Martin Pošta
| Martin Pošta | |
|---|---|
| File:Martin Pošta.jpgMartin Pošta.jpg Martin Pošta, creative producer | |
| Born | June 30, 1979 Zagreb, Croatia |
| 🏫 Education | Prague University of Economics and Business FAMU |
| 💼 Occupation | Producer, cultural manager |
| Known for | Founder and director of Signal Festival; founder of Signal Space; producer of designSUPERMARKET (2010–2016) |
Martin Pošta (born 30 June 1979 in Zagreb, Croatia) is a Czech film producer and cultural manager. He is the founder or co-founder of several significant cultural projects, including Signal Festival, the international student film festival Fresh Film Festival, and the design fair designSUPERMARKET. He has worked in the cultural sector since the 1990s and has driven numerous initiatives at the intersection of film, visual art, and emerging technology. In 2025, he opened Signal Space in Prague — the first permanent digital art gallery in the Czech Republic.
Education
Pošta studied at Gymnázium Na Pražačce in Prague. During his secondary education, he received a scholarship from the Open Society Fund Prague for a year-long study stay at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, USA. He went on to study at the Prague University of Economics and Business (international trade) and at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), where he specialised in film and television production.[1]
In 2017, he was admitted to the prestigious three-year fellowship programme at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland.[2] Following completion of the programme, he serves as an Associate Consultant of the DeVos Institute.[3]
Career
Film and early career
After his studies, Pošta worked for several years at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[4] In 2004, under his production company Fresh Films, he founded Fresh Film Festival, a festival of debut films focused on young filmmakers and students. Through Fresh Films he also produced several feature films and documentaries; among the best known is the documentary Česká RAPublika, a portrait of the Czech hip-hop scene, which won the award for best documentary at the Finále Plzeň film festival.[5][6] He also contributed to the production of the animated feature film Myši patří do nebe (2021), based on the book by Iva Procházková.
Among further projects, Pošta collaborated on designSUPERMARKET — an international sales festival of contemporary authored design held in Prague from 2007[7] to 2016[8] — serving as its producer from 2010 to 2016.
From 2008 to 2010, Pošta served as editor-in-chief of the internet portal of TV Nova. After leaving Nova, he turned his focus to digital art, becoming producer of the newly formed audiovisual art group The Macula (also known as Hyperbinary), co-founded by artists Amar Mulabegovič and Jan Šíma.[9] With this team he contributed to the creation of unique video-mapping and light installations across the world. In 2010, he produced the video-mapping for the 600th anniversary of the Prague Orloj on the Old Town Hall — a success that served as the inspiration for launching a dedicated light art festival in Prague.
Signal Festival
In 2013, together with curator Jan K. Rolník and artist Amar Mulabegovič, Pošta co-founded Signal Festival in Prague. The festival grew within a few years into the most-visited cultural event in the Czech Republic; the fourth edition in 2016 attracted nearly 580,000 visitors.[10] From its founding through 2025, the festival recorded cumulative attendance of more than five million visitors; in 2025 alone attendance exceeded half a million.[11] Pošta has served as director of the festival since its founding.[12]
The festival has gradually expanded into new formats and locations. In 2024, Signal Festival took place for the first time at Prague Castle, with installations and projections filling the Riding School, Šternberg Palace, Schwarzenberg Palace, and other historic spaces.[13] That same year the festival launched Signal Forum, an educational and networking conference for professionals in the field.
From 2025, the festival also operates Signal Creative, a creative agency handling international presentation of festival works and production of projects for international partners.[14]
Signal Space
In October 2025, Pošta and his team opened Signal Space — the first permanent digital and immersive art gallery in the Czech Republic. The gallery is located in the historic Old Town Market Hall (completed in 1896 to a design by Jindřich Fialka) in central Prague, and offers an exhibition programme accessible year-round across more than 2,500 m2.[15]
The space comprises eight permanent exhibition rooms, an Immersive Space with projection across walls and floor (the largest of its kind in the Czech Republic), an Infinity Room, a curatorial platform called CzechBox dedicated to the contemporary Czech scene, and an interactive children's zone, Signal Playground. The opening exhibition, Echoes of Tomorrow, presented works by ten Czech and international artists, including Istanbul-based studio Nohlab, Japanese artist Shohei Fujimoto, British-Italian artist Quayola, Barcelona studio Playmodes, and American artist Zach Lieberman.[16] Due to strong public demand the exhibition was extended; by the end of March 2026 the gallery had welcomed more than 70,000 visitors.[17]
The project received international recognition: Signal Space was awarded the InAVation Award for innovative installation in the field of audiovisual technology and immersive environments.[18]
International activities
Pošta is active internationally. In 2012, he contributed to the founding of the International Light Festival Organisation (ILO), a network uniting light festivals worldwide, and served as its president from 2016 to 2019.[19]
He also works as a curator abroad, having served as curator of the Spotlight light festival in Bucharest and Lux Helsinki in Finland, and collaborating on the Lux Doral light project in Miami, USA. In 2025, he became international curator of the Barcelona light art festival Llum BCN, working alongside artistic director Maria Güell.[20][21]
References
- ↑ "O festivalu". Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ↑ "DeVos Institute Fellows, 2017". Archived from the original on 25 April 2018.
- ↑ "DeVos Institute of Arts Management – Team". Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "About Signal Festival". Retrieved 7 July 2025.
- ↑ "Martin Pošta – Signal Festival Prague". Archived from the original on 5 April 2018.
- ↑ "KVIFF – Česká RAPublika". Retrieved 7 July 2025.
- ↑ "O festivalu". Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ↑ "Vánoce 2017 bez DSM". Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ↑ "Signal Festival už není jen světlo, říká zakladatel ředitel akce Martin Pošta". Reflex.cz. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
- ↑ ČTK/iDNES.cz (17 October 2016). "Festival světla viděly v Praze stovky tisíc lidí, prozradily je mobily". iDNES.cz. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ↑ "About Signal Festival". Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Press a média". Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ↑ "Signal Festival se vrací: Letošní program ovládne i Pražský hrad". Pražský deník. 6 September 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
- ↑ "About Signal Festival". Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "New Digital Gallery: Signal Space Opens in Prague". Prague Daily News. 4 October 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Signal Space: A New Permanent Gallery for Digital and Transmedia Art in Prague". 30 September 2025. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Signal Space Already Counts More Than 70,000 Visitors". Prague Daily News. 13 March 2026. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Signal Space Already Counts More Than 70,000 Visitors". Prague Daily News. 13 March 2026. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Signal Festival už není jen světlo, říká zakladatel ředitel akce Martin Pošta". Reflex.cz. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
- ↑ "Martin Posta – Signal Festival". Retrieved 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Llum BCN: an immersive experience in public space". Info Barcelona. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
External links
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