Diplomová práca Lukáš Karaba: Fabulačná povaha bytosti, ktorá sa nechala viesť
Dvojkanálová videoprojekcia, 16:30 min.
Dokumentárna videoesej sa zameriava na vzťah medzi človekom a chrobákom. V procese pritom využíva vedecko-umelecký výskum ako platformu, v ktorej prepája fakty s imagináciou. Ústredným motívom je telo ako pohyblivé médium, spoločné pre človeka aj chrobáka. Telo je tu vnímané ako priestor pre prieniky, kde sa pomocou predstavivosti posúvajú jeho pomyselné hranice, otvárajú nové identity a prehodnocujú hranice o medzidruhovej rovnocennosti. Výskum prebieha v prostredí lesa, kde pomocou performatívnych etud vzniká dokumentárny voyering hybridnej bytosti, inšpirovanej životným cyklom nášho jedovatého chrobáka, májky fialovej (Meloe violaceus). Videoperformance skúma premenlivosť tela v neustálom kontakte s okolím. Práca zdôrazňuje hru ako kľúčový nástroj tvorby medzi-druhových vzťahov, empatie a nových foriem porozumenia. V hre nie je nič nutné, ale všetko zohráva nejakú rolu.
Tvorbu diela finančne podporila Nadácia Tatra banky v programe Umenie 2024.
EN: The Fabulating Nature of a Being, That Let Itself Be Guided
The documentary video essay focuses on the relationship between human and beetle. It employs a science-art research approach as a platform that merges facts with imagination. The central motif is the body as a moving medium, shared by both humans and beetles. The body is perceived as a space of interpenetration, where imagination pushes its perceived boundaries, opens up new identities, and reconsiders the limits of interspecies equality.
The research takes place in a forest environment, where performative études create a documentary voyeurism of a hybrid being inspired by the life cycle of the toxic violet oil beetle (Meloe violaceus). The videoperformance explores the body’s mutability in constant contact with its surroundings. The work highlights play as a key tool for forming interspecies relationships, empathy, and new modes of understanding. In play, nothing is necessary, yet everything plays a role.
Fabulačná povaha bytosti, ktorá sa nechala viesť
Dvojkanálová videoprojekcia, 16:30 min
Dokumentárna videoesej sa zameriava na vzťah medzi človekom a chrobákom. V procese pritom využíva vedecko-umelecký výskum ako platformu, v ktorej prepája fakty s imagináciou. Ústredným motívom je telo ako pohyblivé médium, spoločné pre človeka aj chrobáka. Telo je tu vnímané ako priestor pre prieniky, kde sa pomocou predstavivosti posúvajú jeho pomyselné hranice, otvárajú nové identity a prehodnocujú hranice o medzidruhovej rovnocennosti. Výskum prebieha v prostredí lesa, kde pomocou performatívnych etud vzniká dokumentárny voyering hybridnej bytosti, inšpirovanej životným cyklom nášho jedovatého chrobáka, májky fialovej (Meloe violaceus). Videoperformance skúma premenlivosť tela v neustálom kontakte s okolím. Práca zdôrazňuje hru ako kľúčový nástroj tvorby medzi-druhových vzťahov, empatie a nových foriem porozumenia. V hre nie je nič nutné, ale všetko zohráva nejakú rolu.
Tvorbu diela finančne podporila Nadácia Tatra banky v programe Umenie 2024.
Inštalácia bola súčasťou výstavy ESC
Štefánikova 35, Bratislava
EN:
The Fabulating Nature of a Being, That Let Itself Be Guided
The documentary video essay focuses on the relationship between human and beetle. It employs a science-art research approach as a platform that merges facts with imagination. The main interest is here a body as a moving medium, shared by both humans and beetles. The body is perceived as a space of interpenetration, where imagination pushes its perceived boundaries, opens up new identities, and reconsiders the limits of interspecies equality. The research takes place in a forest environment, where performative études create a documentary voyeurism of a hybrid being inspired by the life cycle of the toxic violet oil beetle (Meloe violaceus). The videoperformance explores the body as a form that is constantly changing and reshaping itself through contact with its surroundings. The work highlights play as a key tool for forming interspecies relationships, empathy, and new modes of understanding. In play, nothing is necessary, yet everything plays a role.
Greetings from Gilbbesjávri!
This week, our trainee Lukáš (@lukaskaraba_ ) is conducting research at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station as part of a case study residency for Bioart Society. During his stay, he explores both human and non-human perspectives on the environment, while reflecting on the ethics of fieldwork.
Lukáš combines this inquiry with his artistic practice, working with macrophotography and video, alongside developing a series of small, place-based reflections that gather observations, fragments, and questions from specific sites. Rather than only asking what is there, his approach considers what each place asks in return, shaping a more attentive and reciprocal way of being in the field.
I randomly captured the moment when Campsicnemus scambus, a long-legged fly, is feeding on the water surface by sucking its prey. Rubbing its legs while eating looks like multitasking.
I was unable to identify the prey tho.
We’re happy to welcome our trainee, Lukáš Karaba, who will be joining our team as an programme assistant.
Lukáš is an intermedia artist exploring the world through a macro lens, focusing on the perception of more-than-human beings. His practice is research-driven, blending visual storytelling with a deep engagement in understanding non-human perspectives. As a graphic designer, he approaches the work with the same sensitivity to form and meaning, believing that the visual world plays a vital role in shaping our experience and interpretation of the world around us.
His current research focuses on play as an ambivalent practice that can move beyond established social structures and habitual ways of thinking. In this sense, play becomes a method for cultivating new relationships.
Lukáš studied Visual Communication at the Bachelor’s level and graduated from the Department of Intermedia (Studio vvv) at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia.
He will be working with BAS until June so there is plenty of opportunity to meet him at our events, the weekly writing club and spring breakfast in March.
Mindmap of a Fictional Research Team to go! Leaflet was beautifully designed by @lukaskaraba_ and is a part of our installation in @galeria_jana_koniarka 🔋 The show titled Theory of a Swarm, curated by @lydiapribisova is on view till 30.11 🐝
Research and development of caddisfly inspired cocoon and rebar climbing holds, made in collaboration with @_minichova
Thanks @divotvar for help and space we could use for this rusty summer workout.
Branching Light and Flashes of Dawn – Mind Map of a Fictional Scientific Team is a site-specific installation made in collaboration with @lukaskaraba_ for group show titled Theory of the Swarm curated by @lydiapribisova in @galeria_jana_koniarka
Inspired by branching structure of firefly light organ and blender program nodes system, the installation combines a selection of references: firefly synchrony research, critical flickering frequency research and notes from complexity theory are accompanied with speculative fabulation thoughts and various quotations from fiction authors. The mindmap is a continuation of short animated film Branching Light and the Flickers of a Dawn exploring the mystery of firefly synchonization🔋:
The work presents the notes of a fictional scientific team investigating the mystery of the synchronous flashing of firefly swarms – a secret communication channel of this species. This behavior remains unresolved: despite new imaging technologies (such as 3D scanning of swarms in
space), scientific research has not been able to convincingly explain its evolutionary significance.
Why, then, do fireflies synchronize?
Perhaps, however, we should ask differently: why are we unable to decipher the reason why fireflies synchronize? The critical flicker fusion threshold (CFF) differs across animal species depending on body size, and therefore on the perception of time. The short flashes of fireflies’ light organs may resemble binary computational logic to the human eye, yet at the same time they may carry complex
information that exceeds our perceptual capacities. Contemporary research into the different perceptions of time and light among humans and other organisms only emphasizes the mysteries that remain hidden from humankind.
On view till 30.11.2025
Installation shots by Andrej Balco @galeria_jana_koniarka
Začiatkom októbra sa mi podarilo navštíviť niekoľko výstav v Bratislave. K jednej z nich patrila výstava Lukáš Karaba a Celestína Minichová: Hemženie na pomedzí svetov, ktorej kurátorkou bola Maja Štefančíková. Výstava začala vernisážou a performance dňa 10.9.2025 a trvala do 15.10.2025 v Galérii Sumec nachádzajúcej sa v Škole dizajnu v Bratislave. Prečítajte si retrospektívny návrat na výstavu Lukáš Karaba a Celestína Minichová: Hemženie na pomedzí svetov, kde sa dozviete viac o samotnej výstave venovanej vzťahu k najväčšej skupine živočíchov zastúpených na našej planéte – hmyzu, konkrétne potočníkovi a májke fialovej, ale taktiež o jej autoroch a o Galérii Sumec v Bratislave.
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🇩🇪 Heute bringe ich Ihnen einen kurzen Rückblick auf die Ausstellung Lukas Karaba a Celestina Minichova: „Hemženie na pomedzí svetov“ (Gewimmel an der Grenze zwischen den Welten), die vom 10.9.2025-15.10.2025 in der Galerie Sumec in Bratislava stattfand. Kuratorin war Maja Stefancikova und die Eröffnung der Ausstellung mit Performance fand am 10.9.2025 statt.
Die Ausstellung „Hemženie na pomedzí svetov“ hatte die interessante Idee, das Leben der Insekten mit ihren verschiedenen Hindernissen und ihrer Anpassung an die Umgebung sowie Assoziationen zum Leben des Menschen, der sich ebenfalls ständig anpassen muss, aufzuzeigen. Sie zeigte, dass der Mensch nicht das einzige Lebewesen ist. Sie legte den Schwerpunkt auf weniger sichtbare Tiere in der Natur, die vom Menschen oft übersehen werden, aber dennoch vollwertige Mitglieder der Natur sind. Auf diese Weise brachte sie den Betrachter der Natur und dem Lebensraum ausgewählter Insekten (Trichoptera und Meloe violaceus) näher. (...weiter im Kommentar ⬇️)
#hemzenienapomedzisvetov #vystava #ausstellung #exhibition #kunstartum #lukaskaraba #celestinaminichova #galeriasumec #galeriabratislava #bratislava #umenie #kunst #art #slovakart #slowakischekunst #slovenskeumenie #performance #hra #telo #body #priroda #natur #potocnik #majkafialova #hmyz #insect
