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We've emerged from the thawed soil and we crave quick energy. Sweetness so frustrating you'll want to spit it out. By launching our first theme for the 2024 season, SUGAR RUSH, we wish to replenish your tired brains with fast carbs and worry about balanced diets later. The theme's cover was crafted by the talented Czech illustrator and graphic designer Danchez.

Witness the allure of our ritual candlesticks, crafted from hand-blown glass by Makora Josefina Krosno, and infused with exclusive aromatic wax and natural essences. SWARM MAG’s first merch was made in collaboration with Dark Concept Store, reanimating artifacts that revere the occult and sustainable craftsmanship, guiding seekers to transformation through the flickering glow of enchanted flames.

Music journalism is a sight rarely seen at SWARM Mag but some occasions are just too good not to share and recommend. Especially such a project as the INOTA Festival, which took place at the beginning of September this year. Enjoy a stream of observations from the very first year of Hungary's most ambitious audiovisual event.

Especially in the art world (but applicable universally), savouring, storing, sustaining and protecting your creative stimuli and inputs is just as paramount as letting them flow. Our fourth 2023 theme, ROOTS OF TASTE, seeks to find visual representations of our deepest, inherent drives to create that both anchor and activate us. The theme's animation was custom-made by Hélène L. Vaneukem.

Oh, to let go and succumb to the inner child for a moment. This summer, we have something delightful for you. Sit down in our whimsical lounge and let yourself be warmly engulfed by sillines and our new theme, SEED OF PEACE. The theme's opening article is accompanied by playful abstract animation by Zsófi Edőcs who also composed the background music. Let's sprout!

“We always wanted a place to hide. To inhabit islands with their own rules, where we can die and be reborn.” Today’s feature by Bára Čápová explores the parallels between Deleuze’s utopia of desert islands and contemporary liminal space aesthetics. Her meditation is accompanied by illustrations by Andrea Sklepek Šafaříková, underscoring the mysterious atmosphere of once-crowded, now-empty environments.

Léa Porré’s fascination with transcending the same old ways of interpreting history finds expression in her 3D works and installations. Today, the London-based Belgian artist presents two of her recent projects, Arcana Arcorum and The Beginning of All Moist Things which, in her style, “experiment with 3D world-building as a tool to heal from our past, and future-forecast.”

There are only two scenarios for the future. In his philosophical essay, Becoming a Nuclear Ghost (Notes on the Non-Existence of Utopia), on the basis of postapocalyptic pop-culture visions, Martin Charvát constructs the outermost possibilities of social existence. Illustrated by Dominik Turan.

Visions of escaping civilization and technology for a simple life of manual labor have crept into many an artists’ dreams since the industrial revolution, but Alexandr Martsynyuk’s recent work explores the inevitable inescapability of automation even in a rustical, barebones existence. Join him today on a routine trip to the tomato allotments in his speculative spin on the post-apocalypse.

Tea Strazicic’s visual narrative goes hand in hand with the eponymous experimental story of a group of friends shedding their individuality in achieving a more genuine interconnection. Join this otherworldly troupe on their psychedelic-futuristic journey and perhaps you too will purge a part of yourself you no longer need.

If 'utopia' is the promise of four-day workweek for some thanks to even more intelligent automatisation of labour, why not let AI do the heavy creative lifting? Welcome to the opening article of our inaugural 2023 theme, TOWARDS TERRA. To match the Midjourney-generated illustrations accompanying the article, we've interviewed the talk-of-the-town app ChatGPT regarding its “opinions” on the future of various artforms

Custom-written for our current theme FULL OF DESIRE, Czech author Zuzana Trachtová presents a string of associative vignettes offering a glimpse into a heart-rending and organic trudge through a body and mind ravaged by heartbreak. Accompanied by illustrations by Eva Maceková. HE'S A DRUG, I'M A WITCH

Polish artist Marta Karkosa uses the medium of photography to explore contemporary women’s attitudes to their own bodies, promoting the beauty and uniqueness of every corporeal form. In today’s exclusive interview, Marta goes in-depth into her book Women Body Acceptance, which intimately explores these themes across several generations of women living in a strongly conservative nation-state.

Dangling over the chasm of jealousy, basking in the burning flames of scorn, sneering down at love from an intoxicating cloud, there lives Desire. Our third theme of 2022, FULL OF DESIRE, takes flight now – and no one is safe for the next three months.

Enjoy Zuzana Trachtová's slightly NSFW, candid and eye-opening collection of couples' direct observations of the minute or significant shifts in the romantic and sexual layers of their relationships after one of the partners gave birth. Accompanied by illustrations by Kim Zemene.

This one goes “right in the feels”. Pardon us but we couldn't help but stick our noses into your FAMILY BUSINESS. And now the consequence of our actions are haunting us all. The article is accompanied by a whimsically plushy animation by illustrator and animator Charlie Spies.

Daniel Drabek’s monsters are not for the sterile gallery wall: the Italian-Swiss visual artist’s creations find their home on posters, album covers, clothing and stickers, among other surfaces. Today, Daniel provides a glimpse into the role of spontaneously projecting memory into his art and reveling in the distortions that emerge.

“The current ideal is to conform and control, be part of a system or dominating force... you’re only relevant if you look a certain way.” In unbraiding the ropes learned through socialization, London-based multidisciplinary artist Rhiannon Davies’ collections weave inspirations spanning Celtic mythology, Fleetwood Mac and equestrian fashion to explore the contemporary notion of perfection.

What do a flock of starlings and generative design have in common? Why does chaotic movement fascinate and unsettle us at the same time? And how can we tell if we're watching a real video or a screensaver? In her article, Bára Čápová reflects on the similarities between the natural movement of animal flocks and herds and algorithmic digital images. Illustrations for the article were created by Jakub Bachorík.

Are human beings not insular individuals but teeming interspecies colonies of assorted tissues and bacteria? Czech intermedia artist Nela Pietrová links visual art with research practice to find a deeper understanding of the queer nature of metamorphosing (co-)dependent substances and, ultimately, herself.