In April, a group of Czech and Slovak visual storytellers and producers had a simple but spectacular idea: they created a unique online gallery on Facebook called „Domased,” meaning „stay-at-home” or „homebody” in Slovak language. You have already seen some artworks from the Domased-artists in a special edition of our #stayhomecreative series, in the parts about Bratislava and Praha. Now we asked the founders to tell us a little bit more about this joyful, sassy, daring and funny community. Interview!
Domased was launched in April when nobody knew what could be coming in the following months, and how COVID-19 would determines our lives. Your main goal was to present Czech and Slovak visual artists on this page and show a pitch of creativity to the audience. Did you have any other plans when you decided to start Domased? What were your expectations?
Our goal with Domased was to create a platform where visual artists can contribute to the challenging situation experienced by all of us and make life a little bit easier for themselves, other artist and people in general. In the beginning, we also wanted to announce an open call, so that anyone could send us their contribution. Soon enough we found out that so many people accepted our direct invitation that we had no more space in gallery to share the submissions received via the open call, so we had to close it. But it seems that the open call moved a lot of people; people keep sending us their drawings as private messages even these days.
How many artists have been displayed on Domased so far?
Around 100 at the moment.
Domased is a great opportunity for creatives to show their unique artworks to the audience. Do you know about any similar projects or initiatives in the Czech Republic or in Slovakia that helped visual artists somehow during this COVID-19 period?
There are few galleries that showcase works online and also schools started to display their students’ works online. Moreover, Czech illustration festival LUSTR announced an open call for illustrations about the current situation. The Czech television produced 6 short films about COVID-19 and about togetherness during this time. Artists also started to comment on the situation visually online by themselves.
There are also some success stories amongst the artists who presented their artwork on Domased: Nikola Logosová has just won the Czech Grand Design Award, and there is also Martina Pauková who has been working for clients like Apple, Google or The New York Times. Can you mention anyone else worthy of note?
Yes, we were very lucky to have so many incredible artists join us! Besides well-known names, we also wanted to showcase the talented and maybe less known “beginner” artists or students, so we hope that we have created a good combination of the two. We consider worthy of note the great animation contributions submitted by Vojta Kočí, Aliona Baranová, Noémi Valentíny, Májovi studio, Filip Diviak & Filip Tatýrek and displayed on Domased (some of the artworks have already been presented in our previous article – the Ed.). Some of them were quite elaborate and time consuming so we think they are definitely worth checking out!
Can you tell us about the future of Domased? What’s going to happen to the page when the epidemic is over? Will you continue Domased in one way or another? Or do you have any other plans (an exhibition, an auction, or something of the kind)?
Yes, we have some fresh ideas and plans on how to continue! We will be slowly ending our showcasing activity as the rules for sitting at home are lifted gradually. We are planning a little outside gathering with a gallery of works, so we can finally meet and chat! Also we are preparing an exhibition that we can show as a part of animation festivals and design events in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Domased creators/founders:
Michaela Mihályi, director (SH_T HAPPENS)
David Štumpf, director (SH_T HAPPENS)
Marta Prokopová, director (MILA FOG)
Karolína Davidová, producer (Apart)
Kamila Dohnalová, producer (Happy End)
Matej Mihályi, graphic designer
"Designing with instead of designing for"
IKEA | Your very own bee apartment
