Sona Smedkova
DÉAD is the title of a group show which ran from 3rd -8th Nov @transmediale studio in Silent Green, Berlin.
The show was a result of 5 months of collaboration between 6 Irish and 6 German students/alumni 🇮🇪🇩🇪 for the Creative Pathways Programme run by @candice.gordon @irlembberlin in partnership with @goetheinstitut_irland
My collaborative partner Veronika Pffafinger worked on an installation called Evergreen.
🟢Evergreen is an installation exploring themes of immortality through the physical and digital landscapes. Pfaffinger and Smedkova consider soil as a material consisting of dead and undead elements which travel through the cycle of life and re-enter as something new. In Evergreen a similar process is mimicked through disruptive technologies to investigate new layers of soil as timeless material. The installation is a study in contrasts where one material occupies the positive space and everything else is considered as negative space.🟢
Design Lab Ambassador 2022
A space for Joyful Collaboration
collaborative partner Aaron Conneely
Design Lab is delivered in partnership with
Architecture at the Edge based in Galway,
and architecture education organisation
MATT+FIONA, based in London.
Architecture at the Edge (AATE) is a Galway based not-
for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of
architecture as culture. AATE investigates the role and
impact of architecture in our lives and the world we live
in, demonstrating how design enhances the quality
of life, while addressing important issues of society
through responsible architecture.
MATT+FIONA is a social enterprise that believes all young people should have the opportunity to shape their built environment. Through their collaborations they offer unique, hands-on education programmes for children andyoung adults, which enable them to directly create fullscale places and spaces.
• Empowering young people to physically realise
the ideas in their imaginations
• Building a confident curiosity in the next
generation
• Providing understanding about the built
environment though constructive teaching,
playing and making
• Inspiring young people to see how we can shape
and influence the spaces in which we live,.
• Familiarising participants to the processes
involved in design and construction within the
built environment
• Enabling people to work collaboratively towards a
collective goal
Installation view: video, aluminium forms, cement, paper, oil painting on the board, fabric, cardboard form, 2021
Radius ATS GMIT & Merlin College Project
Radius ATS GMIT (now ATU) & Merlin College project started in January 2021. It was my first socially
engaged work, and I was very lucky to work with Juman Tamimi, a Palestinian MA student
also studying at GMIT. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we had to rethink and reshape the whole
approach of our workshops. Through an online platform called Padlet, we could build
trust and relationships with TYS, which was not an easy road. We were not allowed to see
students' faces through online calls and not many of them were confident enough to speak.
With amazing support from our lecturer Dr Seamus McGuinness and TYS’ teacher Bernie
Duggan, we were leaving this project with the joy of sharing a confidence, trust, and creativity.
ABOUT RADIUS PROJECT
The radius project was a fantastic experience facilitated by the ATS office, GMIT. Working with community and the social organisations became a huge part of my practice. It gave me a new set of skills and beliefs and prepared me for the outside world after finishing my studies. I built new relationships within the community, learnt how to adapt to any group of people and
overcome any challenge socially engaged practice might bring. Collectivism, embracing diversity and authenticity is something I carry now with me everywhere.
