAA TUL). In his practice, he researches natural forms and their application to architecture, design, and art. In multidisciplinary projects, he explores new approaches to the interconnection of architecture, nature, and technology. He has presented his theoretical and practical works at the Experimental Architecture Bienniale EAB (2013-19). He co-authors the art installation Laboratory of Silence, presented at EXPO 2015 and the national pavilion at EXPO 2020 in Dubai. He co-founded and runs the multidisciplinary studio JinJan, where he currently works.
Jan Tůma

Jan Tůma graduated in architecture, which he followed up with doctoral studies focused on art installations in public spaces. In his projects, he combines art with new technologies and addresses their relationship to space. In the past, he has also participated in art installations within the Signal Festival. With Jindřich Ráftl he co-founded and runs the JinJan studio.
Ondřej Kašpárek

Ondřej Kašpárek works as a manager and consultant in the creative industries. He manages the prototyping and experimental workshop PrusaLab, operating within Prusa Research, and is the co-creator of the idea of Signal Open Call, which since 2019 allows realizing art installations. Ondřej graduated from Leeds University with a degree in Culture & Creative Enterprise and subsequently worked in the creative incubator DEPO2015, which was the first in the Czech Republic to systematically support artists in entrepreneurship. He is the founder of Make More, an organization shaping the maker movement in the Czech Republic and organizing the Maker Faire festival of innovators and DIYers in 12 Czech cities.