Critical Daily    Critical practice in graphic design

The [fjúžn] festival has been organized by the Milan Šimečka Foundation since 2006 and has gradually become a unique and largest multi-genre and multicultural event focused on migration and foreigners in Slovakia with national and international significance.

The title [fjuzn] is a phonetic transcription of ‘fusion’, a term which stands for a mix of different music styles or for adding Asian spices to European meals. It goes beyond one kind of art and offers a rich program of concerts, exhibitions, literature, theater, film, workshops, lectures and presentations, discussions, community events, a children's program, school events and many other activities.

The festival aims to raise the voice of foreigners, migrants and refugees, presents culture and life of new minorities, creates opportunities for encounters, shows diversity of Slovakia, sensitizes wide public and fights prejudices.

This is important especially in hard times and rising nationalist group across Europe. The [fjúžn] festival is communicating the important ideas in a creative and sophisticated way. Author of the visual identity of the festival is Matúš Hnát. Hnát operates as a designer, but also has a background in cultural studies. Hnát approaches topics of integration, motion, home, mix, identity etc. with interesting insights, enriching the landscape of Bratislava posters. Working with exotic visual materials is not cheap and/ or mocking. His visuals make the reader think and enjoy the possibilities of unknown.

Matúš Hnát was more times shortlisted for Slovak Design Award. His domain is poster and he used to be also active as visual artist, combining various techniques and approaches, such as street art, collage, typography... Hnát's work contains exciting [fjúžn] of ideas, shapes and colors!