The MAGMA Contemporary Art Space in Sfântu Gheorghe announces a free talent development program aimed at deepening digital competencies through the tools of contemporary visual art.

Between October 2021 and June 2022, a weekly animation workshop and course will take place, open to 10 high school students (grades 9–11).

Keywords: photography, digital imaging, animation, model making, laser cutting, photogram, GIF, 3D modeling, 3D printing

Applications can be submitted until September 30, 2021, by completing the application form (personal data, motivation letter, fictional CV) and sending a parental consent declaration (to: animagma@magma.ro).

Admission interviews: October 4–5, 2021, starting from 5:00 PM.

Announcement of results: October 7, 2021, at 12:00 PM on www.magma.ro

Workshop leaders: visual artists Ördög-Gyárfás Ágota, W. Szabó Rákhel, Kispál Ágnes-Evelin, Koter Vilmos, and Kispál Attila

Guest lecturers: animation film director Buzási Gyopár-Orsolya, set designer and visual artist Bartha József, animation film director Patrovits Tamás, and other specialists.

The MAGMA established the MAGMA Media Lab following a series of interactive guided tours for students and creative workshops. The lab operates in a dedicated space specifically designed for this purpose. Its aim is to provide a permanent venue and special working conditions for structured art pedagogy activities and workshops held during school hours. Furthermore, it seeks to create a framework for talent development that offers students – through after-school programs – insight into the practice and understanding of contemporary visual art, as well as its technical and theoretical paradigms, through active creative work.

MAGMA’s goal is to provide a high-quality educational program for those who wish to develop their talents in a comprehensive way, with an open attitude toward innovation, while deepening and expanding their digital competencies through the mentorship of local professionals and renowned guest artists. The program is intended for everyone who wishes to take part in a process centered on experience and discovery, through which participants acquire new knowledge that may contribute to their future career choices or become essential to them, as members of a collaborative creative team.

Within the one-school-year talent development program, participating students from diverse backgrounds benefit from short-term outcomes such as collaboration and collective thinking within a group, which enhance problem-solving skills, as well as adaptability and flexibility, thereby fostering empathy and social sensitivity. In addition, through collaborative creative processes, students also develop their self-expression and communication skills, which they can apply in the long term as well.

The #animagma program encompasses all forms of knowledge related to visual art that involve mastering digital tools and software, as well as acquiring art historical knowledge. At the same time, all the products and artworks created during the workshops – whether images produced through various analog or digital techniques, printed 3D objects, solutions to partial tasks, publications presenting the workshops and artworks, creative writing pieces, workshop journals, collaboratively created narrative stories, or ultimately the animations created using these elements – are integral parts of the program. The results of this creative process are presented to the public in the form of an exhibition at the end of the #animagma program, allowing participants to become familiar with tasks related to exhibition organization and installation as well.

Through a sequence of interconnected activities, students will acquire a complex method of image-making. The program is divided into five groups of activities:

Introduction: this is where students first meet each other, take part in team-building exercises, are introduced to the yearly workshop and mentors, and have their existing knowledge assessed regarding the themes that will be covered throughout the year. Technical equipment, safe usage practices, and workplace and health protection are also introduced.

Narrative: as a first step, students explore storytelling, the attribution of meaning to events, and the structuring of time.

Light: under this theme, the foundations of visuality are examined from both physical and artistic perspectives. Practical activities include creating photograms, analog and digital photography, and image processing.

Space–Form: students experience the transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional representation through model-making, designing and constructing forms and characters, and in some cases producing them using 3D printing.

Image-making: based on the previously acquired knowledge, students create independent works such as animations, photographs, photograms, video works, etc., while also practicing post-production processes such as sound design, visual identity, catalog production, and more.

Most activities will be characterized by cooperative collaboration, small-group work, and dialogue with mentors. In addition to the two-hour teaching and learning sessions held once or twice a week between October and June, students will carry out individual exercises and consultations with specialists.

Ördög-Gyárfás Ágota (1984), visual artist and animation specialist, graduated in 2008 from the advertising graphics/visual communication department of the Partium Christian University in Oradea. Her works and animations have been presented at group exhibitions and film festivals. Within the program, she guides students through the essential stages of animation filmmaking in order to help create high-quality works.

Wanek-Szabó Rákhel (1992), architect, graduated from the Department of Architecture at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest in 2019. Her role is to introduce creative spatial design and design methodology, model-making, lighting techniques, laser cutting, and digital visual planning so that students can fully understand set design within the animation process.

Koter Vilmos (1982), visual artist and 3D and advertising specialist, graduated from the graphics department of the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca in 2004. His responsibilities include introducing 3D modeling and printing and supervising the printing process.

Kispál Ágnes-Evelin (1980) and Kispál Attila (1977), media artists and art educators, graduated from the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest (2006; 2007). They are founders and collaborators of the MAGMA Contemporary Art Exhibition Space. Their tasks include introducing new image-making methods, providing an introduction to the history of photography and moving image, photogram creation, photo animation, the use of digital cameras and other technical equipment, as well as basic digital image processing, ensuring the successful realization of the entire program.

Buzási Gyopár-Orsolya, animation director, completed her BA and MA studies in directing at the Film, Photography and Media Department of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca. In 2017 she won the Filmgalopp Grand Prize and has participated in numerous film projects, festivals, and animation workshops. She was nominated for the Hungarian Motion Picture Award 2021 in the Animation category. She will share her experience and artistic practice with the students.

Bartha József (1960), visual artist, curator, and acclaimed set designer, is a lecturer at the Department of Set Design at the University of Arts in Târgu Mureș. He will share his professional experience and scenographic practice with participants.

Patrovits Tamás (1968), founder of the Primanima International First Animation Film Festival, animation film director, graphic artist, and art teacher, will present his work and experience as well as introduce the animation trick table.