Markéta Kosinová

Based on the story of Adam and Eve, “nakedness became sinful the very moment it was first observed.” Latvian sculptor Miķelis Mūrnieks forged unyielding metal frames filled with malleable polyurethane foam, revealing abstract female nudes, intended to defy the male gaze – but can a male author achieve that?

Lotus Wash, aka David Herzig, is a prominent force on Prague’s music scene. Apart from working with Bert and Friends, Never Sol and Oliver Torr, among others, he is known for his captivating live modular synthesizer sets. He has recently released his debut album Field Theory on LBD Sounds, and in this interview he tells us about the debut release, his history with music, and creativity during pandemic times.

Czech digital artist and VR/AR format pioneer Michael Rosa is the talent behind our very first and incredible Instagram face filter titled, surprisingly, HEAVENLY BODIES. Rosa was kind enough to lift the curtain a little on his creative aims and processes in an exclusive interview. HEAVENLY BODIES available now for your pleasure, go play!

Czech poet Jan Jindřích Karásek and Finnish digital artist Lauri Renvall come together for an exclusive collaboration in this SWARM MAG entry. Delve into this unique intermedial play where text and digital art touch on the complex topics of today’s intimacy.

Series of paintings and stuffed sculptural objects featuring various fleshy apparitions by Polish artist Alexandra Liput aim to strip depictions of genitalia off taboos and cheap eroticsm and give them back their ancient status of fertility, wealth and luck symbols.

After witnessing first-hand the brutal conditions of forced child prostitution in Southeast Asia, Laura Limbourg creates an ethereal play of watercolor in memory of its victims. Today, the acclaimed artist shares her experiences and perspectives on art, wild animals and her other projects.

And human beings fashioned gods in their own image. Welcome to the newest editorial of House SWARM. Enter with ease, unsaddled by judgement and prejudice, and you too will be touched by the golden divine light – emanating from within.

In what is often dubbed a genre of the anti-still life, Kamil Kukla explores today’s global visual culture oversaturated with sex and maximalism on his own terms. In his works we encounter disjointed body parts, wide brush strokes and peculiar, colorful landscapes that provoke our all-too-desensitized frames of reference.

The newest collection by the international brand Sample-cm, The GrandBassin 2021 Club, embraces and destigmatizes female anger and bodily assertivity in traditionally male-dominated sports. With their 'full-contact' concept, they fly under the colours of confidence, sustainability, rebellion, expression and intersectional feminism.

Anya Miroshnichenko’s faceless female bodies challenge the typical “reading” of such “objects”. The Moscow-based artist shifts the question of representation into one of self-perception without losing the focus on family memory and intimacy.

Ann-Maj Risgaard, a fashion design student at the Swedish School of Textiles, creates debatably wearable objects that pose cumbersome burdens for their wearers. Their importance lies not in the aesthetic but in the somatic, bodily experience they cause.

BORA creates 3D artworks that seem to hang in the fragile balance between solidity and aether. These slippery bodies are like any other: unique, embodied, and craving intimacy. Let us explore Bora’s world to slow down and reconnect with our physicality.

Czech Jewellery maker Ondřej Stára takes us on a tongue-in-cheek, gamified journey of a stark naked hero searching for magic artifacts in the woods. These include a bejewelled jockstrap, a roman sword bearing emojis, a flippable ring with various phallic symbols and more. Follow the hero's journey in a video in the article and learn more about him in the interview with the artist.

3D ragdolls, uncanny connections and layered textures: Nicoleta Mureș creates a reflection of our technologized era in her art, and in this SWARM MAG interview goes into depth about her technique and inspirations with a selection of her recent surreal collages and animations.

Who counts sheep and who the freckles on your imaginary body before they go to sleep? Writer Zuzana Trachtová portrays how our fantasies claim and appropriate strangers' bodies for our own amusement and arousal – and vice versa. The essay is accompanied by illustrations and animations by Lucie Frýdlová.

Enter Pavla Malinová, the Moravian artist of eclectic influences and deep, saturated colors whose works remind us of ancient and non-European art, but which could only have been created in the second decade of the 21st century.

A Polish native relocated to London, a multidisciplinary artist leaning predominantly towards fashion design, Joanna Prażmo kindly gave us a piece of her mind in an exclusive interview. Her works carry a transparent, oozing, organic feel – like a freshly vacant butterfly pupa.

In her newest exploration of the sci-fi reality of the third millennium, the SCI_Arc professor Lucy McRae presents us with her take on imagining the processes of birth-giving in a not-so-distant world. Having collaborated with institutions such as NASA, MIT and TED, the Los Angeles-based Australian has all the tools necessary to performatively illustrate how science may soon radically redefine intimacy and how humans come into being.

After dealing with the oftentimes fantastical, spiritual and ephemeral topics of the preceding neo-medievalism-focused theme, we're now shifting gears to something very real, personal, non-abstract and tangible. Make room for HEAVENLY BODIES. In this article, you'll find a summary of what's to come.

Anežka Hošková “creates dream portraits in the dark landscape of her own parallel worlds, both unnerving and fragile” in sharp ornaments emerging from blurred watercolor. Enjoy her paintings and poetic curatorial statement to immerse yourself in her hazy, evocative visions.