"Part of the problem with pandemics is that we try to compensate for things that we can weigh, measure, and count, but no one compensates us for lost experiences," says world-renowned Czech artist Kateřina Šedá. For Trenčín, she invented the Saturday on Sunday project, which tries to compensate people for missed experiences in 2020 by giving them to them in 2021.
Trenčín residents could design the experiences themselves. The combination of inclusion and the pandemic of experiences also for children with special needs was invented by Trenčín resident Diana Gerbocová, director of the KRTKO Education Centre and cultural ambassador for people with disabilities. In addition to double canister therapy, she wanted to enable them to be real artists while painting pictures and creating art.
"Part of the problem with the pandemic is that we try to compensate for things we can weigh, measure, count, but no one compensates us for the missed experiences. It takes away their opportunity to progress, develop and manage their disability," she explains. "Every experience is important to them and the special ones are not just a double but a multiple joy."
Therefore, in August, the Centre was able to afford to do what could not be done during the school year. Children came to KRTKO with their parents but also with their siblings. Parents, children, and also teachers from the United Boarding School in Trenčín and the Private Kindergarten Slimáčik were involved. Children were creating and their paintings and creations were finished by mothers and teachers, who are involved in art in their professional or personal lives.
Not only did the children experience being a real artist, this sensation was enhanced by the opening and exhibition of their artworks in the Miloš Alexander Bazovský Gallery in Trenčín. You can admire the children's artworks there until Friday 28.9.2021 or at least get some energy from the photos by Juraj Majerský:
This is what it looked like in the Krtko Educational Centre during the creation of the artworks.
One of the Slovak cities will be full of such experiences in 2026. Will Trenčín, Nitra or Žilina be the European Capital of Culture? We will find out in December!