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The Visual Communication Design Students’ Association (DVK Association) was founded in 2018 under the auspices of the Arts Academy of the University of Split.
The DVK Association is a group of young, ambitious students focused on community development, teamwork, and the promotion of art and visual culture. In this month’s edition of the column, we were joined by the president of the Association, Marija Ćubelić, and the secretary of the Association, Valentina Mindoljević.
“In the past few years, the association has made significant progress, and today we gather around twenty active members, among whom are current students of Visual Communication Design, as well as alumni with a diploma from the Split Academy. Our Association provides members with the opportunity to turn their ideas and wishes into real projects, allowing them to work outside the faculty framework”, emphasized the DVK Association’s secretary Valentina.
The main goal of the DVK Association is to promote design, art, and visual culture through the organization of various events, as well as providing support to young creatives in the development of their ideas and skills.
“The Association is an opportunity to do fun projects and a place where students can turn their ideas and wishes into real projects. They test themselves and their knowledge and face challenges in design and beyond. Some of the students have found themselves sharing knowledge through workshops and lectures, and even after working in the DVK Association, they hold their own workshops, festivals, and lectures”, President Marija explained to us.
“It is certainly important to emphasize that our target group is young interested creatives and future students of DVK. Nevertheless, we want to act more widely in our local community and spread awareness and knowledge about the importance of design in society. Our goal is to connect with other design students in Croatia and beyond its borders, to have opportunities to exchange knowledge, connect, and network for the development of the young design scene,” added Marija.
“The DVK Association has been maintained by students of different years of study for 6 years. Through the Association, students are faced with organizational skills and bureaucratic processes that they would not otherwise encounter outside of college and are an essential part of their later development. By implementing projects within the association, we improve communication skills and teamwork, and test and build our design knowledge. In our profession, mutual connection is important, which is one of the main focuses of the DVK Association,” said Valentina.
Love and enthusiasm for design motivate us to promote design, art, and visual culture.
“Love and enthusiasm for design motivate us to promote design, art, and visual culture through exhibitions, design festivals, and public campaigns such as DVK Enter, KOMBO, Vozim30, Lito 2020, Abstrakt, etc. The student association DVK is the only student association in Croatia whose main interest is design.”
The DVK Association is the only student association in Croatia whose main interest is design.
Through education, exhibitions, get-togethers, and workshops, a platform is created that allows young creatives to present their ideas and show their work through various events of the DVK Association.
“One of the projects we would highlight, which has been running for 5 years, is KOMBO. KOMBO is a festival that brings together all areas of focus of the DVK Association. Exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and gatherings are organized. We try to find topics that are relevant to all students, even outside the field of design. Last year, we gathered a considerable number of students from outside the borders of Split – we were joined by participants from Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica, etc.,” explained the interviewees.
KOMBO as a festival brings together all areas of focus of the DVK Association.
“DVK Enter is also a project that is extremely important to us, but it also has a touch of sentimental value. The project was conceived as a relaxed gathering in the garden of the Academy and preparation for the entrance exam. At DVK Enter, most of us got to know our future colleagues and overcame the fear of the entrance exam.
We advise everyone who wants to enroll in Visual Communication Design to join us at this year’s Enter. The exact date and information for applications will be published on our Instagram profile.
This way, in addition to getting to know the mentioned Department and the experiences of DVK students, the participants will have the opportunity to test their skills and receive feedback and advice from experienced future colleagues. The workshop is designed as a simulation of three tasks that will be encountered in the entrance exam. Previous participants (now DVK students who are successfully completing their first or second year) said that the workshop helped them a lot when passing the entrance exam.”
“The motivation of the members in this amount stems from the fact that we act as a community and thereby encourage our own development. Year after year, we see an increasing audience response to our events, which gives us a wind behind us and tells us that we are doing something good and useful for the community. The DVK Association is certainly one of the initiators of events on the topic of visual culture in the area of Split,” Marija explained to us with a dose of pride and excitement about the upcoming events.
The DVK Association is certainly one of the initiators of events on the topic of visual culture in the Split area.
In addition to independent events, the Association has collaborated with other associations and designers. Here are some of the projects they highlighted:
“After KOMBO in 2019, the DVK Association responded to Zagreb Design Week’s invitation to hold workshops once again during the ZGDW festival and to present works created in Split during the duration of the workshop.
Also, the KOMBO Visual Culture Festival is the most extensive and well-known project of the DVK Association. It was created based on the model of festivals like Fluid, Pop Up, and Vojnik as a desire to organize a similar event in Split at the Academy of Arts.
“Tolerance Exhibition by curator and author Mirko Ilić was an integral part of the KOMBO Visual Culture Festival, but bringing it was a separate project of the DVK Association. In cooperation with designer Mirko Ilić, the DVK Association exhibited 150 posters on the theme of Tolerance on Split’s Riva, which were created by designers and artists from all over the world.
Tolerance is a traveling exhibition and as such has been presented in many cities around the world, and the DVK Association had the honor of hosting the exhibition in Split.”
“A one-day event organized by the DVK Association with Split Tech City in the garden of the Art Academy in Split at Zagrebačka 3. At the event, two designers presented their work (Marija Polović and Nikolina Jerković), after which a panel discussion was held (Luka Duplančić, Mišo Komenda, Bruno Dubravec)”, Marija and Valentina emphasized to us in detail and with a lot of excitement.
Finally, Jana Jašić, a 1st-year student, shared the reasons for visiting the DVK Association and getting to know more about its work and activities:
“Through participation in festivals and workshops organized by the Association, I had the opportunity to meet experts from the industry, acquire new skills, and upgrade my knowledge.
With the support of my colleagues from the DVK Association, I felt encouraged to explore my creativity and express my ideas. The experience with the Association not only enriched my knowledge and skills about design but also gave me the confidence I needed for my future profession.”
Head into the vastness of design, learn something new, and support the young designers of the DVK Association in their future work!
Article author: Paula Srdanović
Photos: DVK Association
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