Architect, urban planner, and futurologist Zdeňka Němcová Zedníčková is a graduate of Prague's UMPRUM. She expanded her studies with international experiences, studying in Finland, Egypt, and at Musashino Art University in Tokyo under Professor Minoru Takeyama. She defended her doctoral thesis Architect in the Media Network at the Faculty of Architecture at CTU, and earned her habilitation at UMPRUM with her work Architecture and Futurology.
At the Technical University in Liberec, she has been actively involved in teaching at the Faculty of Art and Architecture since 1999. Her significant activities include leading projects such as Prague 2080 (2008), Liberec City with Vision (2011-2012), and the studio ON THE EDGE for international students (2014-2019), focused on futuristic and experimental projects emphasizing new technologies, self-sufficiency, and off-grid design. From 2012 to 2021, she served as the Vice-Dean for International Relations, and since 2022, she has been a member of the Scientific Council of TUL.
As part of her pedagogical activities, she organized nearly thirty international workshops focusing on urbanism and futurology, with an emphasis on activism, public participation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her research focused on the use of futurology in urban planning with regard to climate change, which she also studied during research stays at STU Bratislava (2022) and Meijo University Nagoya in Japan (2023-24).
In her work, she focuses on visions of fictional futures and architectural designs for these worlds, including space colonization bases. She is the co-author of the virtual world Anarchi-tekt (2001). Since 2023, she has been leading the research project Virtual Futurologist A°D°A.
Visual artist Jana Bernartová went through several "media" studios during her studies. She began her higher education at the Faculty of Art and Architecture of the Technical University in Liberec in the Visual Communication - Digital Media studio under Stanislav Zippe. She completed her master's degree in Václav Stratil's intermedia studio at FAVU in Brno, and her doctorate in Federico Díaz's Supermedia studio at UMPRUM in Prague. Digital image errors, the tension between the virtual world and lived reality, and between data and their material outputs are the central themes of the author's work. Jana Bernartová also enters the world of contemporary art as a teacher and curator. Since 2016, she has organized the international festival Art Week Liberec. She is the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and, in connection with the art research workplace LARGE (Laboratory for Art, Research, and Postgraduate Education), she implements the inter-university art research project Virtual Futurologist A°D°A. The author actively exhibits in domestic and foreign galleries. The book Zero One, which is partly a catalog, anthology, and a place for the author's experiment with the scale of the digital image, was published in 2018 and won a prize in the catalog category of the Most Beautiful Czech Books of the Year competition. The author also participated in the prestigious international conference in the field of artificial intelligence The Future of Living (Bozar, Center for Fine Arts, Brussels, 2022).
She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava (1993). In 2003-2004, she completed a post-doctoral research stay at the Center for Theoretical Studies of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, where, together with Ivan M. Havel and Michal Ajvaz, she prepared the anthology Space and its Human (Prague 2004). In 2015, she habilitated at the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague, and in 2019, she was appointed professor. She has lectured at schools of architecture in Bratislava, Liberec, and Prague. Currently, she works at the Department of Theory and History of Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and at the Institute of Theory at the Faculty of Architecture of BUT in Brno. She focuses on the theory of art and architecture.
Jiří Vraný is an assistant professor at the Technical University in Liberec, where he has been working since 2003. He received his doctorate in Natural Science Engineering with a specialization in Web data mining. His teaching focuses on programming, especially in Python, and on web application development. He actively participates in supervising student theses and projects and is involved in scientific research projects, including the development of communication systems for automobiles and machine learning for data generation. His professional publications focus on the use of neural networks and data synthesis for the automotive industry.
Mojmír Volf is a lecturer at the Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics, and Interdisciplinary Studies. Already during his studies at the Faculty of Economics at TUL, he dedicated himself to the development of web frontend, multimedia, and communication applications, first as an employee of an international company, later independently. He passes on his practical experience, complemented by formal and technical knowledge, to students of the Faculty of Mechatronics and other faculties of TUL through compulsory and optional courses. As part of his professional development, he focuses on the development and interactions of current and emerging communication technologies, especially with regard to their security, accessibility, and usability.
Radek Srb is a software developer. In his work, he focuses primarily on software architecture, programming languages, and the connection between technology and human experience. He studied informatics at the Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics, and Interdisciplinary Studies, and as part of his continuous professional development, he explores the impact of new technologies on software development practices and industry trends. He has participated in several open-source projects and is passionate about mentoring beginning developers. He currently works as a software developer at the Institute of New Technologies and Applied Informatics.
Viktor Takáč is a visual intermedia artist focusing on moving image art and digital forms. He began his studies at the Institute of Art and Design at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. He completed his master's studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in Michael Bielický's New Media I studio, later in Jiří Příhoda's Monumental Art studio. After some time, he completed his doctoral studies in Tomáš Svoboda's New Media I studio. What is characteristic of Takáč is finding unconventional forms of narrative expression. These take place in the field of experimental film, in immersive situations of gallery space, or in the form of interactive video games. Based on his doctoral studies, his interest is further extended to the fields of cognitive sciences or behavioral psychology. In his works, the viewer becomes an increasingly significant creator of their own experience. Among his artistic achievements, it is worth mentioning several international and domestic awards, and representation in the permanent collection of the art museum in Istanbul. In addition to his artistic activities, Takáč is involved in organizing international conferences in the academic field of game studies. He currently serves as the head of the Multimedia studio at the Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.