Michal Mitro is an artist and a researcher working across the field of disciplines and media. Trained in Psychology and Sociology, he focuses on the nuances of everyday life as well as hyperobjects of planetary scale. In his artistic practice he translates his sociological imagination into crafted sculptural environments with elements of sound, light or electricity. Themes that he gravitates towards explore relationships between human and more-than-human worlds and the supposed friction between natural and artificial. Mitro proposes narratives both affirming and disturbing in order to shape viable futures one may like to inhabit.
Besides being an active practitioner, Michal curates a program at ssesi (safe space fo exploring s- ideas) in Brno, Czechia, he is a certified electrician working with off-grid solar systems and a father of 6 year old Mateo.
Formation
2021 – National electrician certification §51, Slovakia
2017 – 2020 – University of Technology, Faculty of Fine Arts, Intermedia, Brno, CZ (obtained MArts degree)
2018 – 2019 – Royal College of Arts / Royal Conservatoire, artScience, den Haag, NL (exchange placement)
2014 – 2015 – ISI Yogyakarta, ID, traditional Indonesian music
2013 – 2014 – University of Tasmania, School of Art, Hobart, AU, Installation and Sound Art
2012 – American University of Beirut, LB, Fine Arts and Psychology (exchange placement)
2011 – Bosphorus University, Istanbul, TR, Fine Arts and Sociology (exchange placement)
2008 – 2013 – Masaryk University, Brno, CZ, Psychology and Sociology (obtained bachellor degree)
Awards
2022 Laureate of Oskar Cepan Award, SK
Professional experience
2023 (ongoing): Research fellow at Brno University of Technology, Brno, CZ (FaVU, VUT)
2023 (ongoing): Solar systems designer at SolaryEs, Brno, CZ
2021 (ongoing): Freelance webdesigner
2019 (ongoing): Freelance artist and creative facilitator
2018-19: Sound and light engineer at 4AM – Forum for Architecture and Media, Brno, CZ
2017-20: Exhibit development and servicing, VIDA Science Center, Brno, CZ
Solo Exhibitions
2023: Driving Home For Christmas, Igloo Sound Art Gallery, Jihlava, CZ
2023: Refraction of Love, Pistori palace, Bratislava, SK
2022: Edge of Chaos, Orthodox Synagogue, Kosice, SK
2022: VOLTA: Conditions Are Now Planetary, G99, Brno House of Arts, Brno, CZ
2021: Visual Noise as Potential Image and a Gateway to …Somewhere, Olomouc Triennial, Olomouc, CZ
2020: SAD Light Therapy, Tabacka Gallery, Kosice, SK
2019: Three Shades of White and Mutual Resistance, VUNU, Kosice, SK
2018: OSC^n(av) and Music box(cc), Cella, Opava, CZ
2017: Loneliness, Monomach, Brno, CZ
2016: Resonance, Studio Letna, Prague, CZ
2016: PRESENCE, Redbase Foundation, Yogyakarta, ID
Group exhibitions
2023: Call Me If You Need Me: SAD Light Therapy, Kunsthalle, Bratislava, SK
2022: Hedonistica: Ultimate Sexual Experience, Ars Electronica, Linz, AT
2022: Art as Speculative Research: Monument of Post-humanism, Pragovka, Prague, CZ
2021: Escape Dystopia: SAD Light Therapy, XY Gallery, Olomouc, CZ
2021: SJCH – Art of Appreciation: Sounds Awful, AVU Modern Gallery, Prague, CZ
2020: outsideinsideoutsideinsideout: Planetary Thermodynamics – Energy Justice, Stadt Wehlen, DE
2020: Intergalactic Enviromentalists: Geopoetics, Trixie, den Haag, NL
2019: After Warm Up, The Grey Space In The Middle, den Haag, NL
2019: New Translation: Geopoetics, Art&Tech Days, Kulturpark, Kosice, SK
2019: Dikeou Collection: Undiscovered self, Denver, Colorado, USA
2017: Current Audiovisual Encounters: Sweet Spot (with Lubos Zbranek), DIG Gallery, Košice, SK
2016: AV Depot: OSCn, ExFed, London, United Kingdom
2015: Transformaking: Music Box (cc), Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, IN
2015: /fu:bar/: Rosa goes to movies in internet-positif Indonesia, Siva Galeria, Zagreb, CR
Curatorial Projects
2023: Extra-personal relationships, ssesi.space, Brno, CZ
2022: Open Urban Forest, CREATURES festival, Sevilla, SE and ssesi.space, Brno, CZ
2022: Culture of Gardening, Garden of the Culture: Jagoda Dobecka, Adam Turzo, d’Epog; ssesi.space, Brno, CZ
2021: Incidental Realities, Paikka Gallery, Budapest, HU
2019/20: Digital Gardenning, The Wrong Biennale of New Digital Art, ssesi.space, Brno, CZ
2017/18: Curating spam, pavilion at the Wrong Biennale, internet (www.spam.catering)
2017/18: The wrong embassy, Praha 4am, Brno, Czech Republic
Commissions
2023: Nexus, Signal Festival, Prague, CZ (with Lukas Drevjany, Lubos Zbranek, David Minarik)
2021: Soft Mining, Kukacka, Ostrava, CZ (with Eva Jaskova)
2020: 100-101archi, Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology, CZ
2019: BIOS v3, Mediamatic, Amsterdam, NL
2018: OSC^n(av), Genius Loci, Weimar, DE
2018: the square, Korespondance, Žďár nad Sázavou, CZ
2018: BIOS v2, Protoyp, Brno, CZ
2017: BIOS, Biela Noc, Košice, SK
Talks and Presentations
2023: “The meaning of art”, AQB, Budapest, HU
2021: Value Needs a New Translation, Signal Talks, Archa Theatre, Prague, CZ
2020: 3D Printer as a Performative Agent, STELLA conference, Trafo, Budapest, HU
2020: Planetary Thermodynamics – Energy Justice, ECODATA conference, RIXC, Riga, LV
2019: Edge of Chaos, Vasulka Kitchen, Center for new media art, Brno, CZ
2018: anti-mapping manifesto, Live Performers Meeting, ex-matadora, Rím, IT
Residencies
2023: Schaumbar Mill, Slovak National Gallery, Pezinok, SK
2022: Art Quarter Budapest, Budapest, Visegrad Funds Residency, HU
2022: Öres Residency, Örö, FI
2022: StAir – Styria Artist in Residence, Graz, AU
2021: Brno AiR, House of The Lords of Kunstat, Brno, CZ
2020: Biuro Dzwieku – The Office of Sound, Visegrad Funds Residency, Katowice, PL
2019: iii – instrument inventors initiative, the Hague, NL
2019: Baschet – structures sonores, Paris, FR
2015: Redbase Foundation, Yogyakarta, ID
2015: Kersan Art Studio, Yogyakarta, ID
Workshops
2023: OSC^n – Open Source Collaborative Noise, NEXT festival, Bratislava, SK (facilitator)
2022: Circuit Bonding, Vasulka Kitchen, Brno, CZ (facilitator)
2021: Fanfary Marching Arts, NEXT Festival, Bratislava, SK (facilitator)
2021: Value Needs A New Translation, Spolka Never Never School, Kosice, SK (facilitator)
2021: Taming of The Stream: Performing With(in) The Protocol, online (facilitatior)
2021: Make Economy Your Again, Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, NL and online (participant)
2020: Post-anthropocentric Garden Lab, Pivovar Sedlec, Y events, Kutna Hora, CZ (facilitator)
2019: Gamma AI lab, St.Petersburg, RU (participant)
2018: Introduction to TouchDesigner, Generate Festival, Tubingen, DE (facilitator)
2018: OSC^n DIY analog synth, Genius Loci festival, Weimar, DE (facilitator)
2018: Arduino for visual artists, Live Performers Meeting, Rome, IT (facilitator)
2017: Interactivity for artists, arebyte 117, London, UK (facilitator)
Theatre, AV sets, performances
2023: Art of Noises, NEXT Festival, Bratislava, SK
2023: mosquiteering, Kunsthalle Bratislava, Drazdiak lake, SK
2019: Jardin des Recherches Musicales, Paris, FR
2019: Gamma festival, AI stage, St. Petersburg, RU
2019: For drums, RCC, Galerie 3, KABK, the Hague, NL
2018: Urgent Need to Breath, Trafo, Budapest, HU
2018: Art of Noises, AV Kino, Genius Loci, Weimar, DE
2017: RGBW, Orlí theatre, Brno, CZ
2017: Art of Noises, Live Performers Meeting, Amsterdam, NL
2017: Modular synesthesis, JAMU chamber music, Brno, CZ
2016: Excrepts from Art of Noises, Jogja Noise Bombing, iCAN gallery, Yogyakarta, ID
2015: Floating Soul, w/ Fitri Sastrodiharjo et Neri Novita, Kersan Art Studio, Yogyakarta, ID
2015: Musin Hujan di Bandung, Bukan Music Biasa, Surakarta, ID
2015: A month in Pyjamas, public spaces, ID
2013: crowdfund my life, public spaces, Hobart, AU a internet
2013: Neglected by Grand Piano, Museum of New and Old Art (MONA), Hobart, AU2020: Sedimenty, Diagnozy, Welness, HaDivadlo, Brno, CZ
2012: Your voluntary celebrity, public space, Brno, CZ and internet
Bibliography
2022: Exploring Radical Perspectives on Post-Anthropocentric Economies, Baltan, NL
2022: Value Needs a New Translation, Spolka, SK
2021: Štipendista, Kapital, SK
2020: Sedimenty, Diagnozy, Welness, Host, Brno, CZ
2020: Planetary Thermodynamics: Energy Justice, Thesis Catalogue of Brno University of Technology
2018: Have you seen these people?, AVU publishing, Prague, CZ
2015: Pictures from holidays 2010-14, self published
2012: Making of Celebrity: An Empirical Investigation Into Essential Prerequisites of Becoming Famous, Thesis Catalogue of Masaryk University