Photography has been taught at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava since the restoration of democratic rule in 1989. Until then, Slovaks interested in photography had attended Prague FAMU. The situation at Prague FAMU was quite different from that in Bratislava, when the study of photography was implemented into the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts and Design curriculum. Academy of Fine Arts and Design is a classical art school, where photography has been taught together with sculpture, painting, architecture, design and applied art. The media is directly under the influence of fine art, which means experimenting with both, its content and form. Usurpation of reality through drawing brings new challenges and perspectives in front of a future artist. And so inevitably photographers have begun experimenting with the medium itself (emulsions, sensitive layer), linking it to other media (painting, drawing, sound, video) and the first photographic installations were realized here.

This year marks the 20 anniversary since the integration of photography into the school curriculum. We organize the PREVIEW exhibition, held at Central Slovakian Gallery in Banská Bystrica ,which aim is to bring the evidence of all these activities. This presentation is the probe into the 20 years of existence of the Department of Photography and presents a more long-term portfolio of this school, regardless the prevailing trends of particular period. Today we can proudly state that several renowned photographic personalities who influence events in Slovak and Central European photography are the Academy of Fine Arts and Design graduates.

Lubo Stacho