4th Year—2012/2013
“Columbus Discovers the Shores of America”

Winner

Secondary School of Applied Arts in Jihlava - Helenín

Final

Moravian Gallery in Brno – Místodržitelský Palace, 17. 5. 2013

President of the jury

Other members of the jury

Michaela Kabátníková, Silvie Šeborová, Eva Strouhalová, Monika Sybolová, Ondřej Chrobák, Ondřej Horák, Oldřich Bystřický a Filip Cenek

The winners of the fourth year of the most significant student competition for high and grammar schools focused on visual arts, “Do You Have a Knack for Art” are students of the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Jihlava – Helenín. The winning project was created together with the refugees waiting for asylum and includes a board game tracking the journey of refugees from all around the world. The finale’s ceremony took place on 17 May in the Místodržitelský Palace of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, where the most successful fine art projects were presented. The winning work was chosen by a professional jury and the touring prize was awarded by the artist and laureate of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, Filip Cenek. The competition’s topic for this year was the artwork by Christian Ruben called “Columbus Discovers the Shores of America” from 1846. The students were asked to reflect on this work with contemporary artistic means. Jury evaluated not only the level of artistic creation, but also the ability to work in teams.

This year there were around thirty projects created, which included videos, photographic collages, objects as well as computer animation. As an addition to the winning board game the students from Jihlava – Helenín presented also a map with facts about the individual asylum seekers. Part of the project covers also a video with authentic record of the teamwork. Students picked the theme of discovering a new world from the artwork by Christian Ruben and creatively elaborated thereon. The jury comprised of the curator Ondřej Chrobák, art theorist Silvie Šeborová, the artist Filip Cenek and other art professionals appraised in particular the connection of the historical theme together with the contemporary mode of artistic thinking as well as the inclusion of diverse social groups with different language background and their participation on the project. Other awarded projects involved for example an animation covering a fictional life of Christoph Columbus in Soviet Russia, which was created by the students from the Grammar School of Jiří Orten in Kutná Hora. Secondary School of Multimedia Studies in Poděbrady chose the theme of extraordinary women – female inventors and another project included a paper animation picturing the history of the United Stated from the viewpoint of Christoph Columbus.

The award was handed over by the artist Filip Cenek.