About

IDEA

The festival is searching for what’s cool in young, debuting, contemporary audio-visual culture. It’s not afraid to watch videos with 27 views on YouTube, it’s missing the “least popular” sorting option on itch.io and considers Festival Scope Pro decidedly “too mainstream”.

The festival’s icon is the Black Horse – a symbol of an unexpected winner, a reference to the protofilm experiment of Eadweard Muybridge, a commentary on the golden fauna of film awards, or a reference to the mining heritage of Upper Silesia.

Every year festivalgoers are treated to: screenings of films, animations and music videos, video game exhibitions, virtual reality and new technologies, discussion panels and Q&As with artists, concerts, live acts and musical afterparties. This time – because of the COVID-19 pandemic – all festival events will be held online!

In previous years, the festival hosted a variety of artists from all over the world, including Béla Tarr, Nina Menkes, Phil Mulloy, Laila Pakalnina, Bruce LaBruce, Tami Tamaki, Stephen „M.O.O.N.” Gilarde, Jakuba Dvorský, Mariola Brillowska, Piotr Dumała, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Bodo Kox, Łukasz Barczyk, Sos Sosowski, Wiktor Stribog, Władysław Komendarek and Tomasz Armada.

The event is organized by the culture institution Katowice the City of Gardens and the City of Katowice.

KATOWICE CITY OF GARDENS

The Cultural Institution of the City of Katowice. The organizer of the “Kocham Katowice” (“I Love Katowice”) City Anniversary, Katowice JazzArt Festival, the Gardens of Sounds World Music Festival, Street Art AiR, the “Interpretacje” (“Interpretations”) Festival and Ars Independent Festival.

It earned Katowice’s title of the UNESCO City of Music and by realizing the membership programme of Creative Cities Network, it supports the development of the musical creative industry, giving young artists the ability to grow at the MusicHub incubator, promoting them as part of the Dzielnica Brzmi Dobrze (The District Sounds Good), widening the expertise of industry people during meetings of the Katowice Music Radar or co-funding the best projects with Muzykogranty.

CITY OF KATOWICE

Katowice is a city full of surprises for everyone who has not visited Silesia in a while. Forget about coal – this remarkable city welcomes us with contemporary architecture blending into secession, modernism and brutalism, alternative culture in post-industrial buildings, green parks and the extraodinary hospitality of its citizens, stretching from Nikiszowiec and Murcki to Ligota and the Tauzen.

Before our eyes, the city is dynamically changing its character and image – transforming from Poland’s industrial centre into the cultural heart of the 1,5 million agglomeration. Here, culture is joined with the academic and business pillars of the region. On one hand, the city is full of large investments – the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the International Congress Centre, the Silesian Museum, .KTW – and giant events – OFF Festival, Tauron Nowa Muzyka, Rawa Blues, Intel Extreme Masters. On the other: the vivid, youthful energy of its citizens, pulsating daily through its streets.

KATOWICE CITY OF GARDENS CREW

Director
Piotr Zaczkowski

Programme Department Management
Martyna Markowska

with teams

ARS INDEPENDENT FESTIVAL CREW

Festival Director
Przemek Mateusz Sołtysik

Spokesperson & Communication
Bartek Sołtysik

Festival Manager
Matylda Badera

Festival Producer
Sebastian Łąkas

Senior Programmers
Patryk Chromik
Piotr Gacek
Maciej Gryzełko
Sławomir Kruk
Martyna Markowska
Gabriela Palicka
Martyna Poważa
Patryk Sławicki
Jacek Wandzel

Visual Identification
Gosia Szarada

Sound Identification
Maciej Wojcieszkiewicz aka Stendek

Scenography System
Anna Kaczkowska

Logo and Visual Identification System
Marta Gawin
Jakub Swat

Design of the Black Horse statuette
Olaf Brzeski

Photos
Gosia Szarada

Website
Dawid Mazur
Maciej Socha
Bartek Sołtysik

Production Support
Michał Banko
Monika Karnia
Paweł Trzepizur

Übervolunteering
Piotr Adamczyk
Patrycja Binek
Oliwia Grysko
Zuzanna Hasiewicz
Monika Ignaś
Piotr Kozioł
Mateusz Michałkiewicz

THANKS

Damian Włosek
Tomasz Banasik (Animowany.pl)
Adrianna Bielak (Women in Technology)
Bolesław Cader (TVP 3 Katowice)
Daniel Cieślik (Drzwi Zwane Koniem)
Alina Ciesielska (Keywords Studios)
Żaneta Chwiałkowska (Outro)
Michał Derkacz (Dlastudenta.pl)
Alicja Deroy (Wherenowhere Art Gallery)
Gosia (Wolno)
Mateusz Czerwiński (Red Games)
Anton Felipa (New Noardic Wave)
Frank Futerro (frankfuterro.pl)
Monika Góral (Czwórka)
Agata Heft (FINA)
Kamil Jasieński (Czwórka)
Patrycja Jasińska (Se Točí)
Wojciech Juszkiewicz (Transfer Dobra)
Agnieszka Karpiel (Klub Filmowy Ambasada)
Kamil Suyon Kenig (Dlastudenta.pl)
Radek Klasa (TK Games)
Andrzej Kłodnicki (Ultramaryna)
Monika Kłosek (Women in Technology)
Maciej Kulpik (Kultura Na Co Dzień)
Krzysztof Kupka (Tri-Pion)
Marzena Łukaszczyk (Alsen)
Zuzanna Maciejak
Martyna Majewicz (Śląska TV)
Joanna Malicka (Ultramaryna)
Andrea Möller (Media Art Friesland)
Marta Odziomek (Gazeta Wyborcza)
Szymon Pietrzak (Filmawka)
Jan Popieluch (Poltergeist)
Sebastian Pypłacz (Śląska Opinia)
Joanna Rutkowska (COM TV)
Tomasz Rychlik (Mediakrytyk)
Ewa Smak (TVP 3 Katowice)
Maja Solecka (Pillow Talk)
Anna Sołtysik
Łukasz Spich (Filmowicz)
Radosław Sztaba (Filmosfera)
Rafał Szymański (NeedIT.pl)
Klara Trzcińska (Women in Technology)
Szymon Wachal (Exclusive Mag)
Mikołaj Winkiel (Brand24)
Marek Zieliński

and many others