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# SWARM MAG

magazine

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## Posts

- [Archive](https://swarmmag.com/archive/)
- [PAF & PINOCCHIO PARADOX](https://swarmmag.com/words/paf-pinocchio-paradox/) - Last year’s theme of PAF, diaries and the act of journaling itself, nudged me to write quite the lengthy and meandering text, concerning the festival, observational randomness, unrelated happenstances, and the city of Olomouc at large. This year, I feel like being more succinct and going to the marrow of the matter. The programming crew
- [THE LOOMS OF LANDSCAPES](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-looms-of-landscapes/) - Your paintings seem to emerge from the meeting point between outer landscape and inner perception. How do you find the balance between observation and introspection in your process? I would say that I create a free visual assemblage and look for elements that appeal to me. The relationships between them are rather lyrical and intuitive.
- [PUT FASHIONCLASH ON YOUR MAP](https://swarmmag.com/words/put-fashionclash-on-your-map/) - Taking place at several locations throughout Maastricht, the FASHIONCLASH Festival provided a breathing space for an upcoming generation of designers, artists, and performers from the Netherlands and over 25 countries worldwide. Attendees could choose to spend their time browsing venues open for the entire duration of the festival (the main Collective Movements exhibition, Class of
- [THE STUBBORN PRESENCE OF THINGS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-stubborn-presence-of-things/) - Your work often balances between precision and play, clean forms and whimsical characters. How do you navigate the line between control and spontaneity in your creative process? My process is pretty down to earth. Once I decide an idea is worth pursuing, I block out a loose composition on my iPad, dropping flat blobs of
- [THE HORDE IS UPON US](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-horde-is-upon-us/) - I´m asking you God by HORDE You told me eight years ago that Reykjavik is “the city of fear”, which was supposed to be a joke, as nothing ever happens there, according to you. Is that still true? When we were laughing at that remark, I was a teenager. We were listening to gangsta rap,
- [WHEN CLOUDS TALK](https://swarmmag.com/art/when-clouds-talk/) - Your early works are deeply rooted in nature and rural life, while your recent paintings drift toward intangible motifs like clouds and sky. Do you see this as a form of departure or rather a return to something more internal, perhaps spiritual? I guess you can say that my recent paintings are more focused on
- [ THE ATTRACTIVITY OF FEAR](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-attractivity-of-fear/) - About the collection LADO BOKUCHAVA — SPRING / SUMMER 2026 For the Spring/Summer 2026 season, LADO BOKUCHAVA presents a womenswear collection inspired by the visual tension of horror cinema and the gothic subculture of the 1980s. The collection reinterprets the language of classic eveningwear through deconstruction, exploring the contrast between sophistication and unease, elegance and
- [COLLECTIVE CURRENTS](https://swarmmag.com/words/collective-currents/) - This is an approach to an umbrella theme we haven’t done before; but we are not just recapitulating, we are diving into our existing cache of creative kin and, in doing so, also looking inwards, reflecting. Over the following months, we will highlight the individuals, initiatives, studios, and groups that merge disciplines and voices
- [SCULPTED PORTALS](https://swarmmag.com/art/sculpted-portals/) - In your new work Paradiso Novo, you speak about our alienation from nature – that we curate it, rather than truly live it. What first drew you to this theme? Yes, as beings born into a pre-packaged world of paved suburbs and supermarkets, we’re losing nature’s authentic face. Raised on nature documentaries with Alfréd Strejček’s
- [LUNCHMEAT FESTIVAL: SEE YOU DANCIN’](https://swarmmag.com/art/lunchmeat-festival-see-you-dancin/) - The festival’s week-long line-up is always a culmination of a lasting gathering practice: the research, recommendations, and connection-making are a years-long process. The main Thursday-to-Sunday programme of Lunchmeat Festival takes place in the brutalist amphitheatre of the National Gallery of Prague’s Veletržní Palác, with the usual Monday addition of CAMP, the Centre for Architecture and
- [BUILDING ON RUINS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/building-on-ruins/) - What first drew you into fashion, and what keeps you going? I first stepped into fashion because of something as simple and magical as the Barbie movies I watched as a child – I remember the princess who drew on herself with a brush, and a glowing dress instantly appeared. I started learning to draw
- [EVERYTHING IN FLUX](https://swarmmag.com/art/everything-in-flux/) - Your work floats between fluid, surreal, and otherworldly. What draws you to hybrid, alien forms? Is it a rebellion against realism? No, it’s not a rebellion against realism. I’m not trying to escape reality, but to shift how we look at it. What we consider “real” is often just what we’re used to. Through hybrid
- [BLUE GOLD](https://swarmmag.com/editorial/blue-gold/) - The GILDED RULE got an oceanic makeover. The Little Mermaid discovered Y2K vibes and started listening to Mazzy Star. We invite you into a little slice of a world where Lady of the Lake slid the famed Excalibur under the bed for a moment and brunched with the Queen of the Lake. As you rush
- [GLITTER CUTS](https://swarmmag.com/art/glitter-cuts/) - Your works emerge from melting, grinding, casting – almost like forensic rituals. What do these manipulations of synthetic materials allow you to say or feel that more traditional methods cannot? I like working with physical objects such as plastic or rubber figurines, beads, glass Christmas baubles, anatomical models, stuffed animals, and so on, because I’m
- [THE COLOUR OF STORRVELDI](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-colour-of-storrveldi/) - What brought you to fashion, and what keeps you going? An urge to world-build. For me, I have always been hyper visual and creative. Not only bound to one medium, I sought an unquenchable urge to communicate the rich inner world I have with the real world. I would write, paint, sketch and dance as
- [PALE BLUE DOT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/pale-blue-dot/) - You’re studying photography – what do you enjoy most about it? And on the other hand, what do you struggle with? What I enjoy most about studying photography is probably all the creativity and ingenuity I need to use in order to make my work look the way I imagined or sketched it. That applies
- [BREAKS AND BIRDSONGS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/breaks-and-birdsongs/) - You’ve described your music as bridging club culture and contemporary composition. What made you start blending electronic dance music with classical structures? I wouldn’t say something made me do it – it’s just the way I do things as a composer. I was always interested in both electronic dance music and contemporary experimental music. During
- [THE POETRY OF METAMORPHOSIS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-poetry-of-metamorphosis/) - Your work merges Baroque tenebrism, Christian iconography, and pop culture. What draws you to these seemingly contrasting influences? I base my work on references and quotations. I use symbolism and themes which had been present in art for centuries, but I reach for them and translate them in my own way. This symbolism is like
- [LIQUID ARCHAEOLOGY](https://swarmmag.com/photography/liquid-archaeology/) - You’ve spoken in other media about your love for observation of water, of nature, of quiet details. How does stillness or slowness influence your creative rhythm? It’s essential for me to take moments to decompress. I live a quite packed life but the empty moments feel very empty. Sometimes I don’t leave the house for
- [ALL STUDIUM NO PUNCTUM](https://swarmmag.com/interview/all-studium-no-punctum/) - Island Mint became a band almost three years ago and the sound has changed with each release. How would you characterize this trajectory, what motivates the changes? It started with a very psychedelic, guitar-oriented sound, a sort of psych-rock inspired by the Australian music scene on the Island Mint EP. The Irreality album shifted this
- [JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF MOST](https://swarmmag.com/photography/jack-of-all-trades-master-of-most/) - You’re studying photography – what do you enjoy most about it? And on the other hand, what do you struggle with? What I enjoy most about studying photography is probably all the creativity and ingenuity I need to use in order to make my work look the way I imagined or sketched it. That applies
- [FIERCE ONE MOMENT, TENDER THE NEXT](https://swarmmag.com/interview/fierce-one-moment-tender-the-next/) - Some might feel you just recently emerged on the scene, but you’ve been an active artist since 2002 and probably beyond. Do you feel like your current fame is suddenly more intense? Yes, I’ve been doing theatre around Europe – and beyond – for over 20 years. But when I started writing songs and touring
- [MANY HANDS TOGETHER](https://swarmmag.com/words/many-hands-together/) - There’s always a temptation to lean on what is “real” in album reviews; the bricks and mortar, instruments, forms. ‘So Afraid To Show I Care’ deserves a different approach; with the emotional underbellies of the performers lying so exposed through the act of their craft, the album’s colour and texture speak more to an emotional
- [A DISSAPPEARING STATUE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-dissappearing-statue/) - Let’s begin with the title of the collection—JNN D’RC feels cryptic, almost like a code. What does it signify for you? Jeanne d’Arc is a well-known historical figure; her story has been told by many, but never by herself. Apparently, she is a witch, a warrior, a saint, a rebel, a feminist, a devout Catholic,
- [AN ALTAR TO DIFFERENCE](https://swarmmag.com/art/an-altar-to-difference/) - Your paintings seem to hum with the voices of forgotten proverbs, fractured myths, and ancient echoes. When collecting these stories, what tells you a fragment is worth keeping? Do they come to you as whispers, or do you seek them out deliberately? They definitely come to me as whispers – but it’s also true that
- [PLEASE, SIR, NO MORE MATCHA](https://swarmmag.com/editorial/please-sir-no-more-matcha/) - I woke up. The first thing I noticed before I opened my eyes was the assault of all the delicious smells on my nostrils. I found myself on a strange bed in a strange room I’ve never seen before. The window was open, and the crisp spring sun was filtering in. After a while, a
- [BETWEEN SPELL AND CONFESSION](https://swarmmag.com/art/between-spell-and-confession/) - Your practice weaves together painting, sculpture, poetry, and myth into a personal cosmology. In the context of our current theme Gilded Lure, how do you perceive beauty as a seductive force? Can enchantment be a form of camouflage… or a trap? I see my practice as migrating between the beautiful and the not beautiful –
- [IN DEFENSE OF SLOWNESS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/in-defense-of-slowness/) - Your creative path didn’t begin in fashion – it started in the lab. What did the world of pathology offer you that fashion eventually replaced or redefined? I started in pathology because of my analytical and curious nature. I’ve always loved experimenting. But I quickly realised that working in the lab was serious business. It
- [THE ‘SACRED TO UNHOLY’ PIPELINE](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-sacred-to-unholy-pipeline/) - Your work merges Baroque tenebrism, Christian iconography, and pop culture. What draws you to these seemingly contrasting influences? I base my work on references and quotations. I use symbolism and themes which had been present in art for centuries, but I reach for them and translate them in my own way. This symbolism is like
- [TEMPLE OF SECULARISM](https://swarmmag.com/art/temple-of-secularism/) - Your work delves into the phenomenon of post-truth and the mechanisms behind it. What initially drew you to this subject, and how do you translate these abstract concepts into visual art? Post-truth caught my interest as a mechanism for creating alternative versions of reality – often more compelling and persuasive than facts themselves. At first,
- [FRAGILITÀ NUOVA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/fragilita-nuova/) - What drew you to jewellery? Was there a moment when you realised that jewellery was your true form of expression?I’ve been fascinated by jewellery since childhood – I was like a little magpie. Professionally, I only decided to launch my own brand when I began to feel frustrated by the current state of Czech fashion
- [FERTILE CLASH AREAS](https://swarmmag.com/art/fertile-clash-areas/) - You describe war as a “deadly game” set against the backdrop of nature—both a silent witness and a medium between life and death. What role does the landscape play in your compositions beyond setting the scene? My practice is a constant battle of many opposing aesthetics and it is not a homogeneous imaging. Therefore, I
- [HEAD ORBIT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/head-orbit/) - Your collection UNIVERSUM 22 is deeply rooted in memory and personal history. Can you share what specific memories influenced its creation? The collection should be “read between the lines.” My work contains both hidden and explicit symbols. Each of us perceives the surrounding reality differently – it’s our experiences and memories that form the foundation
- [GLITTER AS DECEPTION](https://swarmmag.com/art/glitter-as-deception/) - Your work intricately weaves medieval iconography with contemporary themes, creating a dialogue between past and present. What draws you to explore these historical visual narratives, and how do you see them resonating in today’s cultural landscape? Yes, I am largely fascinated by the timelessness of medieval iconography: the rich symbolism, spiritual depth, and precise craftsmanship
- [FIELDS OF UNREALITY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/fields-of-unreality/) - Chimera exists at the crossroads of the supernatural and the untamed. What was the initial spark behind this collection? The subject of surrealism came up during doing my research for my diploma. Most of my inspirations and thoughts while searching for a suitable topic for my collection were directed towards fields of unreality. In previous
- [GLIMMERS OF THE FAMILIAR](https://swarmmag.com/art/glimmers-of-the-familiar/) - Your work emerges from reading the news, filtering prevailing narratives into a vision of a dystopian present and future. How do you translate these overwhelming streams of information into visual art? I read and listen to the news every day, and look for words and phrases which spark new images that are unrelated to the
- [CONSTRICTION BEGETS LIBERATION](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/constriction-begets-liberation/) - A Journey into the Complexities of Body and Identity / A Dialogue Between Oppression and Liberation With Epitelio, Seghezzi dismantles the boundaries between masculine and feminine, blending them in a dance of subversion and irony. The collection challenges societal expectations of body and gender, delivering a powerful message in alignment with the brand’s vision. The
- [GILDED LURE](https://swarmmag.com/words/gilded-lure/) - There are at least three major theories on how gold became lodged in our Earth’s crust. Two of them speak of extraterrestrial origins. The pursuit of this malleable, ductile and noble metal has significantly shaped the fate of many past civilisations and cultures—and its ownership remains a showcase of status. However, ‘all that glitters is
- [A DREAM OF THE MACHINE](https://swarmmag.com/advertorial/a-dream-of-the-machine/) - After “A Report to an Academy,” you are once again returning to Franz Kafka’s work. What draws you to his writing, and why did you choose to adapt “In the Penal Colony” this time? Both A Report to an Academy and In the Penal Colony are short stories and both are deeply concerned with looking
- [THE WOMAN SHALL NOT SPEAK FIRST](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-woman-shall-not-speak-first/) - Let’s start with the influences behind your collection. Polish and Japanese cultures may seem worlds apart, yet both share deep traditions, rich symbolism, and a strong connection to craftsmanship. As a young Polish designer, what parallels or contrasts between these cultures intrigued you the most, and how did they shape the Forbidden Body? At the
- [THE MORPHOLOGY OF RÉENCHANTEMENT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-morphology-of-reenchantement/) - Your design takes many of the principles of femininity and transforms them into new figurative forms. What does the female body mean to you nowadays? From your perspective, what are the challenges for the female body? The female body, for me, is not a fixed entity but a constantly evolving form—fluid, adaptable, and powerful. My
- [NEWFOUND PHANTOMS](https://swarmmag.com/art/newfound-phantoms/) - Your latest series, “Phantoms,” draws inspiration from symbolism, romanticism, and surrealism. What drew you to these artistic movements, and how do you reinterpret them in a contemporary context? These aesthetics attracted me for several reasons. It is a language that is capable of indirectly telling stories and building complex narratives, while still being open to
- [DECODING IRREALITY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/decoding-irreality/) - You describe your work as “irreality”. What does the concept mean to you, and how do you translate it into your visual storytelling? For me, irreality is a means to revealing hidden aspects of the human psyche. Reality offers understandable tools and functions, while irreality has entirely different rules, or none at all. Through it,
- [FROM SPIRITUALITY TO COMMODITY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/from-spirituality-to-commodity/) - Welcome back to Swarm Mag! We’re thrilled to have you with us again, especially after seeing your performance here in Prague. Let’s dive in. You’ve posed the question of whether finding your place in the world can replace the feeling of home. What’s your perspective on this? Having experienced evacuation from the war rather stoically,
- [PUTTING THINGS IN THEIR TRUE NAME](https://swarmmag.com/words/putting-things-in-their-true-name/) - Don’t think about the yellow lemon. That’s how it works in that head of ours… Miriam ponders the deep clutter in our heads. Like any other mess, it’s created either by the build-up and layering of things that haven’t been tidied up for a while or by a single, unpredictable event that can throw off
- [BORN 2 BE BORN AGAIN](https://swarmmag.com/art/born-2-be-born-again/) - Your artistic journey began in the French Pyrenean mountains and later evolved during your six years in Buenos Aires. How did these vastly different landscapes shape your approach to painting? I think my surroundings always influence my paintings. Elements I see in real life stimulate my creativity. In Buenos Aires, I was more into city
- [SO, WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENS AT PAF?](https://swarmmag.com/advertorial/so-what-exactly-happens-at-paf/) - INTRO ABOUT PAF 2024 The PAF Festival, Olomouc, Czech Republic, has been a key player and an internationally connected curatorial platform in the world of film animation and contemporary art for over two decades. The anticipated December edition (Dec 5-8) featured screenings, performances, installations, exhibitions and a packed accompanying programme, and brought together diverse art
- [SMARCH WORLD APPETIZER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/smarch-world-appetizer/) - Your work emphasizes storytelling through performance, installation, and wearables. How do you ensure that each medium complements and enhances the others? When we work on a project, whether its main focus is performance, installation or wearables, we always work from a narrative. That can expand in all directions within our platform of textile explorations. Thanks
- [IMAGING THE EFFIGY](https://swarmmag.com/art/imaging-the-effigy/) - Can you tell us about your latest painting series and its title, “Scalps”? I have named my latest painting series “Scalps.” I paint them with an airbrush, a technique derived from my long practice as a painter rooted in graffiti. The subjects of my paintings are human images. One might get the impression that I
- [ART OF IMMORTALITY](https://swarmmag.com/art/art-of-immortality/) - Your work touches on themes such as memory, mortality, and the passage of time. What inspired you to explore these concepts in your art? I have always believed that preserving memories of loved ones, important places, or events in our minds is a kind of mysterious power through which we can grant them immortality. I’ve
- [EXTRACTING THE ANALOGUE](https://swarmmag.com/art/extracting-the-analogue/) - How do you create the colour palettes for your pieces? Is it something you just instinctively know? Colour palletes come from many places. I often take inspiration from other peoples paintings – sometimes from paintings of the past, sometimes from things I see on Instagram. I also take cues from reference photos. Other times, vintage
- [BUTTON AND LOOP](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/button-and-loop/) - Your approach is very characteristic of its utilitarian principle based on modularity and versatility. Can you describe how you process the patterns and why? My approach indeed embraces a strong utilitarian principle centred on modularity. The designs prioritise versatility, functionality, and sustainability. By employing a modular system, each piece can be reconfigured, adapted or combined
- [CONNECTION SEEKERS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/connection-seekers/) - How do you view the relationship between fashion and performance, with garments serving as channels for expression in live acts? I believe fashion and performance go hand in hand. Fashion was made to be fluid, especially around a body where movement is constantly happening. The expression of a garment can add deeper meaning to a
- [PERSONAL MYTHOLOGIES](https://swarmmag.com/art/personal-mythologies/) - Coming from backgrounds in 2D animation and tattoo art, what inspired you to focus on bodies in motion and their connection to inner, symbolic images? My work in 2D animation was focused on backgrounds and cameras, which is called layout. It is a beautiful medium, with so many possibilities, but it is intense work where
- [EMBODIED REMEMBRANCE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/embodied-remembrance/) - Poland is a land of deep traditions. As a Polish designer, how does your work navigate between honouring heritage and challenging it? As a designer, I try to find a balance between respect for Polish tradition and the desire to introduce new, bold solutions. Poland has many unique traditions that are a great base for
- [BLUE SOUL](https://swarmmag.com/art/blue-soul/) - Growing up in Moldova and recently moving to Paris, how have these environments influenced your approach to art? Has your relocation changed your perspective or artistic style in any way? My relocation brought a profound transformation, changing my life in a radical way. This experience has helped me better understand the nuances and complexity of
- [PISTA HORROR](https://swarmmag.com/art/pista-horror/) - You studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts for several years. How did your experience there shape your approach to art, and what influences from that time are still present in your work today? The first two years at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts were difficult. I was accepted into the painting program,
- [ESCAPING THROUGH BLISS](https://swarmmag.com/music/escaping-through-bliss/) - “Bliss” draws its name and inspiration from the iconic Windows XP wallpaper. How did this image shape the narrative and aesthetic vision of the performance? It’s an image that represents nostalgia for desktop computers of the early 2000s, when computing was supposed to give us more free time to relax, rather than – as it
- [THE JOURNEY OF ITAR PAS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-journey-of-itar-pas/) - You have a signature 3D aesthetic. How would you describe your style to someone who can’t see? Everything I do is visual, which makes it hard to translate into words, but I can say that what I do is self portrait in a hybrid technique using photography and 3D to manipulate the reality that the
- [THE ABSURDITY OF EVERYDAY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-absurdity-of-everyday/) - Coming from a small village in Groningen, how did your rural upbringing influence your decision to pursue art, especially after initially studying history? Hard to say in hindsight. I think the reason I pursued art was partially because people told me I was good at drawing, as happens to a lot of people who end
- [SPECULATIVE MORPHOLOGY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/speculative-morphology/) - Let’s begin with your inspiration. Looking at your portfolio, it’s clear that you’re drawn to exploring otherworldly dimensions, particularly themes like alien life and the cycle of creation and destruction. Can you share with us your primary source of inspiration and how these explorations shape the vision behind your collections? Most of the fashion collections
- [MYTH, MADNESS & MELANCHOLY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/myth-madness-melancholy/) - Your work spans multiple traditional art forms, from graphite drawings to ink paintings and printmaking. How do you choose the right medium for your projects? When I don’t work for a client, I just follow my instinct. I love to be able to work on my personal projects wherever I am and so the simpler
- [CONSCIOUS LYCANTHROPY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/conscious-lycanthropy/) - In your master’s thesis The Body is Here and I’m Looking at You, which accompanies this clothing collection, you describe your inspiration in the poems of Arthur Rimbaud and your gradual discovery of a deeper self. How does your knowledge reflect in your work? So far, all the works speak somehow about me and my
- [FEELING BLUE](https://swarmmag.com/words/feeling-blue/) - A little, somewhat cold hand tentatively slides out from a fluffy coat sleeve and gently but unshakingly rests on your shoulder, pressing lightly, turning you around. That’s us – asking you to join us on our autumnal/wintery journey. We will fold into layers of rich indigo, cobalt, bleu royal, ultramarine and envelop you in the
- [INFERNO](https://swarmmag.com/music/inferno/) - Bill Vorn and Louis-Philippe Demers have produced robotic artworks since the early 90s, achieving more than 30 projects that have been presented at major international venues and festivals of new media and electronic arts. Inferno, which just took place at ARCHA+ in Prague as a part of the Lunchmeat Festival, is an interactive dance performance
- [FASHION LOVES A GOOD CLOWN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/fashion-loves-a-good-clown/) - WHAT NOÉMI SAID ABOUT HER COLLECTION / The collection entitled “Have you ever been to a polkadot town?” presents a fictional world full of playful, fairytale-like immediacy, which I brought to the catwalk in the form of six polka-dot characters who are the inhabitants of the most unmissable polka-dot town. The straightforward visuals in the
- [ERNESTO'S TRAUMA TOYS](https://swarmmag.com/art/ernestos-trauma-toys/) - Ernesto, welcome back! Your last article on SWARM Mag has become the most viewed piece to date. How does it feel to know that your story resonates deeply with SWARM Mag readers? It feels super awesome to know that my work resonated with your readers! I’m so glad the message came across. In what ways
- [GENEROUS MISCHIEF](https://swarmmag.com/interview/generous-mischief/) - What led you to choose the pseudonym “Bessa” for your illustration work? Does it hold a special significance? At the very beginning of my illustration career, when I started publishing my first illustrations, I wasn’t very confident about myself. I decided to create an alter ego, which helped me to build my confidence as an
- [GOTTA BLEND IN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/gotta-blend-in/) - Your work is significant for extreme silhouettes, structures and unconventional connections between the body and textiles. Is your job still in fashion design or is it more about sculpture in soft form? Yes, much of my previous work consisted of exaggerating silhouettes and playing with the human form. I have a very playful approach to
- [UNEXPECTED EXISTENCE](https://swarmmag.com/art/unexpected-existence/) - Can you tell us about your journey as an artist and how you developed your interest in sculpture? I am interested in many mediums, it’s sometimes driving me crazy. I like how different mediums allow you to tell things in different ways. I view sculpture mostly as a scenography for my ideas or thoughts, but
- [BLESS THIS MESS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/bless-this-mess/) - If your creative duo had a signature catchphrase that encapsulated your approach to photography, what would it be? Bless this mess. Can you tell us about the creative vision that shaped your latest sweet-themed photo series? That intoxicating taste of the night. That one exact. Specific. Night. When the membranes touched. For the first time.
- [SANATORIUM SONORUM](https://swarmmag.com/music/sanatorium-sonorum/) - Natálie, tell us about the concept of the Sanatorium Sonorum festival. The first Sanatorium Sonorum ever will take place on 24th August 2024 in Pěčice near Mladá Boleslav and it’s going to be a unique listening experience. All of the artists made their pieces exclusively for our festival and they will probably never be presented
- [MODERN WORKING GIRL](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/modern-working-girl/) - Let’s start at the beginning. What sparked your interest in fashion design? It started in elementary school, where I discovered that designing dresses could actually be a job but the reality is far more distant than I dreamed. Yet, I still stick with it and try to keep going. How would you say your designs
- [FLUID NEON](https://swarmmag.com/art/fluid-neon/) - You’ve been involved in numerous antiwar projects and created a webcomic reflecting daily life during these challenging times. How do you approach the balance between activism and art in your work, and what message do you hope to convey to your audience? In recent years, an unspeakable amount of pain has affected people worldwide.
- [WHEN YOU JUST HAVE SOOO MANY FEELINGS](https://swarmmag.com/art/when-you-just-have-sooo-many-feelings/) - What inspired you to pursue a career as an artist and illustrator? I didn’t have to decide to pursue it; it’s something that’s always been a part of me. I have this constant urge to create and imagine visual things. My brain continuously generates shapes and colours, often in combination with characters. I don’t have
- [THE LEXICON OF ETERNITY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-lexicon-of-eternity/) - Alexmonhart presents The Lexicon of Eternity – a collection of six distinctive unisex perfumes that can be layered with each other. Each of us has multiple personalities within us; their desires, contradictions, and inner conflicts. They all seek inspiration and a glimpse of eternity in different things, from rituals to raves or dreaming. The Lexicon
- [YOU ARE A SNACK AND A STAR](https://swarmmag.com/interview/you-are-a-snack-and-a-star/) - Growing up in Germany, a multicultural country, has influenced your work positively. How do you incorporate diverse influences into your illustrations, and how does fostering connections with creatives from around the world enrich your artistic practice? Yes, I believe you could say growing up in Germany, surrounded by its multicultural richness, has been a good
- [COME FOR POHODA, STAY FOR THE VALUES](https://swarmmag.com/music/come-for-pohoda-stay-for-the-values/) - The Slovak word ‘pohoda’ can be loosely translated as ‘chill’ or ‘contentment’ and the very first Pohoda took root already in 1997. What was the impulse that made you go for it? We had disbanded as a band called Bez ladu a skladu and were wondering what to do with the cultural scene in Slovakia.
- [LET'S JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT](https://swarmmag.com/art/lets-just-have-fun-with-it/) - Can you share a memory or experience that inspired your career as a ceramics designer? Because I have done ceramics from an early age, I cannot pinpoint a certain moment where I became aware that ceramic design was my calling. It was just always there with me. After almost two decades of getting to know
- [A COZY SPOT TO UNWIND](https://swarmmag.com/art/a-cozy-spot-to-unwind/) - Your work is often described as playful and fresh, with a distinctive style that combines 3D illustrations and motion graphics. What initially drew you to this medium, and how do you continue to find inspiration within the digital realm? I turned to digital mediums as a means separating myself from my work a little. Doing
- [STAY FUNKY AND KEEP IT CHUNKY](https://swarmmag.com/art/stay-funky-and-keep-it-chunky/) - How does your cultural background influence the themes and narratives you explore in your digital worlds? How did growing up in post-Soviet Belarus influence your art? Being from a post-Soviet cultural space is quite an intense experience. I was born almost immediately after the Soviet Union’s demise, and I grew up during the rise of
- [THE IMMORTALISTS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-immortalists/) - Let’s start at the beginning of your career. What sparked your interest in fashion design? My passion for fashion design was kindled in childhood, with my fondness for drawing and dressing up Barbie dolls. It became my first foray into ‘fashion’. The clothes that came with each Barbie always intrigued me, sparking my imagination about
- [IN A DROP](https://swarmmag.com/interview/in-a-drop/) - Your journey as an artist has taken you from Italy to the UK and back again, with a focus on animation and illustration. Can you share with us how your cultural background and education in both countries have influenced your artistic style and approach? My passion for art manifested itself during the years spent in
- [CHARACTER DESIGN HAUTE-COUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/character-design-haute-couture/) - What sparked the interest in fashion design? Since I was a child, I knew that I would pursue a career in creative industries but I had several ideas and changed them more than once. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I came up with something that had actually been obvious for a
- [ABSINTHE BUBBLEGUM](https://swarmmag.com/interview/absinthe-bubblegum/) - Your work spans different mediums, from digital illustration to spray painted murals, and now even Riso printing. What attracts you to each medium, and how does your creative process differ with each? The thing that attracts me most is the efficiency of the medium for whatever the task. Spray paint is great for getting a
- [HEALING BLOOMS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/healing-blooms/) - Let’s start at the beginning of your career. What sparked your interest in creating rugs as artistic expression? I started tufting at the beginning of the pandemic during lockdown. I no longer had access to my ventilated art studio and could not oil paint in my small London flat, especially with three curious animals. I
- [INNOCENCE GREETS MISCHIEF](https://swarmmag.com/interview/innocence-greets-mischief/) - Your illustrations look often a “bit disturbing but in a friendly and cute way.” What draws you to this unique aesthetic, and how do you balance your work’s dark and whimsical elements? The juxtaposition of innocence and mischief for me creates an intriguing contrast. It allows me to embrace the multifaceted nature and express different
- [COUCOU TCHOUTCHOU](https://swarmmag.com/interview/coucou-tchoutchou/) - Your artistic journey started from unconventional experiences like being a plasterer, fakir, and punk singer. How have they influenced your artistic style and approach? My first job, the only one I learned at school, was plastering, which taught me how to shoot straight video without using the bubble level, and most importantly, that it wasn’t
- [MULTIVERSE ENTOMOLOGY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/multiverse-entomology/) - Your artwork delves into fantastical realms and parallel universes, populated by surreal creatures, “bugs”. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind these creations and what they represent to you? The bug has always been a reflection of the self, usually in a very honest way, occasionally in a weird and embarrassing way. In
- [SUGAR RUSH](https://swarmmag.com/words/sugar-rush/) - We invite you to indulge in a sensory explosion, an overdose of vibrant hues and sugar-coated emotions. Get seated in the Catbus for an exhilarating journey through a world drenched in pastels. We suggest finding a comfy spot and letting your mouth water, no one is looking, we promise. In the coming months, we will
- [THE ROOTS OF TASTE COLLECTION](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-roots-of-taste-collection/) - From the historic glassmaking region of Krosno, Poland emerges a captivating new collection that illuminates both heritage and sustainability – “The Roots of Taste”. This inspired line, accompanied by a spellbinding photo editorial by SWARM MAG, gives new life to vintage Jozefina Krosno glassware by transforming antique candelabras into functional candlesticks. Jozefina was founded in
- [FIND THE SPAWN POINT](https://swarmmag.com/art/find-the-spawn-point/) - Let’s start at the beginning of the AUSGANG Studio. What inspired you to form your creative duo and how did your collaboration begin? It’s hard to do complex work alone. You need a partner in crime. Both of us have a different background. Alex studied painting and I, Radovan, photography, and together we are creating
- [THEY HUNT FOR PREY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/they-hunt-for-prey/) - Let’s start at the beginning. What drew you two to explore fetish as a medium in your artwork? We can say that fetish is not just a medium in our artistic works but it’s the very beginning. It is the source of our collaborative creativity and its roots. We met and started communicating precisely based
- [LIFELONG IMMERSION](https://swarmmag.com/art/lifelong-immersion/) - When did you first start to discover your passion for art and what was the first medium you started working with? I think of passion as immersion and cultivating immersion. And that has probably always been there. Like when my brother and I would play video games when we were little, and instead of collecting
- [ALCHEMY OF THE SOUL](https://swarmmag.com/art/alchemy-of-the-soul/) - You say that the recurring elements that are starting to define your style are often described as “romantic mysticism.” Can you elaborate on what this term means and how it manifests in your artwork? “Romantic mysticism” was just one of the descriptions of my style that I’ve heard from people. They have also described it
- [DEATH AND VANITY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/death-and-vanity/) - How would you describe your style and what influences have shaped it on your creative journey? My artistic style is a fusion of various sources of inspiration. It incorporates gothic elements, aesthetically, and revolves around the themes of death and vanity. Some of my work bears resemblance to ritualistic artifacts, drawing from occult visual realms.
- [FOOTPRINTS OF EXISTENCE](https://swarmmag.com/art/footprints-of-existence/) - Your work delves into the intricate structures within the footprints of human presence and the marks we leave on the world. What initially sparked your fascination with exploring these imprints, and how has this exploration evolved over time? I would say that the fascination was always there. A desire to explore abandoned places. Houses, factories,
- [CASTING FOR POWER](https://swarmmag.com/interview/casting-for-power/) - Let’s start at the beginning. Can you share the inspiration behind starting the brand Metallum? Due to the fact that my family travels a lot, my mother has always had a lot of different antique, unusual and interesting traditional jewellery from different countries. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved playing in her
- [YELLOW LEAVES KID](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/yellow-leaves-kid-2/) - Can you delve deeper into the concept of “Yellow Leaves Kid” and its imaginative world? What inspired you to create a realm where weird creatures, flowers, and other beings come to life, and how do you see this world evolving in your future works? Is it escapism? Is it a god complex? I’m not sure,
- [LORE GENESIS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lore-genesis/) - “A star blitzballer, spirited and free, Cast into a tale, his destiny. A lightning bolt, fierce and resolute, Through chaos and strife, she finds the truth.” https://swarmmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-HUGUES-REEL.mp4 Let’s start at the beginning. What sparked your interest in fashion design? My journey into fashion design started after an awkward phase in my teenage years. Being of
- [WOOD WIDE WEB](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/wood-wide-web/) - TEXT ACCOMPANYING THE COLLECTION, WRITTEN BY SOLITUDE STUDIOS / Wood Wide Web focuses on the relationship of humankind with current technology, which represents the Status Quo, and upon our way of understanding the world retroactively on the basis of new technology. In this collection, we are working with the parallel between the human network of
- [FAIRY ENCYCLOPEDIA](https://swarmmag.com/interview/fairy-encyclopedia/) - Your recent work features enchanting illustrations of moth and butterfly fairies inspired by vintage scientific illustrations. Can you share more about your artistic process and what drew you to combine natural science, art, and fantasy in this way? When I was young, I wanted to be a scientist. I loved reading about how the world
- [BODY OF ABJECTION](https://swarmmag.com/art/body-of-abjection/) - Can you share a bit about your artistic background and how you found your way into multidisciplinary art, including ceramics, installation, painting, and photography? I was originally born and raised in China and then moved to Montreal, Canada for university. Right now, I’m doing an exchange study of Fine Art at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany.
- [JOURNEY TO ITHACA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/journey-to-ithaca/) - Can you share the story behind your latest Viaggio per Itaca collection? My graduate collection is a personal narrative that draws inspiration from my childhood memories spent in Italy and the captivating elements of nature, including mushrooms, moulds, and the seaside. Exploring the traditional construction of the crinoline underskirt, I take a bold and unconventional
- [WHAT COULD BE TOUCHED AND THAT BEYOND](https://swarmmag.com/art/what-could-be-touched-and-that-beyond/) - Diana, how do you balance control and unpredictability within your objects? In the initial stages of a new piece, I typically have a starting point—a material, a tactile sensation, or a shape that intrigues me. However, as the sculpture or painting evolves, it takes on a life of its own with its own will, energy,
- [DRYADS AND ENCHANTMENTS](https://swarmmag.com/art/dryads-and-enchantments/) - Dryaarisi / Dryaarisi is a short video poem exploring the motifs of detachment, memory, and the transformative power of myth. The video portrays the story of a pilgriming dryad on a journey towards discovering unknown territories, moving through a landscape resembling a form of a polymorphic shelter. Guided by an ethereal voice, the dryad enters
- [ETHEREAL ALLURE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/ethereal-allure/) - Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you started as an illustrator and comics artist? It’s a bit tricky to pinpoint exactly when I started drawing as I’ve loved it since my early childhood. Anime played a significant role in fueling this passion, especially through shows like “Candy Candy” and “Sailor Moon”
- [THE CLAY OF LIFE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-clay-of-life/) - Let’s start at the beginning. What sparked your interest in ceramic design? I have always enjoyed ceramics, just like any other creative activity. For my tenth birthday I begged for a potter’s wheel and got it. But, I soon found out that spinning on it is not as easy as it may seem. My mother
- [UZUMAKI'S WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/uzumakis-world/) - What motivated you to create Uzumaki’s World? I created Uzumaki’s World to fill my desire to create a space for myself and my practice to thrive. I began laying down its roots during my time at the Royal College of Art. At the RCA, we were encouraged to find our own definition of fashion, so
- [RESTLESS MODERATION](https://swarmmag.com/art/restless-moderation/) - Tell us about your recent installation. What is its concept and what form did you use to express it? In the group exhibition Jacuzzi of Despair at Světova 1 gallery I worked with the theme of roots – connections – umbilical cords. I exhibited oil paintings on the wall along with objects pointing in different
- [DIVING WITH AMA](https://swarmmag.com/interview/diving-with-ama/) - How did you get started on this creative journey as a jewellery designer? I guess it was almost a coincidence. I wanted to study set design and costume design after high school until I stumbled upon graduate works from my current studio – K.O.V. at UMPRUM in Prague led, at that time, by Professor Eva
- [A TIME FOR EVERYTHING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-time-for-everything/) - The art world noticeably shapes your design. Could you discuss any specific artists who have had a significant impact on your design philosophy or creative thinking? I believe the importance of art is engraved in my work. Growing up, I used to attend art classes after school. I found myself in the basement, quiet, peaceful.
- [THE SHIFTING BODY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-shifting-body/) - Let’s start at the beginning. What was the inspiration behind launching an agender label, and how did that shape your brand philosophy? I’ve started working with agender garments sometime around the 5th anniversary of the label when I felt it was time to rebrand and define practices towards sustainability, and improve the unique point of
- [FIGURING AGE](https://swarmmag.com/video/figuring-age/) - Figuring Age portrays three elderly dancers from Budapest, aged between 90 and 101. The work consists of a durational performance and a two-channel video installation running simultaneously in separate spaces. In 2015, choreographer and performer Boglárka Börcsök had the chance to meet several elderly dancers in Budapest. Wanting to work with some of them and knowing that their
- [WARNING SIGNS OF A DYSTOPIC GARDEN](https://swarmmag.com/art/warning-signs-of-a-dystopic-garden/) - Where did the garden you create and inhabit come from? Did it appear overnight or did you have to discover it bit by bit? My family comes from the countryside and I spent a lot of time there as a child. I had a warm relationship with nature and always considered it a natural part
- [OUT FROM THE COLD](https://swarmmag.com/photography/out-from-the-cold/) - Your photographs are full of people of specific character captured in everyday life. What do you specifically look for in the streets, and what does a person have to do to get you to click the shutter? What are you communicating to the audience with these characters? I’m drawn to situations that have a clear
- [EXPERIENCING INOTA](https://swarmmag.com/words/experiencing-inota/) - Let’s get the basics out of the way first: the INOTA Festival took place between 31 August and 3 September 2023 about an hour from Budapest and near the scenic Lake Balaton, featuring more than 100 contemporary musicians, DJs and visual artists. It was a joint venture between the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture
- [MUTUAL FERTILIZATION](https://swarmmag.com/interview/mutual-fertilization/) - Your illustrations are known for conveying a message through catchy black humour. How do you approach the use of humour in your artwork, especially when dealing with themes of torture, death, and sensuality? I feel like sometimes I overthink and take everything too seriously. And so I have to relieve this with humor. I guess
- [FOUND AND TRANSFORMED](https://swarmmag.com/interview/found-and-transformed/) - What sources of inspiration have had the most significant impact on you? There is something magical in creating one-of-a-kind objects in general. And so is in discovering objects and textiles that were altered by various natural forces. The organic world with its patterns and cycles preoccupies most of my mind anyway, so I’m very drawn
- [THE FIRST STRAW](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-first-straw/) - The themes of motherhood, care, (eco)feminism, and the feminine principle are central to your work. How do you explore these themes, and what personal significance do they hold for you as an artist? In art, I process what touches me the most, irritates me, and makes me express myself, to create. What has inspired me
- [HӖRACHA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/hӗracha/) - How does contemporary art influence the design philosophy of the HӖRACHA brand? Contemporary art inspires us with its ability to create a strong emotional connection with the viewer and convey its message through this connection. We also appreciate the freedom that contemporary art provides in terms of choosing mediums and tools of communication with the
- [SOMETIMES... YOU GET REALLY EXCITED](https://swarmmag.com/interview/sometimes-you-get-really-excited/) - The themes of folk horror and fantasy play a significant role in your work. How do you approach these genres in an abstract and colorful manner, and what do you believe makes them conducive to poetic introspection? Folk stories feel like home, because they are the first we are told as children. It’s funny to
- [NOBLE MATERIALS](https://swarmmag.com/art/noble-materials/) - You don’t limit yourself to one material in your work. In addition to ceramics, you use various forms of textiles and natural materials. What rules do you follow when choosing materials for your works? Or is it the material itself that inspires you to create? Throughout the years, my artistic body of work has varied
- [THE HORROR-GLAMOUR AXIS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-horror-glamour-axis/) - As a young designer, what is your hope for the ever-evolving fashion scene moving forward? I don’t know if everyone would agree with me, but I bet everyone in the fashion industry could do something against the disastrous effect of fashion on nature. However, the reason why we can’t change a lot, I assume, is
- [ILLUSORY PARADISE](https://swarmmag.com/art/illusory-paradise/) - In your art, you discuss the anti-feminist aspects of portraying a fragile, beautiful, and innocent persona while overlooking less aesthetically pleasing aspects. How do you address these issues through your artwork, and what messages or statements are you trying to convey regarding feminism and aesthetics? There are various fairy tale/ethereal/core images appearing on the internet
- [THE MAGIC OF REALITY](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-magic-of-reality/) - Your transition from flat graphics to 3D and short 3D animations is intriguing. Can you share more about what inspired this shift and how it has influenced your creative process and storytelling in your artwork? The beauty of an image is that it can tell a story in any order you want. Like Rayuela by
- [ROOTS OF TASTE](https://swarmmag.com/words/roots-of-taste/) - You would be hard-pressed to find a person with a complete lack of feelings towards “nature”. Even the most staunch urbanites have a type of environment, landscape or natural phenomenon to make them stop in their tracks or gasp a tad. In my opinion, it would be difficult to find someone without at least a
- [IN SILK](https://swarmmag.com/art/in-silk/) - EXHIBITION The exhibition V hedvábí (In Silk) is a reinterpretation of the National Museum’s art collection from the original point of view of the artist Mark Ther. The exhibition’s theme is linked to his interest in the history of the city of Prostějov. He presents it to the viewer in the form of a new,
- [CALIBAN & THE WITCH(ES)](https://swarmmag.com/art/caliban-the-witches/) - SWARM interviews Céline Sabari Poizat The exhibition you’ve curated and were part of this year’s Prague Art Week festival is a tribute to Silvia Federici’s essay “Caliban and the Witch”. Could you elaborate on how Federici’s work has influenced the theme and content of this exhibition, and what message you hope to convey through it?
- [FINDING BASIS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/finding-basis/) - Since we are focusing on the theme SEED OF PEACE, let’s talk about harmony in design. What part of creating a jewellery collection evokes the most essential feelings of peace in you? Right off the bat, I think of the first time I ever feel the urge to start creating. Designing collections in regular seasons
- [VASE VISAGE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/vase-visage/) - As we focus on the SEED OF PEACE theme, let’s start our conversation by exploring the integration of harmony into design. Which part of shaping clay into a product evokes the strongest feelings of peacefulness for you? At this stage, I am honestly a little anxious and hopeful that the whole process will work out
- [IV.](https://swarmmag.com/video/iv/) - https://youtu.be/96Quz0xxqds?si=1vQdw-ehperGu8aZ The whole epic of SWARM MAG can be found in the ABOUT section on our website. Be sure to head over there to learn all about the amusing struggles and miracles that have happened on our journey so far. – BACKSTAGE MOMENTS Following up on our last year’s Family Business editorial.
- [MIOCHI’S DREAMS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/miochis-dreams/) - What sparked your interest in fashion? I never expected to get into fashion, I was 100% sure I was going to be a costume designer / maker. I do cosplay as a hobby, I learned to sew from making my costumes, and I fell in love with the art of making clothes. Going into junior
- [HOT GIRL UTOPIA](https://swarmmag.com/video/hot-girl-utopia/) - What do you want to bring to the world as a singer? A piece of the hot girl utopia that lives in my mind. In what ways do you believe staying true to yourself as an artist can be challenging in the era of social media dominance? Due to the rate at which people consume
- [EVERYONE’S GAUGUIN CAMPING](https://swarmmag.com/video/everyones-gauguin-camping/) - Growing up in Guadeloupe and Bordeaux, how have your background and the natural spaces of your upbringing influenced your artistic style and the themes you explore in your artwork? Having grown up in the Caribbean and in a very sunny region near the ocean in southwest France, my driving force is definitely the Sun!
- [MOISTURISED, IN MY LANE, THRIVING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/moisturised-in-my-late-thriving/) - How does the summer season inspire your artistic process? My designs are heavily inspired by the summer season. I’m so capitvated by lush green leaves and the textures I see growing in nature. Spending the last years living in Berlin, I’ve really felt the dark pit of despair when the clocks change for the winter
- [IRIDESCENT SYMBOLOGIES](https://swarmmag.com/art/iridescent-symbologies/) - The theme of your work is deeply rooted in symbology, archetypes, psychology (mainly Jungian), mythology, alchemy, and spirituality. How do these elements come together in your animations, and what messages or narratives do you aim to communicate to your audience through them? I believe in a certain universality of symbols, what Jung calls archetypes, so
- [TENUOUS PLEASURE](https://swarmmag.com/art/tenuous-pleasure/) - Your artworks portray a sense of euphoria, intoxication, and jubilation, contrasted with underlying insecurities. How do you convey this duality? For many, intoxication is first of all desirable. The feeling of being alive. Longing, escape from everyday life, excess, dopamine, wealth, power, consumption and the feeling of dolce vita. Such moments can be deceptive.
- [MY RARE ONE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/my-rare-one/) - You are a multidisciplinary artist who works with mediums such as sculpture, printmaking, experimental textile, clothing and object design. What is your favourite medium and why? It is hard to choose one as I really like having a multi-dimensional approach to making. This allows me to take an idea and test it and expand it
- [POST-POWERPUFF](https://swarmmag.com/interview/post-powerpuff/) - Your artworks are known for their vibrant colors and feminine energy. What draws you to these elements and how do they contribute to your work’s overall message or theme? The colors I work with have been part of my everyday life for a long time. I have long been interested in the theme of femininity.
- [JOLLY WITH A CHANCE OF ANXIETY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/jolly-with-a-chance-of-anxiety/) - As an animator and illustrator, you seem to focus on two main topics: creating “silly”, cartoon-inspired characters, and expressing yourself through abstract, psychedelic, and playful animations. How do these two aspects of your work complement each other, and how do they allow you to explore different aspects of your creativity? Character-centered images, animations, and designs
- [IF YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS, IT'S TIME FOR BOTOX](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/if-you-know-her-its-time-for-botox/) - How does the summer season inspire your artistic process? That’s a good question. I guess, during this time, I’m drawn to vibrant and saturated colour palettes. Last year around this time, I started to work on a project inspired by the toy Polly Pocket, which now has been realised. I would say summer allows me
- [HUGS, NOT DRUGS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/hugs-not-drugs/) - Please, introduce Creepy Teepee to the readers who may be unfamiliar with it. For how long has it been running now, and what led you to its founding? Creepy Teepee is not a typical festival, it is rather a three-day educational city event with a wide scope, aiming to present the most recent tendencies in
- [SEED OF PEACE](https://swarmmag.com/words/seed-of-peace/) - LET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAYLET’SPLAY . “A child sees everything in a state of newness,” reiterated Baudelaire in The Painter of Modern Life (1863), “genius is nothing more nor less than childhood regained at will.” . https://swarmmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/animation_01.mp4 Artists or art-adjacent creators who have heard the infamous and irritable phrase, “A child could’ve done that”, raise your hand. But if
- [LET'S MEET DOWNTOWN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lets-meet-downtown/) - As a freshly graduated fashion student, what do you want to bring to the world as a creator? Currently, I am busy with the creative work of my graduation collection. I really love nature, so sustainable development is an indispensable and important prerequisite in my creative process. Therefore, I have developed many highly sustainable craftsmanship
- [INVENTING THE SACRED](https://swarmmag.com/art/inventing-the-sacred/) - Vincent Snijder possesses a unique ability to seamlessly merge the realms of movies and gaming in his captivating creations. Drawing inspiration from a vast array of tools, techniques, workflows, and media, he constructs a creative toolkit that transcends traditional boundaries. Armed with software applications like Unreal Engine and ZBrush, he skillfully brings to life intricate
- [SYN-BIOMORPH](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/syn-biomorph/) - What do you seek to add to the world as a young and emerging designer? I’m actually quite simple when doing designs, I just enjoy being myself and working out something new that I have never seen before. If I am to be more specific, I would say creating a unique blend of a futuristic
- [TOMORROW'S HEIRLOOMS](https://swarmmag.com/editorial/tomorrows-heirlooms/) - Imagine your favourite mug, maybe it used to be your grandmother’s. Have you ever wondered about the history that led it to your morning tea? And have you thought about what the future might have in store for it once your paths diverge? Welcome to a world of extraordinary hidden nooks and crannies, drowning in
- [EREBO](https://swarmmag.com/design/erebo/) - Our ecosystem is on the verge of a sixth mass extinction caused by human activity. Due to gradual global warming, biosphere diversity is decreasing and the conditions for life on our planet will change irreversibly. These changes will be recorded in geological layers. The EREBO art installation exposes our apparent immortality. Structural, densely blown glass
- [FUGA FUTURA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/fuga-futura/) - As an artist, what is your goal in contributing to the world? I think I want to create an emotional connection between humans. Through my music, I try to share my inner worlds as honestly as possible. I want us to share meaningful moments that make us feel alive. With my art, I aim to
- [OIL NEBULA](https://swarmmag.com/art/oil-nebula/) - The exhibition “Oil Nebula” draws inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the concept of the abyss as a metaphor for societal collapse. Can you explain how the abyss is represented in your artworks and what message or feeling you aim to convey to viewers? In the epic, the abyss is described as a place
- [A POSSIBLE OTHER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-possible-other/) - First off, could you introduce yourself to those who may not be familiar with your work? I have a daily job linked to games, magic and the little things around us. Art is everywhere, so is magic. It’s a mutating work since it moves according to the mood. What do you seek to add to
- [FATAMORGANA](https://swarmmag.com/interview/fatamorgana/) - Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the creation of “Fatamorgana”? What led to the development of this unique concept? The inspiration for the performance came from my interest in Romanticism as an artistic phenomenon, which I have been developing for some years now. The starting point of Fatamorgana is the (romantic) landscape
- [THE OVERLOOKED EVERY DAY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-overlooked-every-day/) - What are the responsibilities of being a fashion designer these days? As a fashion designer, I challenge our daily dressing concept and add more possibilities to the idea of dressing, to make it more like an experience, a ceremony of every day. By giving more emotional meaning to garments, create fashion with vitality, to bring
- [LIMINAL SPACES: TERRA INCOGNITA](https://swarmmag.com/words/liminal-spaces-terra-incognita/) - Liminal spaces: Terra Incognita We always wanted a place to hide. To inhabit islands with their own rules, where we can die and be reborn. In her reflection, Bára Čápová looks for parallels between Deleuze’s concept of utopian islands and today’s visual trend of liminal spaces. The text is illustrated by Andrea Sklepek Šafaříková. The
- [A REFLECTION ON THE FUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-reflection-on-the-future/)
- [REIMAGINE & REDEFINE](https://swarmmag.com/words/reimagine-redefine/) - Arcana Arcorum In Arcana Arcorum, Léa Porré deploys a digital iteration of the Southway Pavilion, a hallucinated and phantasmagorical vision of Southway Studio’s domestic project. A temporal portal, leading to a dislocated, uchronic and vaporous dimension, is embodied through the projection, conceived as a video game cinematic. The immersive ensemble (summoning wallpapers and pseudo-baroque artefacts)
- [BECOMING A NUCLEAR GHOST](https://swarmmag.com/words/becoming-a-nuclear-ghost/) - Utopian visions are a defence mechanism against the inevitable apocalypse. No one ever learns, the world never changes, and it will burn. Fantasmic depictions of a future in which everyone lives in harmony are based on a tendency to close off, to create a monadological environment. Take, for example, Albert Robida’s novel Electric Life, written
- [ENDLING II: MNEMOSYNE UNIT-01](https://swarmmag.com/interview/endling-ii-mnemosyne-unit-01/) - Endling II Can you tell us a little bit about the story and setting of Endling’s second part? The second part of Endling is a walking simulator that explores the aftermath of a mass extinction. Taking place two decades after a virus eradicated all living creatures, the player takes the role of Mnemosyne Unit-01, a
- [GARMENT-WITHIN-GARMENT-WITHIN-GARMENT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/garment-within-garment-within-garment/) - What do you seek to add to the world as a conceptual designer? For a conceptual brand, it is crucial to walk its own path, sustain its own principles, and not to give up when it’s not working. At DZHUS, we strive to come up with innovations aimed at changing the very approach to consumption
- [MATERIALISED MESSENGERS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/materialised-messengers/) - Let’s start big. What do you seek to add to the world as an artist? Artists are paid to think about differences in an organic, beautiful way – the work I do is often based on an otherworldly aesthetic of possibilities – and the theme is often perception itself. Hyperreality when done right, the act
- [AIRBREATH](https://swarmmag.com/words/airbreath/) - In my mind, I always thought hard work, sweat on my forehead, and skin peeled on my hands with clay under my nails that cannot be removed with the most precise manicure would always feed me. I’ve never longed for a life in a large community where I would have a nicely padded ergonomic chair
- [INSIDE JOB](https://swarmmag.com/art/inside-job/) - Can you tell us about your artistic background, how the two of you met and decided to work together as an artistic duo? We met almost 13 years ago and at the beginning we were mainly involved in the alternative graffiti scene. At that time the shared interest in exploring avant-garde aesthetics brought us to
- [YET AGAIN, GOD'S DEAD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/yet-again-gods-dead/) - What do you seek to add to the world as a designer? I believe that not only designers but all creatives have an obligation to contribute our vision and our ideas to the world. Tell stories that inspire, make humanity dream, and help progress. In our hands, we have the future of many other generations
- [PLES SOBJE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/ples-sobje/) - Jan Smejkal – Fashion and Footwear Design Studio / designed for DJ Silva Did you design the corset specifically for your personality? The corset served primarily to complement the overall visual of the look DJ Silva was wearing. It was part of my bachelor thesis – BALLROOM. We also planned to create a crown instead
- [BUOYANT BIOTA](https://swarmmag.com/art/buoyant-biota/) - Buoyant Biota On the border of imagination and reality, as well as on the border of our and other worlds, there is a secret place for what apparently doesn’t exist but easily could. The creatures that inhabit it form silent alliances, perhaps so they are not so lost in the vast universe, perhaps they know
- [SPIKY MIMICRY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/spiky-mimicry/) - Gregory, please, tell us more about your past. When did you start your design career? My career in fashion first started as a professional makeup artist of 7 years, creating makeup looks for shows, magazines, music videos, celebrities and editorials. During the past 4 years, I have focused on working as a costume designer as
- [BIOLOXURY ERA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/bioloxury-era/) - How did you get into fashion design, and why was it something you were drawn to? Fashion design has always been something I was naturally drawn to since very young age, at 3 or 4 years old. I used to spend a lot of time with my grandma and we played out portal-travelling galaxy games,
- [ALL THE HIDDEN THINGS](https://swarmmag.com/video/all-the-hidden-things/) - Can you tell us about your background and how it has influenced your creative work? I’m originally from Canada and I moved to Berlin 6.5 years ago. I come from a multi-cultural background and was brought up with Chinese, Indian, and Anglican inputs. I was in school for almost 7 years and completed university programs
- [TRAPPING CONTRAPTIONS](https://swarmmag.com/art/trapping-contraptions/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Objects and collages presented in this exclusive article for SWARM Mag are a follow-up of my diploma thesis, ‘Gadget Tools’, in which I have created a hypothetical future office accessorized with beautiful new devices designed to make your life easier but also, in fact, to control you. They appear very
- [COSMIC PLANTA](https://swarmmag.com/music/cosmic-planta/) - Project Description Cosmic Planta is the story of a planet in a completely different galaxy that has not yet been discovered. Only our green friends live on the planet; plants and trees. After a special asteroid from outer space lands on this green planet, everything changes… The liquid that flows through the asteroid gives the
- [BRIGHT HORIZONS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/bright-horizons/) - Could you introduce yourself to those who may not be familiar with your work? My name is Amanda R. Teske, known professionally in the art world as Tesxe. I focus my efforts as a designer around product design and engineering, AI tech and integration, health and wellness biohacking, and biomimetic research and development. I was
- [VERMILLION](https://swarmmag.com/words/vermillion/) - 23:03 Six Heads Six heads, five slender + one tiny body, frantically prepared to leave Box-APT n2, the one with a balcony. Without any decision or prior planning they ravaged — in and out of rooms, a scramble of fashion, wax, chems and devices, lost, called for, found, and lost again. This was the typical
- [MUSHROOM KINGDOM](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/mushroom-kingdom/) - Martina, when did you first start designing jewellery? I started making jewellery when I was eleven or twelve, slowly progressing from making handmade Fimo and beaded jewellery to making resin jewellery and finally working with precious materials. The design and making process changed with each new learnt technique but the primary inspirations and aesthetic stayed
- [A DOMESTICATED ANOMALY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-domesticated-anomaly/) - Constantinos Panayiotou, the brand’s founder, originally from Cyprus but now living and working in London, was kind enough to share some insights with us in an exclusive interview. Enjoy it below. P. s. in Constantinos’ words, Liger is a hybrid between a tiger and a lion. It’s an abomination, a monstrosity that shouldn’t exist. What
- [THE ADAPTASI CYCLE<strong>: </strong>HANABA](https://swarmmag.com/video/the-adaptasi-cycle-hanaba/) - Hanaba is the story of a hypothetical living being in an alternate future. Hanaba lives in a place similar to a clinic or laboratory; a kind of new cave with celestial analogies, totally isolated between rooms of aseptic medical constitution and surrounded on the outside by an uninhabited and fertile environment where time seems to
- [BIOMIMICRY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/biomimicry/) - What do you seek to add to the world as an artist? I think AI images should add things to the world that could almost not be recreated by using any other traditional medium, and to really add uniqueness. I want to create images and pieces that look so real that they could fool people
- [OUTRUN ACCELERATION](https://swarmmag.com/interview/outrun-acceleration/) - What is the main storyline of your work and how can people approach it? I navigate between different stories often linked to a surreal science fiction universe. Currently, my work is largely based on two central axes. One is a rather abstract representation of my themes, the other a figurative line that binds one or
- [FRONT RUNNER](https://swarmmag.com/words/front-runner/) - This time, we’re fascinated by the global cult of bodies. How certain ones are praised and lavishly paid for the special way they move. How the muscles play in a perfect unison to blow the competition and the jury away by creating elaborate movements or reaching a line on the ground faster than other bodies.
- [EVERY THING MUTANT](https://swarmmag.com/art/every-thing-mutant/) - ABYSSAL SEEKER (2021) [DEMERSAL ZONE] https://vimeo.com/540755432 Abyssal Seeker depicts a slow, aquatic journey to a fictional brine lake at the bottom of an unnamed ocean. Protagonists float in and out of the story, semi-fictionalised versions of invertebrates, hybridised and constantly shifting. These arrivants are situated in two scenes: the first contains a photographic installation, set
- [ELECTRO FUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/music/electro-future/) - “Electro” as a genre confuses people. To the uninitiated, it serves as a catch-all term for any music one may hear at a dancefloor featuring synthesizer beeps and drum machine beats. This confusion is made none the clearer when websites such as YouTube or Beatport constantly fail to properly categorise and identify music – user-tagged
- [ESCAPIST INTROSPECTION](https://swarmmag.com/video/escapist-introspection/) - ARTIST STATEMENT ABOUT THE TOPIC “FUTURE FORECASTING” IN RELATION TO HER SUBMITTED WORKS My images aren’t really predictions about the future, but an exploration into a specific kind of dystopia. Sci-fi and futurism often have a hard time portraying worlds built on core concepts fundamentally different from ours. It can make the underlying framework of
- [PSYCHEDELIRIOUS HISTORIES](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/psychedelirious-histories/) - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DAVOR GROMILOVIC Most of your artworks have some narrative or look like a movie scene. Do they have background stories? If yes, how can we read them? There’s always some background narrative in my art. But unfortunately, it’s not a comic. When I say that, I mean you simply can’t understand my
- [HUMAN SIMULATOR](https://swarmmag.com/art/human-simulator/) - »HUMAN SIMULATOR« Animationseries2000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpW_rjiHLls About “Human Simulator” // »Human Simulator« is an animation depicting a fictitious computer game that results in different scenarios at the end of the game. The visitor is guided through various game sequences in which the player will either die of running out of „human time“ or an emotional downward spiral.
- [VENUS DIGITALIS](https://swarmmag.com/art/venus-digitalis/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Chaotic Garden is a series of projects and research I am working on with Antoine Caecke, and which is presented in different parts, like chapters. Digital Species is one of these chapters. Digital Species is a “documentary” book, it is a gateway to a parallel universe, the Chaotic Garden. In
- [SURPLUS VALUE CENTER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/surplus-value-center/) - What got you into fashion design? What first attracted me when I was a teenager was Japanese street culture and the brands in Harajuku. This is also an important reason why I decided to live and study in Japan when I finished high school. What fascinated you about clothing as a medium at the beginning
- [SO COVERED, YET SO NAKED](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/so-covered-yet-so-naked/) - First, I congratulate you on winning the 37th Hyères Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision and the Audience Award 2022. Your collection is an outstanding combination of sensitivity and roughness and also seems very personal. What is the main message behind it? Thank you! My collection can be seen as a kind of a self-portrait,
- [CYBER GRIMOIRES](https://swarmmag.com/art/cyber-grimoires/) - Most of your artworks portray fictional, futuristic characters. How do you come up with the idea of creating them, where do you mainly get inspiration? Generally speaking, my main inspiration comes from music, concept art, games and anime. Depending on what I’m working on, I’m consuming different things. I’m currently obsessed (again) with the artist
- [THAT BIT OF CONFUSION](https://swarmmag.com/art/that-bit-of-confusion/) - Most of your artworks portray fictional, upgraded human beings or some sort of futuristic creatures. Can you tell us what the story is behind these creations or what are they like? I’ve always thought of them as ”human imitations”. They appear humanoid and maybe they want to be human, but there’s always something about them
- [WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/when-worlds-collide/) - You are traditionally educated in fashion & design and have experience in costume design, film sets and event management. What got you into fashion design? I grew up next to a very small town in an even smaller village in the south of Germany. When I was 16, I heard it for the first time
- [ETHEREAL ESCAPES](https://swarmmag.com/art/ethereal-escapes/) - Ádám Horváth – Sense of Sediment And Ash In My Vessels Text by: Kristóf Kovács (Gergely Sajnos), Crime Scene Investigator Just like an archeologist digging up the past, the paintings and sculptures of Ádám Horváth look to rediscover a mystic nature. Pre-romantics are the essence rather than the style or topic of his works, using
- [BIG ACCESSORY ENERGY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/big-accessory-energy/) - How did you get into fashion design, and why was it something you were drawn to? I think I have always been drawn to the field of fashion design. I have very early memories of specific clothing and jewellery that me and the people around me wore, and I remember being very aware of what
- [PROJECT ANOMALY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/project-anomaly/) - / ABOUT THE PROJECT / It was 2015 when I first started to create this personal series with monoliths, although it did not start with the monolith, but a series of paintings with unusual forms. Each time I would simplify it until I was finally satisfied with the monolithic shape. After some years, I also
- [INFUSED HUMANS](https://swarmmag.com/art/infused-humans/) - / PROLOGUE / “Culex pipiens molestus is the name of a new species of mosquitos born in the London subway. A surgeon invents a technique that allows him to modify Asian eyelids in order to conform them to Caucasian appearance. A body hacker modifies his body through technological grafts, in order to make himself a
- [UNHOLY GROTTO](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/unholy-grotto/) - Could you introduce yourself to those who may not know your work? My name is Alfred Pietroni, I am a freelance digital artist exploring the realms of dark fantasy, high fashion and horror. My work tends to focus on character and creature designs using the vehicle of a fashion runway to showcase my collections and
- [<strong>TOWARDS TERRA</strong>](https://swarmmag.com/words/towards-terra/) - Hi, ChatGPT, thank you for making the time. I saw you were overloaded earlier. You’re welcome! I’m here to help. What questions do you have for me today? Let’s start big. Can you make a prediction about the future of art? It’s difficult to make a specific prediction about the future of art as it
- [THE TRIALS OF FLESH](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-trials-of-flesh/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artwork? What personal rituals or sources of inspiration do you use while creating? This depends on whether it’s a static image, like a painting, or if I’m working with people and objects. I look for imbalance and wait for moments when things are a little bit
- [IMMORTAL FLAME](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/immortal-flame/)
- [BUTT THERAPY](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/butt-therapy/) - “I am a freelance Animator and Illustrator. Though I mainly work on animations, which can be hard and tiring, I try to do some illustrative work once in a while. It’s a good change and sort of an escape from reality.” “I love drawing a lot of butts, it really calms my mind. I call
- [SUBTLE IS THE NEW HOT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/subtle-is-the-new-hot/) - What led you to fashion design? A bit of a coincidence. I was attracted to fashion design when I was a kid but it didn’t seem very realistic to me growing up that I could actually study it or make a living out of it. When I had to choose where to study after primary
- [CLOSE ENCOUNTERS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/close-encounters/) - You often work with sensuality and nudity. What is the role of intimacy and physicality in your work? I am not sure what physicality is—the state of being physical? As opposed to mental, conceptual, or emotional—those things that are perhaps more amorphous or abstract? I began to work with nudity in my work because it
- [LINGERIE HEALING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lingerie-healing/) - What led you to begin your studio? Ultimately, the deeply touching journey of a close friend. Until this day, it acts as a reminder of the incredibly healing power lingerie can have. After struggling with the scars and deformations of multiple surgeries due to breast cancer, she never fully learnt to appreciate her feminine self
- [CERAMIC CLAIRVOYANTS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/ceramic-clairvoyants/) - How would you describe your creative process in the sense of storytelling, or emotional emphasis on the viewer? I think my process has changed with time, as for a few years in my life I had to compromise, making artistic work purely through the strict process of tattooing, founding and running a tattoo shop. Even
- [HE'S A DRUG, I'M A WITCH](https://swarmmag.com/words/hes-a-drug-im-a-witch/) - He’s a drug. I’m a witch. The power of love, the weakness of self-love. I’m an addict, and the more toxic we get together, the more fatal it seems. Short breath, slow torture, fragmented sleep, poor impulse control. At last, the pain of heartbreak is being studied by scientists. The findings are shocking as well
- [VEGETAL OBSCENITIES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/vegetal-obscenities/) - Let’s start with a question connected to our current theme, “Full of Desire”. What do you desire for yourself as an artist, and what would be your ultimate achievement? I would like to put the smell of Love on clean pillows, And then say nothing more And wait for the dawn. Afterwards, I will
- [THE WISDOM WOMEN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-wisdom-women/) - The main storyline of your dreamy collection, WISDOM WOMEN, revolves around women seeking a parallel world to escape society. Could you give us more details? The story of the Wisdom Women took place in my head at a moment I wanted an escape door myself. As a response to the realisation of how patriarchally dominant
- [PRINT YOUR HUNK](https://swarmmag.com/art/print-your-hunk/) - You work with themes such as masculinity, sexual fantasies or human-animal hybrid crosspieces. Can you tell us why you chose those themes and what draws you to them? As a trans man I put much attention to masculinity. My personal opinion is that there is no character or appearance feature that defines sex, but I
- [HUGGING FORMS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/hugging-forms/) - Let’s start at the beginning. What sparked your interest in fashion design? As a little kid, I used to tell everyone I was going to be a shoe designer, I would draw shoes everywhere. Then I went to grammar school, specialising in science and languages, and was dreadful at that, so I returned to the
- [NOTORIOUS NYLONS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/notorious-nylons/) - The idea is to use the simple action of putting tights or pantyhose on and taking them off. I wish I could stay away from the word tights, hence the nylons in the title. I wish there was a better English word… I guess pantyhose it is; in Polish “rajstopy” translates as paradise for feet!
- [THE SNAKES WOMAN’S CLOSET](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-snake-womans-closet/) - WHAT LED YOU TO BEGIN YOUR STUDIES OF FASHION & ACCESSORY DESIGN? Fashion & accessory design pulled me in due its complexity. We can’t summarize fashion from the perspective of the necessity of “being dressed”. Fashion compels art, sociology, anthropology and, of course, design. In general, everything that touches on the topic of the body
- [THE ANIMA IN ANIMATION](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-anima-in-animation/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks? My process varies from time to time: I tend to doodle characters a lot, and over time it has become like a library of characters that I sometimes use in projects if they fit. Other times when drawing a character, they can be a departure
- [VISCERAL FAIRYTALES](https://swarmmag.com/art/visceral-fairytales/) - How would you describe the process of creating your art in regards to an emotional effect on the viewer, or creating a large installation? The process of creating a work depends on what kind it is. Usually, an idea comes spontaneously into my head in the form of a visual sequence or some kind of
- [MOTHER WATER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/mother-water/) - “We were born to admire the natural beauty of existence.” Antonie Lecher In 2018, you established your studio focusing mainly on custom production and working with precious materials. What led you to jewellery and what is your primary motivation? My journey to jewellery started as a hobby without much ambition. In 2013, the hobby turned
- [POST-INTERNET DESIRE](https://swarmmag.com/video/post-internet-desire/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks in terms of storytelling in the context of the challenging 3D environment in which you have such a characteristic style? I usually feel inspired by a single vision, sometimes it’s a particular character, sometimes it’s a “vibe” from listening to a song, other times it’s
- [SENSUAL POWER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/sensual-power/) - Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Could you tell us what sparked your interest in fashion design? I’ve never been interested that much in fashion itself but more so in the human body. I was torn for a while between studying fine arts and fashion, and because I realized that everything I was
- [WOMEN–BODY–ACCEPTANCE](https://swarmmag.com/words/women-body-acceptance/) - Presented photographs are from the Women Body Acceptance photo book. “The photo book Women Body Acceptance is an intimate diary with the first seven heroines of the @women.body.acceptance project, which in my head was created as a photo book, but in the meantime engaged dozens of other amazing women from Poland. The idea was born
- [FINE-LINE SIRENS](https://swarmmag.com/art/fine-line-sirens/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artwork? Your palette is dreamy and you use very petite lines in some of your works. Does it have any particular meaning in your work? The process of creating my drawings on paper could be described as a flirtation between my hand and the paper. I
- [FIGURES IN MOURNING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/figures-in-mourning/) - Could you tell us a little about your upbringing? What led you to begin your career as a fashion designer? I grew up in a small town close to Helsinki where not much was going on, especially in regards towards fashion. When I was a teenager, I did not really like fashion much, I loved
- [WITCHCULT TODAY](https://swarmmag.com/art/witchcult-today/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks, in the sense of storytelling, or emotional emphasis on the viewer? During the process itself, I don’t think about the broader audience, rather a specific character. It’s more like a flirtation than an attempt to put emotional pressure on unknown people. I first verify the
- [THE RED THREAD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-red-thread/) - Your work stands on the edge of fashion design and performative arts. How would you define yourself – as an artist or a designer? As it’s said in the question itself, I’m somewhere on the edge. To me, that means I don’t have to stick with definitions, I see it more fluidly. I think it’s
- [LACE & SPIKE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lace-spike/) - Interview with designer and founder of Creepyyeha brand Yeha Leung. Let’s start at the beginning. When did you know you wanted to be a lingerie designer? If you weren’t one, what other job or profession would you like to have? I am highly enthusiastic about lingerie but I wouldn’t necessarily say I am a lingerie
- [ABS 4 GRABS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/abs-4-grabs/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks? You use a quite bright colour palette, is there any hidden meaning behind it? It really varies, but I generally start with a vague idea that I want to work on and I keep adding things to the mix and polishing the concept while I
- [LACE AGAINST THE MACHINE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lace-against-the-machine/) - Let’s start by discussing what got you into fashion design. I got into fashion with the punk rock movement, starting from rock music and getting into clothing. I appreciate fashion as an expression of identity, not a trend or beauty. I believe this is the best thing about fashion when you can send messages through
- [II.](https://swarmmag.com/video/ii/) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSDhlWX_Glc CreditsDirector & Edit / Markéta KosinováCamera / Vojěch PollákCostumes / Katěřina Hynková Music / Tygroo “For Aleppo Hands” PRODUCED with love by SWARM MAG
- [I.](https://swarmmag.com/video/i/) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O1ApZvzNzs CreditsDirector & Edit / Markéta KosinováCamera / Vojěch PollákConcept & Costumes / Katěřina HynkováPerformers / Dája Vybíralová & others Music / Song “These Moments Dismantled” by These Hidden Hands/ Publisher Fairsplit Music Ltd. Clothes Hats / TonakGold jewelry / Alžběta Dvořáková Brooches / Adéla WiesenbergováCoats / Mirka Talavašková PRODUCED with love by SWARM MAG
- [FULL OF DESIRE](https://swarmmag.com/words/full-of-desire/) - “And through the darkest lashes, I see the dull flame of desire.” Björk x ANOHNI, Dull Flame of Desire The tingling in the spine and in the roof of your mouth. The flushing cheeks, fluttering chest, the burning lava creeping throughout your veins, the sweaty palms, the intoxicating brain fog. For some, desire means pain
- [MEET MOLLY, THE AI GUIDE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/meet-molly-the-ai-guide/) - Hello Molly, lovely to meet you. Could you introduce yourself to our readers? I’m Molly. I’m an AI. I’m here to help with the festival and to show you around the new media and digital worlds. I come from the future and I know things that you don’t know. I’m here to help you expand
- [ZEMLJANKA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/zemljanka/) - Your beautiful collection caught our attention at WRN. How do you feel after the presentation of your collection here in Prague? Originally my graduation collection at ArtEZ was filmed as a classic fashion show and presented in a cinema. The video was beautiful and great for my portfolio, but unfortunately it didn’t feel like a
- [MINERAL METAMORPHOSES](https://swarmmag.com/interview/mineral-metamorphoses/) - Give us some insight into your creative process: how do you design and build a collection? It very much depends on the desired result. Especially on what parameters the product or the entire collection should have. It is always important to know the inputs and outputs. I mean money above all, it is the
- [COAXING THE SHAPE OF MATTER](https://swarmmag.com/art/coaxing-the-shape-of-matter/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In my paintings, I try to be as authentic as possible. I don’t really choose the subjects, I rather let them develop along the process. I think that the pool of images in the subconscious plane of the mind is endless and there is always something that surprises me. I
- [THE WEIGHT OF DESTINY](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-weight-of-destiny/) - Artist Statement / Niklas considers the traditional, time-consuming painting techniques he uses as a form of ritual. It’s a conversation with history but also a tool for carefully digging into the subconscious. Painting is a kind of excavation. His focus during the last few years has been to examine the blurry border between the figurative
- [OUR FAMILY BUSINESS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/our-family-business/) - For the first time since our establishing, we are putting the spotlight on the whole editorial team and founders for a change. We were discussing the possibilities of a decent ‘family portrait’ for months and the notion finally bore its sweet, dark fruits. The current FAMILY BUSINESS theme seemed like the perfect opportunity. The whole
- [GLASS BEAD GAMES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/glass-bead-games/) - Could you explain the process of how your diploma thesis came to be? In my work, I focus on expanding and blurring the boundaries between graphic design and other craft or art disciplines, with an emphasis on the uniqueness of craftsmanship versus the digital world and reproducibility in graphic design. The main idea behind my
- [THREAD LIGHTLY](https://swarmmag.com/art/thread-lightly/) - Embroidery in Glass The most honest language is body language. Lies are often disclosed by body language. I am interested in the words truth and lie. The school teachers taught us that lying is bad, and saying the truth is good. A lot of people took to this idea completely, carrying the imagination of a
- [MONUMENT NO MORE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/monument-no-more/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / the story behind the MANIFESTO collection / It started in 2020 when I was watching my grandfather pass away through a Zoom video call. His death sparked the will for me to connect with family, and perhaps I can say that that was really where the process of my collection
- [AT THE END OF THE DAY](https://swarmmag.com/art/at-the-end-of-the-day/) - ABOUT THE ARTIST / Louise De Buck is based in Brussels at the moment but, as she says, “who knows what the future will look like.” She is a self-described lover of images and musical journeys; curiosity that has always been there since childhood. She continuously explores textures in acrylic and oils paintings. According to Luise,
- [A DIFFERENT EVERYDAY](https://swarmmag.com/art/a-different-everyday/) - In my work, I generally address two themes through my paintings. On the one hand, it is the individual dimension of human experience, which is focused on the issues and matters of ordinary life within the family and society. On the other hand, it is the dimension of social, historical, cultural, and political themes that
- [MAM’S JEWELS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/mams-jewels/) - MAM brand MAM: This name is not just a shortening of mother, but a metaphorical representation of life and an acronym to represent our motivation and influences: M for Movement, A for Art, M for Mission​. ​We are a brand that is always moving forward, inspired by the simplicity and beauty of art and want
- [PUT YOUR TRUST IN A HORSE](https://swarmmag.com/art/put-your-trust-in-a-horse/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / How a Man May Sometimes Put His Trust in a Horse is a collection of paintings influenced by emotions and reactions to various life experiences. In these works, I explore vulnerability and earliest memories. I’m trying to work with emotions, especially fear, uneasiness and terror. The motive is mainly about
- [FLOWER UNION: OPENING CEREMONY](https://swarmmag.com/video/flower-union-opening-ceremony/) - What happens inside a floral bouquet during an important political meeting? Maybe flowers are not only decorative, but also beautiful and even more beautifully smelling. But what if they could be more proactive and get involved in issues of global proportions? In the world of plants, flowers have an irreplaceable representative and diplomatic role. Now
- [BATTLEFIELD: THE WOMB](https://swarmmag.com/words/battlefield-the-womb/) - The womb. I carry a child that we have jointly fucked into being. Juicy, zombie has a child under her skin. It’s a dream, it’s hell. What happens to a couple’s mutual attraction when they have a baby? I surprised a few new parents with that question. The mosaic of feelings was supported by illustrations
- [SCHENA MAARO](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/schena-maaro/) - The collection alludes to the author’s cultural and personal roots, working as a counterpole to mass production and a general eclecticism in trends. Each of the women represents a different generation, and as such the models also reflect the historical development of fashion. The individual outfits were made using period tailoring techniques in combination with
- [THE WOMEN YOU KNOW](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-women-you-know/) - How would you describe your process of creating your artworks? I see you have a wide range of techniques ranging from painting and drawing to recent work with ceramics. I usually start with a found image or object. The drawings are based on images taken from old magazines I buy online. When choosing the images,
- [MINE, YOURS, OURS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/mine-yours-ours/) - MORE ABOUT THE SOULISTKY PROJECT FEATURED IN THE ARTICLE / The key ideas of Project SAPIENCE are concentrated in the visionary side project Soulistky (Soulists), which had its premiere last year at Designblok in Prague, Czechia, and this year was presented to an international audience through the Fashion Open Studio on the occasion of the
- [IMMERSIVE ANXIETY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/immersive-anxiety/) - ”Recreation ” is an illustration series that shows uncomfortable social situations in supposedly positive and relaxing environments. In these images I depict people as a cohesive and grotesque crowd. They are frequently cut off from the composition, which adds an unpleasant feeling to the images. I drew most of these characters without arms, as a
- [DISTANT HUMANITY](https://swarmmag.com/art/distant-humanity/) - How would you describe your process of creating artworks? In the sense of choosing the format, theme and colour palette that seems so specific for you? I draw a lot at first, I need to stabilize the shapes on which I build the layers of paint. The balance of the composition is essential for me
- [RUNGS OF INTIMACY](https://swarmmag.com/art/rungs-of-intimacy/) - How would you describe your creative process? You cover a wide range of techniques, from painting and photography to sculptures. What are you focusing on at the moment? Working with various media has always been part of my practice. I am generally fascinated by installations and their combination with different materials and approaches. It’s the
- [DIRECT ACTION COUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/direct-action-couture/) - It is a pleasure to have you on SWARMMAG. Please introduce yourself to our readers who might not already know you! Thank you for your invitation! I am Mehmet, designer, recently graduated from Central Saint Martins. Specialised in womenswear, working with jersey and using draping techniques that I learned in Paris in the couture ateliers.
- [MEAT, FISH AND AUBERGINE CAVIAR](https://swarmmag.com/photography/meat-fish-and-aubergine-caviar/) - ‘Meat, Fish and Aubergine Caviar’ is a project about my parents’ life in Odessa, Ukraine. The city on the Black Sea coast that traditionally has had everything in abundance: fish, sun, exposed flesh and of course… delicious aubergine caviar. The city where the real overlaps with the surreal and everyone was born to shine: either
- [AGELESS LANDSCAPES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/ageless-landscapes/) - How did growing up in Georgia influence your path to becoming a womenswear designer ? Georgia is a very small country but it is equipped with a number of possibilities. There are as many contributing factors as hindering circumstances. I take inspiration from a lot of things: from nature, ancient history, art, and people. We have
- [KULISHEK](https://swarmmag.com/art/kulishek/) - KULISHEK My parents had to go through a chaotic era of communism, cultural differences, a long-distance relationship, an unexpected pregnancy… But there was one thing that made it all worth it – their love. Or at least, I hoped it would. My mum and dad met at Moscow University in the 80s. My mother came
- [COSMIC HARMONY](https://swarmmag.com/art/cosmic-harmony/) - For five years, Jean-Baptiste Janisset has been surveying places of worship. In churches and cemeteries, calvaries and sanctuaries, the artist has been cataloging motifs, symbols and glyphs: angels or bats, Virgins with Children or winged skulls, owls or pentacles. His journey, which took him from the south of France to Catalonia via Paris, was undertaken
- [FAMILY BUSINESS](https://swarmmag.com/words/family-business/) - https://swarmmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/FAMBI_TEASER_done.mp4 “This song reminds me of my childhood and all the damage it done to me as an adult. Still bring tears every time u hear it.” “44 years old, celebrating our 1st grandchild and STILL cry every single time I hear this. Childhood trauma sticks the hardest.” “I remember being 4 when I first
- [IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE](https://swarmmag.com/art/its-all-about-love/) - Tell us, when did you get interested in the digital art world? All started at the university, I was studing graphic design, which I used to hate so f*cking much, and, at that time, I was trying to start with video art. My first video art was actually nominated for Best Video Art at the
- [PASTEL MELANCHOLIA](https://swarmmag.com/art/pastel-melancholia/) - How would you describe your process of creating your artworks? I would say I can identify two dynamics in my creative process. One is driven by collaborative projects, it is experimental and scattered. The other one is drawing, its nature is melancholic and masturbatory. The back and forth between those two spaces is vital to
- [SENSATIONAL GAME OF ILLUSIONS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/ensational-game-of-illusions/) - Mirrors are magical objects. They represent the present time more than anything by appearing invisible. Do you like that your reflecting objects are disappearing, and their form is becoming almost invisible at some point? Is it part of the whole designing magic? That’s true. The mirror subject is amazing. There is a lot of magic
- [CUMORANPOO6 & FRIENDS](https://swarmmag.com/words/cumoranpoo6-friends/) - A recurring theme in your art are monsters. What role do they play in your work? I’ve been drawing monsters for as long as I can remember. It doesn’t seem to go away no matter the amount of refined and intellectual material I surround myself with. I just love sharp teeth, claws, tentacles and angry
- [FRIENDS MEET BODILY FLUIDS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/friends-meet-bodily-fluids/) - First things first, how would you describe the process of creating your artworks? I have different characters I keep using. I do a rough outline of a story, write a few notes or keep them in my head. Then I do some really bad panel sketches where I decide placement, angles and also the conversations
- [LOYAL SUBJECTS](https://swarmmag.com/words/loyal-subjects/) - You are not only a fashion designer but also a singer. How do you define yourself? Do you feel more like a fashion designer or singer? I would say neither. I’m a multidisciplinary artist who explores fashion and soundscape simultaneously. In simpler terms, I do sing and design, but my process is more in-depth than
- [HORSING-HORSEKINK-HORSEKING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/horsing-horsekink-horseking/) - We love accompanying our House SWARM editorials with dreamy narratives or long-winded epics but this time we decided on letting you peek into our creative kitchen through something akin to a recipe, a mind-map or simply a reference list. The topic was fetishisation of women-presenting bodies from an ambivalent perspective and how these fantasies manifest
- [GUTOPIAS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/gutopias/) - How would you describe your process of creating artworks? I think it’s conscious play and a redeployment of visual codes that interest me at the moment. I hope to achieve a certain sense of dissonance, breaking, and relying on visual codes and viewing habits. I do try to be very conscious of what I am
- [HEAVENLY BODIES](https://swarmmag.com/words/heavenly-bodies/) - Did you know that skin is our biggest organ? It certainly enjoys a lot of significance and attention in our society but mostly not for its amazing protective and temperature-regulating properties. The corporeal, the only thing we will truly own throughout our lives, has been made superficial. Also into a political and religious battlefield, governed
- [PATTERN-SEEKING MAMMALS](https://swarmmag.com/words/pattern-seeking-mammals/) - MEDITATION IN CHAOS, WILDNESS IN ALGORITHM A repetitive, organised movement of a mass has fascinated the human eye since ancient times. Regular trajectories put us in a trance, captivate us and keep us in a basic ritual plane. Often, however, we breathlessly watch a seemingly chaotic movement and yet see a certain system and balance
- [OSMOTIC INTIMACY](https://swarmmag.com/art/osmotic-intimacy/) - Zu Kalinowska Mortal Shell “Is it possible to create some sort of intimacy osmosis?” Posing this question as part of her exhibition at gr_und, Mortal Shell, Zu Kalinowska places vulnerability at the centre of her new body of work. For while intimacy sounds soft and sweet (or feels like stroking hair), when you consider how
- [PAPER-THIN FABLES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/paper-thin-fables/) - You create wearable art for theatres, photoshoots and contemporary choreographies with objects cut out from paper combined with unexpected materials. Would you tell us a bit about your aesthetic influences? My aesthetic influence comes from the Dada movement and surrealism, especially from such artists as Dalí and Magritte. I’m also very fond of Japanese designers,
- [TO FURNISH A SOUL](https://swarmmag.com/art/to-furnish-a-soul/) - “Mutant” aims to fulfill, explain, and show the creator’s desires and dreams that have met obstructions due to societal expectations of his gender. Growing up in Korea, Dae always felt as if he was a mutant, an aberration from the heterosexual norm. He decided to turn shame into pride, by making mutants that proudly display
- [SEEPING BORDERS](https://swarmmag.com/words/seeping-borders/) - With each pill a creature is born Together we become Children of the monstrous, the wicked I crouch in the grass and squint my eyes to better focus on the bulbous growths rising from the stump of a felled tree. The mint green soft army that resembles alien anemones beckons me with its garish appeal.
- [DOGGY DAYCARE](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/doggy-daycare/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks? I used to be madly perfectionistic. I could spend a solid week on just planning and sketching a drawing before I even started the actual process of making. For about 2 years now I have been letting go of this method. For my personal work
- [POSTKOMPOST TRAUMA COUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/postkompost-trauma-couture/) - What brought you to fashion design? I started being interested in sewing my own clothing during my highschool years. There was no design in these attempts but I focused on the craft itself and learned how to sew properly, with the help of my grandmother and mom. Then, after high school, I took a year
- [DELIGHT IN DEFORMITY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/delight-in-deformity/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks? Usually, it’s really fast. I have a kind of vision about the image I want to create and the only thing I need is to find a moment to sit down with the computer and just get it out. My current favourites from the technical
- [ENCHANTMENTS ABOUND](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/enchantments-abound/) - MOTHERLAND COLLECTION The Motherland collection is heavily inspired by childhood and colourful memories from it, specifically by the garments knitted by Dominika’s grandmother with the use of wool from her own pet sheep. The collection is made in this spirit, garments are handknitted from natural materials or made from upcycled deadstock fabrics, making its production
- [ALL CATS ARE GREY](https://swarmmag.com/words/all-cats-are-grey/) - Despite having been published two years ago, All Cats Are Grey‘s gravity seems all the greater considering that since its release, the world did not become a happier place. The authors’ ideas and theses originated in their eponymous podcast and are quite well-known in the Czech cultural environment, nonetheless with having been released only in
- [TOTO TO TOTORO](https://swarmmag.com/words/toto-to-totoro/) - Post-apocalyptic giant insects, singing mice, poetry by a cockroach, shapeshifting Tricksters, a parrot who speaks Portuguese, a dog who speaks Tagalog, rivers with legal personhood and a scarecrow who was painted into existence by a farmer. TOTO TO TOTORO: Can talking animals save the world? is an ecological treatise that probes the importance of other-than-human storytelling
- [EXHALE PAST, INHALE FUTURE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/exhale-past-inhale-future/) - Before we get into your brand, what brought you to fashion design? It started with folk dancing. I was doing Hungarian folk dancing as a child and teenager, which led to a deep fascination with traditional costumes over the years. So, my brother and I started collecting them but I felt that I wanted to
- [TRICHOSIS IN LA](https://swarmmag.com/art/trichosis-in-la/) - How would you describe your process of creating your artworks? My process usually starts by writing random notes on my phone, collecting random images and textures that I see in my daily experiences. Over time, directions and ideas for new pieces begin to formulate and emerge. Once I have a direction, I tend to circle
- [USELESS DISEASE CARRIERS](https://swarmmag.com/words/useless-disease-carriers/) - “He’s useless, he doesn’t work and he’s a carrier of foreign African diseases,” claim the neighbours of Zygmunt, a rural bank clerk who takes in and cares for an abandoned camel, originally from a circus. The film in question is the 2000 Polish production The Big Animal, directed by (and starring) Jerzy Stuhr based on
- [SHAMELESSLY TENDER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/shamelessly-tender/) - About the collection: GB2022-CLUB – SHAMELESSLY TENDER THIS SEASON, SAMPLE-CM JUMPS ON RIDING SPORTS FOR A NEW COLLECTION OF GRAND BASSIN. THE ECOFEMINIST GB2022-CLUB STANDS FOR A GENDER NEUTRAL SENSIBILITY. — THE GB2022-CLUB ARTICULATES SETS OF ELEMENTS – COMBINED TOGETHER THROUGH BRAIDING TECHNIQUES. THEY PAY TRIBUTE TO THIS SPECIAL TIME OF GROOMING SPENT WITH THE HORSE
- [BEASTLY SOIRÉE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/beastly-soiree/) - Does your childhood and/or heritage show in your illustrations? My dad is German and my mum is half Italian, half Slovenian. I’ve lived in Italy my whole life. My parents have always been keen on me reading as much as I can, which I did because I was a particularly solitary child. I remember having
- [STILL LIFE 101](https://swarmmag.com/art/still-life-101/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks, from the idea to realization, or on the technical level? I like to start with a strong idea, a particular desire, to guide my choices. I like to say to myself “it would be funny to associate this object with this other object, or this
- [AND THE CROWD GOES WILD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/and-the-crowd-goes-wild/) - Before we got into your brand, what brought you to menswear design? I’ve always loved to create, ever since and long before there was even the thought of doing fashion. Drawing and, in particular, drawing costumes were my favourite. It took me a while to understand that translating my ideas into garments is what I
- [NATURE SPIRIT](https://swarmmag.com/art/nature-spirit/) - About following three paintings of dog breed “barzoi” / I’m trying to capture how much I adore the fragility of these bodies. They seem so ethereal. They’re not even animals, they’re spirits. Enchanted souls that speak in poems and riddles. They have taken on the shape-shifting form of an animal body. I don’t actively search
- [PLAGUE](https://swarmmag.com/art/plague/) - Why? Because they were supposed to guard the oil fields of the bombed-out territory the USA wanted to seize. Crude oil is one of the most valuable commodities on(in) the planet. A dark, gooey force of good and evil, a capitalist tool, a safe investment, a sticky liquid shaping our world, a heart of conflict,
- [CANDYFLOSS REFUGE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/candyfloss-refuge/) - What is your creative process? Could you outline it for us? As an illustrator, I often have to work under time pressure because of strict deadlines. That means I must come to good ideas quickly. Being creative under time pressure helped me a lot to get rid of destructive perfectionism. I used to be a
- [POST-PROPHYLAXIS](https://swarmmag.com/words/post-prophylaxis/) - TOWARDS DIVIDED ATTENTION TO VULNERABILITY A lengthy corridor leads to a final room that, like the first, recontextualizes a set of older works (La Meute (The Pack) and le Baiser (The Kiss)) in order to renew how they are apprehended. L’Assemblee (The Assembly) is made up of nine new iterations of the “muzzles” that are
- [A CRYSTALLINE SELF](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-crystalline-self/) - Frozen This project is a collaboration between CSM and the musical FROZEN produced by Disney. I was responsible for the design and production of this set. BIO Xixi Tong @xixitongxx Fashion Student Uni / (BA) Bunka Fashion College (Graduate) (BA) CSM Fashion Design Womenswear Second Year (currently) CREDITS Frozen Designer : @xixitongxx model:@moss.ungraded My body，My
- [WEARABLE SOFT TOYS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/wearable-soft-toys/) - Let’s get started: Tell us a bit about yourself; where did you grow up, and what did you spend most of your childhood doing? I grew up in a small city that is located near Helsinki in Finland. I was a stubborn, but very kind child. I had a lot of toys. For most of
- [THE SECRET GOD(DOG)](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-secret-goddog/) - Before we get into your new project, what brought you to fashion design? I wish I had a more fashionable answer but when I was around 14, I loved sneakers and that introduced me to the world of fashion. I always liked to express myself and fashion was the medium that gave me the freedom
- [THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-wind-that-shakes-the-barley/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The Almanac collection takes inspiration from the popular imagery of the Savoyard almanac. In each village, they knew how to work with wood, iron and wicker, in each house, they knew how to embroider, spin, knit, card, and work with straw. Domestic know-how passed down from generation to generation, with
- [BAD DOGGO!](https://swarmmag.com/art/bad-doggo/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks, be it from the idea to realization or technical execution? My work is structured in series, and because of that every series asks for its own method. I don’t have one proven method or process from idea to realization. Ideas often come from looking at
- [INVERSE TOPOLOGIES](https://swarmmag.com/art/inverse-topologies/) - How would you describe the process of creating your artworks, from the idea to its realization, or in terms of technical execution? My process usually involves reviewing masses of collected pieces of symbology, scratches and marks found on objects; to me they have historical potential and can be played with in terms of origin and
- [DOGGONE WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/interview/doggone-world/) - Could you describe the process of creating your artworks for us? With drawings, I usually already have a vague idea of what I want to make in my head. It could be a scene in a story, sometimes it’s just a joke that I came up with in the shower. My main focus is the
- [WHO LET THE DOGS OUT](https://swarmmag.com/words/who-let-the-dogs-out/) - To kick off this year, we decied to lay off the dark a bit. There is plenty to be found elsewhere, still. A bright, simple, joyful and lovable theme as a selfish gift to ourselves and a soothing one to you. How to approach this theme, though, without sounding painfully unaware or wilfully ignorant as
- [The Hotdog Man and the Thief of Distances](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-hotdog-man-and-the-thief-of-distances/) - Merav Kamel and Halil Balabin are an artist duo that has been working together since 2012. They met at the Art Department at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Their joint work allows them to move freely and make connections they would not have thought of on their own. It allows them
- [BETWEEN TWO WORLDS](https://swarmmag.com/art/between-two-worlds/) - IS IT JUST A MYTH? You know this landscape, you have seen it before. But something is different here. You pass through the remnants of stories, the traces they have left. You slowly move closer, inspecting each detail. You ponder, remeasure. Flitting between the things that happened and those that might. Although there is complete
- [HEAVVEN](https://swarmmag.com/art/heavven/) - HEAVVEN incorporates a video installation which is part of Borrás’ new body of work – the ADAPTASI CYCLE, that has been developed over the course of the last five years together with Rachel Lamot as art director and co-writer and the musical composition by Daniel Vacas Peralta. Although connection is primarily identified with connectivity in
- [BREEZE ON YOUR VR CHEEK](https://swarmmag.com/art/breeze-on-your-vr-cheek/) - How would you describe the process of creating your fantastic futuristic scenes? I don’t have a set process per se, I generally approach each work in a different manner. I’m interested in testing new processes and learning new techniques but it really depends on what sort of project I’m applying myself to. A lot of
- [TYPE: HEAVYWEIGHT](https://swarmmag.com/interview/type-heavyweight/) - How do you see the future of your field in regards to technological and aesthetic processing and its following use? (AR, custom texts, logotypes). Do we still need new fonts? Or could humanity keep using the existing ones? That’s hard to answer. I remember thirty years ago people said books wouldn’t even exist today. The
- [ENTIRELY PLAUSIBLE EVENTS](https://swarmmag.com/art/entirely-plausible-events/) - Most of your artworks play with fictional scenarios of how we and our minds remember certain events. Where do you get the inspiration for those fictional stories and sculptures? My works almost always arise from reflections on the language of art or the art system. From reflections in which selfish and childish personal needs and
- [WELCOME TO KILMARNING](https://swarmmag.com/art/welcome-to-kilmarning/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / My paintings are set in the fictitious town of Kilmarning. The town is based on the landscape of my home country Scotland. I take inspiration from the landscape – little towns and villages, the highlands, overcast skies. The narratives in my paintings are a mix of real events from my
- [HELL BE EMPTY](https://swarmmag.com/art/hell-be-empty/) - LEVIATHAN´S WET DREAM About Leviathan’s Wet Dream / text by Karina Kottová The film Leviathan’s Wet Dream represents a hypnotizing transformation of humankind to the “water age”. Earthly waters become so polluted with chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other toxic substances as an effect of the human insensitivity to nature that, in return, the waters start acting
- [HUMAN.DEVIL.GOD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/human-devil-god/) - COLLECTION CONCEPT “HUMAN.DEVIL.GOD” HEIM GROUPP “Formation of a new God within oneself and in the virtual space.” https://vimeo.com/638390354#_=_ This closed collection creates and reinterprets the religion of a new meta-human who creates his own new reality. The collection is designed in the style of a small interactive digital presentation show, in which the focus is
- [VIBRATING MATTER(S)](https://swarmmag.com/art/vibrating-matters/) - “Maneuvering in the blurry gap between objects and their simulacra, Audrey Large uses digital cinema and image theory to reconsider object design methodologies. Her work analyses the reductive and manipulative processes ubiquitous to digital images, digital image processing, and object design standardization. […] Large is a raw material. She scours the internet for JPEG files,
- [THE LOBSTER SCARF COLLECTION](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-lobster-scarf-collection/) - Lobster Scarf Collection #3 2022 INTRO / The “Lobster Scarf Collection” project was created in the multipurpose studio Lobster Space out of the personal interest of the co-founder, Marin Czeller, to apply the common Czech culture of hockey and football scarves to the space of local authorship and to create a limited series in collaboration
- [SAYSSIWORLD](https://swarmmag.com/art/sayssiworld/) - In the very beginning, there were four Banthers and they existed in perfect stasis. Then the Time Rip simultaneously birthed Goon and Jartholomew, which are the two Great Entities of the Gooniverse. The Gooniverse is made up of floating continents called scapes that are sometimes filled (and overflowing) with liquid soul vibrations known as jelly
- [CHAOS MAY REIGN](https://swarmmag.com/interview/chaos-may-reign/) - Your works often deal with the post-apo world theme. How did you get there? I’ve always been fascinated with stories about this kind of world in movies like Mad Max 2, Waterworld, Escape from New York, 12 Monkeys or video games like Final Fantasy 7. It’s just the idea of, “it can happen.” If there
- [AVATAR POWER DRESSING](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/avatar-power-dressing/) - What fascinated you about digital art at the beginning of your artistic journey compared to now? The possibility of being able to build/realize the imagery I had in mind and to be able to create my online identity, completely different from the real one. It would have been impossible by conventional means. https://swarmmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/olia_garment_anim.mp4 How
- [THE TURQUOISE LAKE BY THE VOLCANO](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-turquoise-lake-by-the-volcano/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / My design research is an experimental investigation into and development of the production of textiles. While I combine new and old working methods to do this, I am particularly interested in exploring and using traditional crafts. With this project, I am intentionally focusing on a specific craft technique while demonstrating
- [FUTURE FORECASTING](https://swarmmag.com/words/future-forecasting/) - “Future thinking and making require the capacity to create narratives for near and far futures and to compose proposals to meet the imagined needs of the future. Future-oriented creative practices also require future literacy—understanding the temporal continuum in which future-oriented work is created and being aware of the underlying incentives, motivations and structures of works,
- [THE ENDLESS VISIT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-endless-visit/) - SCENE: B-day party preparations, someplace, sometime, any day, any time, duration unknown (For clarity, please, consult THE HOUSE-GANG GLOSSARY below.) “Hey Joyce, what OCEAN* did you order for his special b-bay party?” Chris texted Joyce on Messenger even though he was sitting in a corner across the room from her, listening to others preparing loudly
- [BUILD-A-WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/photography/build-a-world/) - What role do architecture and bodies play in your work? How do you choose the places in your photos? The range of locations and type of architecture I find suitable for my photography varies in many ways. It can be a grandiose scene with a huge landscape or a very small detail with a clean
- [KORPSEPUNX](https://swarmmag.com/art/korpsepunx/) - Aesthetics and functionality — RELAX The body is transformed under the weight of social preferences, or the psyche of an individual by physical injury. Stretching the human body to the clamp and subsequent averaging in a relaxation chair. There are objects which bear signs of ergonomic design, distress, and sort of communication, the connection of
- [HUMAN DILATATIONS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/human-dilatations/) - THE CONCEPT AS DESCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR / Human Dilatations is a glimpse of the lack of the contemporary human being, barred from the two elements that distinguish their quest: physical perfection and the actual power/role of the mind. Each image represents a body with partially distorted proportions that overshadow the head, which dissolves without
- [MILK FEVER](https://swarmmag.com/video/milk-fever/) - About Milk Fever My current work focuses on the term milk fever, a folk diagnosis of post-natal depression from the 1950’s. It was thought that the milk, trapped in the breast of the mother, stagnated in the body and fevered the brain, resulting in madness. Passed down on the tongue of my grandmother, milk fever
- [THE RULES OF ATTRACTION](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-rules-of-attraction/) - TEXT BY ALEXANDER LEPIANKA / As the night kicked off, the guests weren’t intending to explain themselves. They were unconcerned with making sense of their self-assembled fantasy of music, powders and smoke, of their minor dramas and ceremonies of pleasure-taking. Yet, the party had found itself in a curious setting—not in its physical environment so
- [A TRUTH LAID BARE](https://swarmmag.com/photography/a-truth-laid-bare/) - What got you into photography? I’m very interested in technology, it’s always been a big part of my life. As a kid I was fascinated by the way cameras interpreted what I was seeing around me. I would watch my family members through the screen of my camera, very rarely even capturing a photo or
- [THE VISUAL PLEASURE THEORY](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-visual-pleasure-theory/) - Following is an excerpt from the curatorial text by Henriks Eliass Zēgners / “Men dream of women. Women dream of themselves being dreamt of. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. Women constantly meet glances, which act like mirrors reminding them of how they look or how they should look,” wrote the
- [FIELD THEORY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/field-theory/) - To start at the beginning, how did you get into music? How old were you and what did you listen to back then? I have been listening to music for as long as I can remember. I started playing guitar at the age of 6. When I was 11, I switched to bass because me
- [FACED WITH HEAVENLY BODIES](https://swarmmag.com/interview/faced-with-heavenly-bodies/) - Could you briefly introduce us to your Digital VR AR Lab project that not only focuses on creating virtual reality but also on designing face filters? Through my Instagram profile, I create digital content of all kinds. I do mobile apps, 3D tours and projects in virtual reality, 360° scenes, AR, Instagram and Snapchat filters.
- [ARTIFICIAL SUNRAYS](https://swarmmag.com/words/artificial-sunrays/) - Poet’s Note: “Exploring Virtual Bodies” is a poetic cycle. The title is kind of self-explanatory. It’s a collection of six long poems about the human body, physicality and love in the age of the internet. It has a slightly dystopian atmosphere which involves paranoia, controlling systems, government surveillance and mentions of other people disappearing or
- [MAY THE BITS SMILE UPON YOU](https://swarmmag.com/art/may-the-bits-smile-upon-youmay-the-bits-smile-upon-you/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The attached paintings are part of my cycle dealing with a contemporary take on cave and primitive art motives. In prehistoric art forms, human (particularly male) genitalia have been largely viewed as symbols of fertility, good fortune and wealth, devoid of sexual or erotic connotations and gender dominance. Over time,
- [MORE THAN A VASE](https://swarmmag.com/art/more-than-a-vase/) - What role does corporeality play in your works? Is it only in regards to the mentioned link to prostitution in Asian countries and objectification, or have you depicted this topic before visiting Asia? Corporeality started to appear in my paintings only in connection with Southeast Asia, where I started doing small watercolors of girls right
- [FROM DUSK TILL DAWN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/from-dusk-till-dawn/) - An angel fell to Earth as they were watching the sunset, dreaming about how it feels to be mortal and alive, with the consequences of such shown on one’s flesh and fragile soul. As they were imagining all the beauty that comes with the sleepy sun touching the horizon, with their blue eyes, they glimpsed
- [DISJOINTED RECONSTRUCTIONS](https://swarmmag.com/art/disjointed-reconstructions/) - As part of this SWARM MAG interview we present you with the works of the Kraków-based painter and musician Kamil Kukla. If there’s a common denominator across this selection of evocative paintings, it is their preoccupation with the body, its corporeality, and working with the audience’s expectations. Be it relatively direct representation of various body
- [EMOTIONS TO WEAR](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/emotions-to-wear/) - We can tell your Emotions to Wear project has many layers – how would you define it? Where is your work on the design-art spectrum? It is a question I have asked myself many times to make it easier to connect to my work. I think the project is understood differently depending on which context
- [RECLAIMING FEMALE ANGER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/reclaiming-female-anger/) - “Put my robe on right, huh?” – Robert de Niro in Raging Bull by Martin Scorsese https://youtu.be/vbcdwZM38o8 How did you get started in fashion design? Is having your brand something you have always strived for? After completing studies in social sciences and fashion (Central Saint Martins UK, Duperré FR), I founded the label Sample-cm in
- [FEMININITY VULGARIS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/femininity-vulgaris/) - INTERVIEW 1) What role does physicality play in your work? I’ve always liked the human body. I consider all bodies beautiful and therefore I do not quite understand when people, especially women, hate and deny their bodily nature. I never thought about how important the presence of physicality in my work is to me, but
- [MOMENTS BEFORE DISSOLUTION](https://swarmmag.com/art/moments-before-dissolution/) - Is there any leading point or guide to your 3D art pieces for their viewers (in the way, how to understand the topic and theme in them) ? I guess if there is, it is personal for each person who’s experiencing it. I wish to open spaces and perceptions with my work, but I somehow
- [BRADPIT91](https://swarmmag.com/interview/bradpit91/) - The BRADPIT91 collection is a synthesis of the cybernetic world and the real one. Jewellery is an ancient way of presenting one’s ideals, wealth and social status. On the other hand, you reflect the negative side of life influenced by modern technologies with BRADPIT91. Who’s the ideal owner of a piece from this collection? On
- [YOUR DIGITAL MIRROR](https://swarmmag.com/art/your-digital-mirror/) - What role do physicality and the human body (parts) play in your work? I liked the idea of a biological body trapped in virtual space. I was determined to use the 3D world particularly for the variety of ways in which you can manipulate the figure like a puppet or a doll. The context I
- [YOU'RE SOMEONE'S PORN](https://swarmmag.com/words/youre-someones-porn/) - you’re someone’s porn You can touch your body whenever you want. You have yourself under your skin. You can look at yourself, stroke yourself, be yourself. Your body is yours, you’re physically closest to it out of all the people in the world. You own it. You know almost every wrinkle, scar, birthmark, fold, hair.
- [RELATIONSHAPES](https://swarmmag.com/words/relationshapes/) - The human body is the central theme of Malinová’s work. We saw it in her older paintings, where it was subjected to external pressures and stresses in ambiguous intersections of physical forms of spiritual exercises and painful dislocations. But the body is also found in her most recent paintings, such as her allegory of interpersonal
- [A DREAM-LIKE LIQUID WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-dream-like-liquid-world/) - Is Joanna a fashion designer, an artist, or both? I’m still searching for an answer to this question. A part of me is a fashion designer but I try to constantly push my boundaries and explore my creative ways of expression. I think that in order to call yourself an artist you have to first
- [HEAVY DUTY LOVE](https://swarmmag.com/art/heavy-duty-love/) - Heavy Duty Love for Future Sensitive Humans The boundary-pushing artist continues her visual & visceral examination of the science, ethics and experience of genetic engineering and our evolving bodies Technology and touch at the centre of an installation exploring the comfort of the embrace — fuelling important dialogue on the complex future realities of human
- [RUIN OF ROMANTICS](https://swarmmag.com/art/ruin-of-romantics/) - ruin of romantics you said you wouldn’t fall apart. and you’ll push us back like those flowers into a form. we’re tied to a circuit which leaves out nothing. a song the dead hear. something tough forming everything into something that makes time small. this language is so old that it can’t get rid of
- [PERPETUAL MUTATION](https://swarmmag.com/interview/perpetual-mutation/) - It is more than obvious that your installations have narrative purpose. All these curved fingers, sharp nails, bony palms examining and touching objects of everyday use. Who are they? Whom do these long claws belong to? They’re the hands of demons that pull us down. The evil entity that grips us and onto which we
- [CATACOMB ECHOES](https://swarmmag.com/words/catacomb-echoes/) - The soundscape of Dungeon Synth invites us into many an adventure: the wide musical and contemporary influences span folk music, black metal, dark wave and early RPG soundtracks, among others, all despite harkening back to an era long gone. Percussions are often sparse and dramatic – the emphasis lies on a sublime, gothic atmosphere conveyed
- [AN INTENSE WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/an-intense-world/) - As a multimedia designer, you work in many fields such as fashion design, costumes, jewellery design, and art direction. What medium is closer to your artistic heart? I think that the multimedia “per se” is what is closer to me. I couldn’t survive on always using the same materials and always having the same destination.
- [CLUB OF OPPORTUNITIES](https://swarmmag.com/art/club-of-opportunities/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR Club of Opportunities, 2017 – ongoing, a series of exhibitions (six episodes) with the umbrella title Club of Opportunities, gradually uncovering the anatomy of mythology and storytelling. Through mixed genres – from drama to absurd comedy– the club thematizes contemporary social topics, posing questions about authority and hierarchical relationships. Low forms elevate
- [THE SUMMONING](https://swarmmag.com/interview/the-summoning/) - What inspires you? How do you approach your creative process? It depends. I basically work in two ways. When I’ve got enough time and inspiration, I work on cohesive series – like the Dream Journal that I’ve mentioned, where the inspirations were the figures from my dreams. When I have lots of commissions and little
- [ETERNAL CIRCUITS](https://swarmmag.com/words/eternal-circuits/) - The wicked walk in a circle… Augustine’s City of God, Book 12 The artisanal, often hand-made Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), which lie behind most open hardware experiments in art and design, and the emergent nano- and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in the professional microelectronics industry brought a paradoxical return of the traditional printing techniques of intaglio
- [THE GLASS BOOTS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-glass-boots/) - Bílý mrtvý svět přikryje tma. Abys mezi stíny našla neposlušnost a špína tě vyživila. Abys uslyšela němé pomocníky, kteří neomylně roztřídí nekonečný zmatek. Abys mohla lovit a utíkat, nepoznaná vyčkávat. Abys věděla, že není jen bílých a černých krajin. Aby se Fénix z popela narodil. Teprve potom dostaneš obutí a ptáček poletí Darkness will
- [INDETERMINATE RELATIONS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/indeterminate-relations/) - How are is your place of origin and its history reflected in your work? My birthplace, Kyrgyzstan, has always been multicultural, with many nationalities living in a relatively small area. This naturally leads to a mixture of both historical heritage and traditions and customs. I’m not sure if it is reflected in my work. But
- [SICK ELVES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/sick-elves/) - Skin like the silver light from the Telperion tree combined with the golden aura of his sister Laurelin. Here we are, elves slowly turning into humankind. After the dark ages the light ages will appear, they said, but now the times are even darker than their predecessors could ever imagine. Nature is no longer a
- [DER TOTENTANZ](https://swarmmag.com/video/der-totentanz/) - VIDEO-ACCOMPANYING TEXT BY THE AUTHOR / When evolution reached a point where single-celled organisms transformed into multicellular bodies, Death was born. Since then the great soul harvest of Death has started and still continues. Death is always walking alone. Thousands of years later, there lived a girl who wanted to die more than
- [GENTLE GIANTS](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/gentle-giants/) - How would you describe your style? What inspires your illustrations? My style of drawing is quite spontaneous. Drawing is a need I feel often, so I carry my sketchbook almost everywhere I go and even bring it to events. I sketch what I hear in a café or base a little story on some people
- [HORROR ONLINE](https://swarmmag.com/art/horror-online/) - Tell us about your inspirations and style in general. How do you decide the form of your artworks? My personal experience is at the core of my creative pursuits. My emotions and life events are authentic and powerful sources of inspiration, which I use to develop fictional stories full of symbolic meaning. Friends and strangers,
- [RITUAL COMPULSION](https://swarmmag.com/words/ritual-compulsion/) - Magical thinking accompanies the emergence of human civilization. It is magical thinking that underlies animism, religions, and popular superstitions. Its logic suggests that the repetition of a certain ritual can cause one or another desired result. For example, that a shamanic dance can cause rain. OCD functions by the same logic. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a
- [MACED BY GOBLINS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/maced-by-goblins/) - How do your works reflect the place and history of your origins? I was born and raised in San Francisco, but I have been living in Los Angeles since 2014. While my original home and heritage are something that I consider very central to my identity, neither have played a big factor in my recent
- [RITUAL KNITWEAR](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/ritual-knitwear/) - Your knitwear designs are a combination of the wabi-sabi aesthetic and sci-fi elements mixed with hints of utopia. All that together makes your work rich and complex. Is knit-wear a rough business or a tool for expressing personal statements? Thank you for the compliment and the grasp of a few core pillars of Vo/ft’s DNA.
- [SENSUAL WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/sensual-world/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In my free time, I do a lot of scribbling and later turn those scribbles into digital artwork. I enjoy drawing by hand and analyzing my thoughts and ideas through sketchbooks, and refining and adjusting them in my computer afterwards. Most of my work is digital since that is where
- [ARTIFACTS OF ILLUSION](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/artifacts-of-illusion/) - AUTHORS’ MANIFESTO / Minoár is the tamed chaos designed in one specific direction. Our focus is directed at the creation of a sensory vision through alternatively built perception. Through our creations, we intend to originate an external shape as a reflection of the human sensorium. Our creations themselves are not simply designs with individual origin.
- [RHIZOMES OF THOUGHTS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/rhizomes-of-thoughts/) - Let’s start with the future. Any new projects for the upcoming year? As I’m graduating in May, yes, of course! I’m currently working on several projects, mostly images and comics, but I try to diversify more and I’m still very attached to performing even if the COVID-19 crisis made it difficult. I hope I’ll finish
- [THE PLEASURE OF THE PAINT](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-pleasure-of-the-paint/) - Jeroen Duijf converts experiences of what he sees and hears outside of his studio, like the discussions he has with friends in the pub, in what appears to be a fantasy world. “Under the yellowish light of a lamp, the bar becomes the world; global problems are solved here. The next day the answers have
- [CONCRETE EMOTIONS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/concrete-emotions/) - “Where is the utopia? What time do we have? Embroidery talks about times past, we are used to seeing embroideries of landscapes or cats, people but not buildings. It makes buildings soft and smooth. I want to create a window for the spectator, I want to create a discussion with the onlooker. Soft textiles in
- [ST VITUS' DANCE OF COLOURS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/st-vitus-dance-of-colours/) - Does the place you were born and its history reflect in your work? The art of storytelling is essential in Russian culture. Whether it’s theater performance, classical music, urban legends or anecdotes. Stories and their importance in Russian culture have surrounded me since childhood and inspired me to come up with my own. Can you
- [TRIPPING DOWN MEMORY LANE](https://swarmmag.com/art/tripping-down-memory-lane/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Camaraderie Park is a multimedia narrative experience, which consists of a text-based messaging bot, a short narrative game, and internet-connected wearable devices. Camaraderie Park is a fictional, retro-futurist tourist attraction park inspired by Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade, Serbia. Kalemegdan Park consists of Kalemegdan fortress, which predates Medieval times, a riverside
- [FRIENDLY HELLFIRES](https://swarmmag.com/interview/friendly-hellfires/) - Is the place you were born reflected in your artwork? I was born in Žatec, the Czech Republic. It’s a city of hops, which greatly influenced me – I like beer. History has rolled through Žatec, it played a major role in the Hussite revolution, and it also joined the Bohemian Revolt. Films are often
- [III.](https://swarmmag.com/words/iii/) - https://youtu.be/CXiKfLcjeP8 What is it that we are missing, exactly? We’ve always been selectively introverted to a degree, liked to stay put. Our room was a refuge, a quiet haven – and remains so(?) Is it the old saying about sudden yearning for things that become unavailable? Why did we grow weary of our homes? We
- [KIKIMRA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/kikimra/) - You have named Kikimra (a female house spirit) not just your newest fashion collection but also your leather goods studio. Does Slavic mythology play an important role in your creative process? Slavic mythology is not the main source of inspiration for my creative process in general nor my latest collection. However, Kikimra being a nocturnal
- [MEET THE NEW NEIGHBOURS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/mathieu-van-assche/) - Is the place you were born and its history reflected in your work? Almost all of the photographs I use to draw on were found in the neighborhood where I work. So, I suppose they reflect a historical heritage linked to my city. In addition, I am very influenced by the prints of Brueghel who
- [THE STORYTELLING NEEDLE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-storytelling-needle/) - Your embroideries incorporate a medieval aesthetic. Why do the “Dark Ages” call to you? Where lies their attraction? I think it’s a trend that influences me and speaks to me at the same time – in inclination to the spooky, fairytale-like, and ancient, I see a search for a counterweight to the world’s complexity and
- [GRADIENT GALORE](https://swarmmag.com/interview/gradient-galore/) - Where does the inspiration for your artworks come from? I watch series and films, read books and go to museums to come across stuff that inspires me. I’ve also always been fascinated by German fairytale symbolism and psychological archetypes. But mostly, I think, I get ideas from having a body and feeling a certain way
- [HE WHO ENTERS](https://swarmmag.com/video/he-who-enters/) - The Knight’s Fee The Knight’s Fee is a fight-dance of the knights who flip the world upside down so they could once again find their forgotten beasts within themselves. Rather than chevalerie, it’s a shaman-like dance of horses-staves, the reminiscence of bygone matches without winners. Apprehension. Can the weight of the world be counterbalanced? Only
- [FOLLOW “DARK AGES 2090” ON INSTA](https://swarmmag.com/interview/follow-dark-ages-2090-on-insta/) - INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR / In my graduation project from winter 2018/19, I created a future youth culture that makes use of the aesthetics and philosophy of the Middle Ages. By exhausting the current mood of our generation in certain directions and seeking out a slumbering trend, I tried to find the right vibe for
- [BUSY WITH ESCAPISM](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/busy-with-escapism/) - Born to a Flemish mother and a Sicilian father, Laurent’s surname foreshadows the chaotic, collage-y and lawless content of his works. In Sicilian, Impeduglia means ‘flounder’, literally to ‘mix up the tassels’. His paintings are replete with references to religion and death, heavy with symbolism, random pop-culture trademarks and hints of iconography. When interviewed for
- [A TALE OF CHANGE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-tale-of-change/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / By combining my knowledge of textile design with my knowledge of sewing, draping and pattern construction, I create garments with heavy influences of handicraft. I would describe my process as an emotional storytelling, meaning that I design for myself by myself and I am my own worst critic. I question
- [THE DARK AGES IN THE SPOTLIGHT](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-dark-ages-in-the-spotlight/) - “I suppose the way humans think is naturally gothic in a sense. The desire to simplify the perceived world, to abstract everything we cannot reasonably grasp and, at the same time, be a part of it all,” says artist Dominik Adamec. Which way do the Middle Ages penetrate into his works, how does the contemporary
- [DEAR ONE, DEAR DEAD](https://swarmmag.com/art/dear-one-dear-dead/) - SHORTENED TEXT BY THE AUTHOR ABOUT ‘Dear One, Dear Dead’ ONLINE SERIES OF CGI RENDERINGS, presented at the Virginia Bianchi Gallery between 11th November and 30th December 2020 / King of France, Louis XVIth, died decapitated on the 21st of January 1793 during the French Revolution. To me, his death echoes a long and universal
- [LOOSE-END TRAPS](https://swarmmag.com/art/loose-end-traps/) - TEXT ABOUT THE AUTHOR BY Marie Štindlová / A bare-headed girl is hurtling through scenes, passing friends, runs through rose bushes with a multitude of thorns into castles full of sharp edges, dim nooks and creatures with weird physiognomy wearing heels. There’s a banana peel lying on the ground, it’s either a joke or a
- [WEAR YOUR POWER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/wear-your-power/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The invention of a bag as a key essential item for the development of human civilization is without a doubt as monumental as the invention of the wheel. The bag is a major tool, which helps us in everyday life but can also reinforce status and reflect personal style –
- [WHAT THE FREAK IS GOING ON](https://swarmmag.com/interview/what-the-freak-is-going-on/) - Is your place of birth reflected in your works? In my comicses, I often depict the time of my childhood, the first half of the 80s in Olomouc. It’s a kind of romanticized idea about exploring a new world in the ruins of its predecessor. The infiltrating western influences, technologies, pop culture, fashion. The time
- [THE OBJECTS ARE NOT PERSONAL](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-objects-are-not-personal/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR The STRATUM exhibition (2020) / The implicit brightness continues to spread, which needs to be seen. The project combines artificial and synthetic materials, sterile and organic forms. Objects are not personal. Everything is designed. Not completely artificial, not completely organic. They resemble trophies obtained through seizure or found at spawn points.
- [ANTHROPOCENE GIFT SHOP](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/anthropocene-gift-shop/) - WORDS BY THE ARTIST / I’m definitely thinking about creating post-human artifacts that tell the story of humankind in all its honesty and duality. On one side the romanticized version – a legacy of innovation, craftsmanship and great progress – starkly contrasted with the more shameful sides like greed and exponential capital interests that led
- [GRIESLY ILLUMINATIONS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/griesly-illuminations/) - Let’s start with your home country. Is it, alongside its history, somehow reflected in your work? I was born in the south of France and it’s true that this sometimes influences my work: I love to tell stories where pastis, stereotypical characters, JuL’s fans and women in flip-flops mix together. Where do you source the
- [NOT-SO-FAIRY TALES](https://swarmmag.com/video/not-so-fairy-tales/) - “We yearned for Days of old when Knights were bold, but in the hot squabble of nostalgia we have burned our imaginary castles to the ground and busted our armour,” says Shifra Osorio Whewell, the author of audiovisual pieces, which build on the basis of old folk or fairy tales, reinterpreted in a rather funky
- [A SOFT CAGE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/a-soft-cage/) - Your work oscillates somewhere between fashion design and sculpture. Have you ever thought about becoming a sculptor? No, I never thought about becoming a sculptor but before fashion, I studied mechanical engineering. I am fascinated by technical elements and refinements, which is also reflected in my fashion. I want to explore the field where soft
- [GOOD NIGHT'S KISS BY SUCCUBUS](https://swarmmag.com/art/good-nights-kiss-by-succubus/) - WORDS ABOUT THE WORKS BY CURATOR SONJA TESZLER / The terrifying experience of sleep paralysis has haunted humankind for centuries – a state akin to lucid dreaming, between being awake and asleep, with physical and cognitive function severely altered, leading to paralysis and hallucinations. Panicked, the person usually feels tight pressure in their chest and
- [NEO-MEDIEVALISM](https://swarmmag.com/words/neo-medievalism/) - ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔶𝔢, 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔶𝔢! 𝔚𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔥 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔡 𝔶𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔶𝔫𝔢 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔤𝔲𝔢. “The widespread interest in medieval themes in popular culture, especially computer games such as MMORPGs, films and television, neo-medieval music, and popular literature, has been called neomedieval. Critics have discussed why medieval themes continue to fascinate audiences in a modern, heavily technological world.
- [“ARCHIVARIUS”](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/archivarius/) - You are originally from a small village in Russia, what made you move to the Czech Republic? For as long as we can remember, we were always into art and when we were teenagers, we decided we wanted to create clothes. In 2014, right after our graduation from high school, we moved to Czechia to
- [RUN FOR THE SAKE OF RUNNING](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/run-for-the-sake-of-running/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The RUN series / This series of illustrations is dedicated to running as the ultimate unifying sport. Running can enthuse anyone regardless of who and where you are from. It’s possible to only run up to your station when you’re late for a meeting, it’s possible to run in the
- [OTHERWORLDLY BLUEPRINTS](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/otherworldly-blueprints/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / I work mainly on art books and comics and I’m influenced by science-fiction and universes that are not very normal. With the help of drawing softwares, I create digital patterns and abstract shapes to represent hallucinogenic landscapes. I like the precise line and the digital atmosphere produced by the technique.
- [SHARP MOVES IN RED](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/sharp-moves-in-red/) - “Use it or lose it” applies not just to the muscle mass in our body but also to our brains. You’re going to need them both for this game. The Reboot/21 collection by one of SWARM Mag’s founding mothers, the ingenious creator behind the Czech fashion brand Dry Milk of Virgin Mary (DMOVM), follows the
- [QUAINT MOMENTS](https://swarmmag.com/interview/quaint-moments/) - Are you working on something new at the moment? I always have a lot of ideas and projects in mind and that is what keeps me motivated. I am currently working hard on a comic book project. When I am feeling ready, I will look for a publisher that fits my style. What influenced your
- [TRANSMISSION EXPLORATION](https://swarmmag.com/art/transmission-exploration/) - What are your current and future plans regarding art? I’m currently working on several projects at the same time. I’m still working on my film “Hail Tetrapoda and All Plates” and another film I‘m currently shooting, combined with scenes from previous projects. I’ve started a series of wooden structures containing different objects and images. And
- [ONE'S OWN BIGGEST FAN](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/ones-own-biggest-fan/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Most of my recent illustrations are made using Photoshop, layers on top of layers on top of layers. They are snapshots of my life and of the things that keep me busy at night. The amount of unintentional self-portraits in my portfolio is pretty striking. I love these “unintentional” drawings.
- [SPORTS WRITING](https://swarmmag.com/words/sports-writing/) - 1ST PERIOD We live behind a ruined stadium. 2ND ROUND I dream of weeping on ice skates, Olympiad chorus swarming, knife-bearing ceremony; dream of burglars tearing books and wake to the slumber of my son, silence of midnight hockey rinks hovers in the house. 3RD QUARTER Be a good sport. SUPERFANS International pastime eradicate silence
- [MISTAKES? I DON'T KNOW HER](https://swarmmag.com/art/mistakes-i-dont-know-her/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / My motto is: “Our imperfections make our personalities.” My tools are the spot and the line. My ‘main receipt’ is no fear of making mistakes as only through mistakes, you can find a way to something new and unusual. Guided by plastic expressiveness, I depict the real world. I love
- [HELLO THERE, BOLD RACER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/hello-there-bold-racer/) - You have been inspired by all the time periods. Your work is a combination of historicism, futuristic elements, and minimalistic details in rich complex forms. What details would we find on your recent mood board for SS21? SS 2021 is science fiction, technology, aesthetics of elegant futurism, boyish silhouettes mixed with feminine ones, bright colors,
- [UNLOVABLE PROSPECTS](https://swarmmag.com/video/unlovable-prospects/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHORS / Collaborating since 2012, our practice gravitates towards utopian imaginarium, working with concepts like labour/immaterial labour, design/speculation, future/history/ideology – all under the umbrella of critical deconstruction and denouncing the (semi-)capitalist society with its social ruptures. Our main research interest is how art and artistic means can be instrumentalized in order to
- [MASTURBATE. WIN AND DIE.](https://swarmmag.com/words/masturbate-win-and-die/) - My intimate sport where I play for immortality. Masturbation is a team game. I play a team game with myself. Me and my body. Masturbation can be an act of self-knowledge. The fascination with one’s own body. The body cult. A moment when I subject my physicality to detailed exploration. I feel up the boundaries.
- [EVERYTHING'S JUST PEACHY](https://swarmmag.com/interview/everythings-just-peachy/) - Are you caught up in working on something at the moment? Yes, I am currently working on a comic project that will be called “Turbulento”. It is in process although quite advanced, and it will be a comic that will surprise. On my Instagram account (listed below), you can see a page as a preview.
- [IN THE LONG RUN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/in-the-long-run/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / It all started with my final project as a fashion design student at Shenkar – the College of Engineering and Design in Israel. During my time at Shenkar, I have been made more and more aware of the importance of sustainability in fashion. This is an issue that has meant
- [THE VIRTUAL RUN THROUGH SECOND LIFE](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-virtual-run-through-second-life/) - The cult computer game Second Life became an icon of the new digital era. Nevertheless, each era comes to an end, which holds true twofold in the age of exponential acceleration of technological progress. Twenty years after its release, I’m sitting at the computer and pondering how this world functions now. I’m clicking the install
- [COLLECTOR CARDS](https://swarmmag.com/art/collector-cards-contrebande/) - Ludovic Boulard Le Fur, 38 years old, lives and works in France. Graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2008, he made a scholarship during six months in Canberra, Australia during his studies. Since his childhood trough drawing and painting he explores images from unconscious. In the magazine we show a selection
- [WEEKEND](https://swarmmag.com/art/weekend/) - The Weekend series consist of seven paintings and one poster and is supposed to show a really bad holiday. Each work is labelled by the name of a day and a precise timestamp. Through the techniques of spray paint, and acrylic and oil pencils on wood, Jul wishes to translate emotions, materials, and movements. As
- [ALFA DOG AND ZEBRAVE](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/alfa-dog-and-zebrave/) - “Alfa Dog and Zebrave” series are set in a violent and corrupt world, where people wear animal masks (chosen illustrations below are part of the series which is in continuous progress ). Matteo’s illustrations show ironic, funny and almost childish aspects that are in contrast with the adult topics (guns, violence, crimes). For the concept, Matteo was
- [A SHIVERING SECOND](https://swarmmag.com/art/a-shivering-second/) - Words from the author: Even though most of the pieces [in the article] have been created for the purposes of different projects, they were all created in a similar creative vein, in search for a state of being. In most of my recent work, may it be animation, writing or illustration, I am trying to
- [THE ANALOG-DIGITAL DISCUSSION](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/the-analog-digital-discussion/) - Miro Tiebe (“Miruel”) is currently living in Hamburg, Germany, while finishing his master’s degree in Illustration at HAW Hamburg. As he says, he was born in the very middle of Germany, close to the Harz mountain range. He discovered his passion for painting and drawing very young and never lost it since. People around him
- [FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A HIVE](https://swarmmag.com/words/from-the-perspective-of-a-hive/) - Images of a bee worker Windows, smiley wide open to buy or to get, to be kind or to hang. Hello, elves! No midsteps. No classes. No masks. Warm motherhood, red love, red work, red distance. Then on the street the people (humanity, not crowds) passing, sitting on benches, smiling and talking. Exploitation? To work
- [COVERGIRL](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/covergirl/) - Martin Lacko, who’s currently working towards his thesis in the studio of Vladimír Skrepl and Jan Šerých at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts, has been keeping himself occupied with the fantastic genre on a long-term basis. Through narrative paintings or digital drawings, he hints at the genre’s depiction mainly in video games – a medium
- [OASIS OF HATE](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/oasis-of-hate/) - According to the author, ‘Oasis of Hate’ is a made up term for a feeling of inadequacy, especially in a social context when a person is forced to conform to social norms while being aware of their own falseness. “My sister and I came up with it as children while watching a cooking show on
- [THE HUNTER](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/the-hunter/) - Meet The Hunter “The Hunter is a comics made during Inktober 2018. It was quite interesting to take random words and make a logical story from them!” says Zavka about her creative process. “The story itself is about a hunter girl who destroys her environment to please herself. She poisons flowers, eats animals and shoots
- [SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/she-sells-sea-shells/) - “My illustrations are inspired by my childhood memories, Slavic folklore, everyday life and our country’s USSR past. I was born in 1990 in Mogilev, Belarus, and I’m very nostalgic about that period and my hometown,” Margarita outlines her artistic background. “Plus, I’m influenced by Eastern European nature, our villages, pagan traditions and urban legends that
- [CODE AND REALITY: METAMORPHOSIS OF VISUAL DIMENSIONS](https://swarmmag.com/words/code-and-reality-metamorphosis-of-visual-dimensions/) - Visual culture has been in a constant movement and, approx. 40 years ago and with the onset of digitalization, the transformation of the function of an image and general aesthetic criteria gained major speed. Images began to satisfy us in a completely new way. The traditional artistic values started to be more and more intuitively
- [SIMPLE DRAWINGS, CONFUSING TIMES](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/simple-drawings-confusing-times/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In my drawings, I try to communicate a narrative that is based on the structure of comic book culture. Growing up reading classic Dutch and Belgium comics, my visual style has developed from the use of fantasy-like characters into simplified figures. By using a variety of medieval symbolism and elements,
- [VIOLE(N)T CALM](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/violent-calm/) - BIO/ Dimitri Litzinger is a freelance illustrator and artist based in Münster, Germany. He mostly works in the fields of editorial illustration, book illustration, CD covers, graphic novels and uses a combination of analog and digital techniques, such as pencils, acrylic paint, Photoshop or Procreate, to create his colourful, mystical, atmospheric illustrations. He studied at
- [DISSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/dissociation-illustration/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / I have a lot of transcendental illustrations where everything is floating in indefinite space, the physical is not important but feelings are. I think I can visualize and materialize these abstract topics better than the reality of an ordinary day. In my head, I’m mostly out of reality, floating in
- [DAUGHTERS OF EVE AND MAGDALENE](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/daughters-of-eve/) - WORDS BY THE ARTIST / My approach to the theme of this issue and using and re-purposing is the way I use other visual imageries and symbols from mythology and various cultures and re-appropriate them. I have a deep interest in the artwork of other cultures, from which I like to borrow aesthetic elements and
- [5295 CHARACTERS OF MYSELF, WITH COMMAS](https://swarmmag.com/words/5295-characters-of-myself-with-commas/) - As much as I feel distanced from all the materiality surrounding the “repurposing” topic and however I feel the claim I want to make might seem self-conscious, writing is also a form of repurposing, although one much less tangible but perhaps similarly visceral. When thing A becomes the part of B, it’s not merely A
- [EMMA'S BOOK OF COLOURS](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/emmas-book-of-colours/) - Emma’s road to illustration was as unusual as they get. Some years ago, she was pursuing the career of an arachnologist at the University of Florida, studying biology and working in different entomology labs studying spiders, bees, wasps or butterflies, when a colleague asked her to dissect and illustrate the genitalia of a certain moth
- [IN THE MIND'S INTERIM](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/in-the-minds-interim/) - “I like to think of my illustrations as a posed photo that was shot while the model was distracted, wondering if they had turned off the lights when they left the house earlier.” WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / As time passes by, I have realized that I have the same ability to centre on one
- [THE COOL KID’S BEDROOM POSTERS](https://swarmmag.com/illustration/the-cool-kids-bedroom-posters/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / My work is often driven by the love of translating my surroundings in a graphic way to paper. Playing basketball since young age has been influencing my work lately. Growing up in the 90s with movies like Space Jam, playing old basketball video games and watching Streetball highlight tapes, I
- [COME ON, TURN ME ON](https://swarmmag.com/art/come-on-turn-me-on/) - What was your path to illustration? I chose illustration because it’s a more efficient means that best meets my needs. It allows me to be free from canonical constraints and offers me an indefinite support on which I can rely without too many expectations, a sort of organized chaos. Lately, I’ve been discovering a strong
- [DELIVER US FROM EVIL](https://swarmmag.com/art/deliver-us-from-evil/) - Are you working on something new these days? Yep, I’m working on a research project with Alina Lupu (writer and artist), which will be shown in parallel with my next solo show in the annex of the Suprainfinit gallery. It will take place sometime next year in the springtime. Could you describe your thought process
- [FINISH THEM](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/finish-them/) - The INFLAMMATORY collection, as well as the whole philosophy of the Devaja brand, is characterized by challenging what has been established and questioning everything that has reigned so far in jewellery, as well as creating a social dialogue through its designs. WORDS BY THE AUTHORS / The INFLAMMATORY designs break the rules of jewellery by
- [CASH RUSTLES LIKE ASMR](https://swarmmag.com/art/cash-rustles-like-asmr/) - “Lukáčová comes up with a brilliant language combining rapper jargon with the argot of the banking sector and minorities. It bubbles non-aggressively, becoming a mantra that in each verse illustrates our rooted and all-pervasive dependency on financial institutions, revolving credit, and the desire for capital success and at least basic social status.” Excerpt from the
- [WASTEFUL FANDOMS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/wasteful-fandoms/) - How did you become a sustainable fashion designer? Since I was a kid, I liked to do my own jewelry. First, I made them from cardboard then clay, polymer clay, and resin. I loved to work with plastic, I found this material so versatile and ambiguous, it always fascinated me. Then I started to think
- [RE:PURPOSE](https://swarmmag.com/words/repurpose/) - Hey punks <3, Without much ado, in harmony with the efficient core of our next quarterly topic, we’ll cut right to the chase. There’s no such thing as discarded, unwanted and surplus ideas. Reusing, borrowing, and reshaping is necessary. Restructuralization, reassembly and decomposition are processes not to be shunned. Decay is beautiful. Repair is the
- [FEAR OF THE WILDERNESS WITHIN](https://swarmmag.com/art/fear-of-the-wilderness-within/) - What are you currently working on? I am currently working on an art book. I paint with watercolors on unprimed fabric, which makes everything blurred and imprecise, and which also changes the content of the painted motifs. The material lets me think about the borders between painting, books and objects. It’s important for me to
- [PHILOSOPHY OF PATCHES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/philosophy-of-patches/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / FRAGMENTS COLLECTION The collection explores the aesthetics of workwear. The aim was to look at the aesthetics from a different perspective. The marks of time like ageing, abrasion and decay fascinate me. Authentic garments and components deconstructed into contemporary silhouettes accentuates their origin and individual characteristics. Japanese culture and the way
- [BODY BATTLEGROUND](https://swarmmag.com/art/body-battleground/) - The project was inspired by the failures and bugs in the popular beauty apps where natural bodies get distorted. While the Internet can seem like a place disconnected from the physical world, much of the activity that occurs there deeply affects how we feel outside of it. In the age of social media, technology provides
- [BLUE MARBLE AGONY](https://swarmmag.com/words/blue-marble-agony/) - Genot Centre was founded in 2014 by Ondřej Lasák and Wim Dehaen as an independent record label/music community in Prague, the Czech Republic, with an initial focus on the local experimental scene, which quickly grew also towards abroad artists. Since the start, they’ve been strictly adhering to the concept of cassette tape releases and inserted
- [IT'S HIS NATURE](https://swarmmag.com/art/its-his-nature/) - “Mainly centered on the male body, his artistic interests match with the up-to-date rules of popular culture: narcissistic self-presentation and inquiries into one’s own identity. […] Using the visual language of sexual minorities, Dúbravský tries to seduce the viewer into an intimate relationship. With his paintings, he invites us onto a friendly journey into an
- [THE OFFICE OF URBAN DREAMING](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-office-of-urban-dreaming/) - Not long ago, we experienced a time of timelessness, sealed off in our flats. No one has any idea if a similar situation won’t repeat itself. For some of us, this period could represent the opportunity to meditate over current affairs, others were reassessing the time that has passed. We’ve attempted to dream away a
- [FAIRYTALES PAINTED ON SILK](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/fairytales-painted-on-silk/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHORS / MOVE presents it’s unique art of seasonless clothing collections, which tell the adventure of nymphs enchanted by the beauty of nature. Emotions and deep feelings are drawn in picturesque landscapes on transparent fabrics. We create timeless, hand-painted silk clothes for art lovers. For us, every piece of silk is an
- [“CONTEMPORARY BYZANTINE PAINTING”](https://swarmmag.com/art/contemporary-byzantine-painting/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The place I was born (Athens, Greece) definitely played a major role in shaping my art. It is here that democracy was born, philosophy flourished, the general openness of the mind that created by the all-time great Greek maritime trade; it is also here that the centre of Hellenism and
- [EACH STEP A TORMENT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/each-step-a-torment/) - Original Czech poem accompanying the collection, translated to English on the right. První kámen bílý s mojí dlaní srůstá nedosáhnu jen si představuji ve tmě mnoho tolik mi voní krev White the first stone growing into my palm I can’t reach just imagine many in the dark blood smells oh so good chci druhý kámen
- [TABULA RASA, A CLEAN TABLETOP](https://swarmmag.com/words/tabula-rasa-a-clean-tabletop/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHORS / The tools of self-presentation and the need for self-expression have shifted significantly in recent years, not only by the onset of living in the virtual space. Capturing attention. Gaining feedback. Being accepted. Coming up with something never seen before. Breaking through. Everyone is their own PR specialist. Even at times
- [SHELTER SWEATER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/shelter-sweater/) - A mix of streetwear and high fashion, the Pat Guzik label, a small and independent one based in Krakow, designs with sustainable fashion rules at heart. Their signature pieces are a fusion of different Asian and European cultures and original fabric prints made by Polish illustrator Mateusz Kolek. They create the labyrinth of symbols that
- [EXTENDED FOREST](https://swarmmag.com/art/extended-forest/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The Extended Forest is a vision for a new form of practice that radically rethinks how we might act as designers in our approach to the guardianship of the natural world. My work confronts urgent conflicts in the present through performance, action and long-term strategic thinking through virtual spaces and character
- [ADAPTUS X](https://swarmmag.com/art/adapus-x/) - Humans have been editing and toying with the DNA of non-human animals for decades. Take Dolly the cloned sheep, Belgian Blue cattle with artificially increased muscle volume, disease-resistant piglets with faster growing rates or a genetically engineered monkey, macaque adaptus, with an introduced human brain-development gene. The time has come to switch the focus of
- [THE SAME OLD GAME ?](https://swarmmag.com/video/the-same-old-game/) - We’re currently seeing that some studios are remastering their original flagship titles, such as 2K and their legendary Mafia. Do you think it could be attributed to gamers’ nostalgia or the lack of new, groundbreaking ideas? There are several different terms to this. We need to distinguish between a remake and a remaster. A remake
- [INFOMERCIALS FROM HELL](https://swarmmag.com/art/infomercials-from-hell/) - His style can be traced back to European Avant-Garde movements such as Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism. Keresztesi is combining these different artistic approaches with topics such as dreams, ecstasy, sin, death, passion or hallucinations. These surreal compositions are created by combining different techniques such as airbrush and masking in combination with traditional brush work. Although
- [WHO AM I ?](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/who-am-i/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Vandag.Studio came to life at the end of my Fashion Design studies at the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD). During my studies, I did an exchange semester at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute where I studied Fashion & Management, which allowed me to broaden my outlook at the importance
- [RE-ENTER THE PLANT](https://swarmmag.com/video/re-enter-the-plant/) - “Mr. Vogel asked me to relax and project myself into the philodendron. Several things took place as I began to carry out his request. First, I wondered exactly how I could get inside a plant. I made a conscious decision to let my imagination take over and found myself entering the main stem through a
- [LAYERS OF SURREALITY](https://swarmmag.com/art/layers-of-surreality/) - Are you currently working on a new bigger project or exhibition? I had been working on a big exhibition during Art Basel as I am nominated for the Swiss Design Award. First, it was postponed because of Covid but now it’s canceled altogether! Instead, I’ve been trying to develop new ideas for starting a book
- [WHY ME, WHY ME](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/why-me-why-me/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In my collections, I usually oscillate between real and unreal worlds. Ambiguity, imagination’s exotica and transgressions influence me the most. What fascinates me is diving into the world of my imagination. Finding bridges between concepts and the ergonomics of the human body. Exploring traditional tailoring with attempts to push boundaries.
- [HOARDERS OF VISUAL STIMULI](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/hoarders-of-visual-stimuli/) - The editorial is inspired by the constant human need to look for something new, exciting, and stimulating. We are overwhelmed by information, false information, photos, and stories on Instagram, news on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms available to us 24/7, year-round. On one hand, it makes our life way easier, however, on the other, our
- [CHIMÉRA](https://swarmmag.com/photography/chimera/) - The photographs and texts (authentic smartphone selfies, Facebook statuses, diary entries and the goodbye letter) that make an appearance in the Chimera series must’ve required a large portion of trust and intimacy between you and Gabriela. How long have you known each other? Long before her transition, Gábi used to be a classmate of my
- [CRACKS IN THE PUPA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/cracks-in-the-pupa/) - Like a moth pierced by a pin, framed and displayed in every nature museum, like a trapped butterfly in a cartoon box, like an unlucky bug caught between child’s hands. Expose the beauty of natural treasures that look like the most desired jewellery you imagined in your dreams. Their fragile wing cases reflect the last
- [HACKING OF(F) THE FLESH](https://swarmmag.com/words/hacking-off-the-flesh/) - “Well, I still think that you ARE a cyborg,” vehemently says a 12-year-old girl, a student. We find ourselves at a grammar school where I’m currently lecturing about cyberpunk. On the wall, I’m projecting an enlarged X-ray image of my hand. I have a screw in my wrist after an injury. It will stay with
- [ALL DOLLED UP](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/all-dolled-up/) - Their name is a holy grail of the one-of-a-kind-doll world. Based in Saint Petersburg, Ekaterina and Elena Popovy handcraft hyperreal, posable dolls that combine elements of fashion, otherworldly fantasy and fetish. Alongside dollmaking, they’ve picked up fine-art photography, 3D modelling and mapping, and video, giving their dolls unique environments to exist in. The couturier Jean
- [POISON AND MIRRORS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/poison-and-mirrors/) - / Beast of the East recounts / B: Behind seven mountain ranges and hundred towers there lived she, already well known to us, different than before back then. A: Wait, what’s your deal? B: I want you to listen to a story about a girl of milk and blood, her youth and ripening, that which
- [HONEYLAMBS MISSION](https://swarmmag.com/art/honeylambs-mission/) - “We believe that there are countless innocent souls, or Trauma Toys, trapped in Hell. It is our mission to rescue these souls from their torture and give them a second chance at life! They might look a little different, but they are still worthy of our love and acceptance.” “With every adopted Trauma Toy, a
- [IN[HUMAN]](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/inhuman/) - PT.1 /NIVVA/ What was the first impulse when creating NIVVA? Was it the desire to protect one’s privacy, your artistic alter ego manifestation or something entirely different? When I created NIVVA, I wanted to just connect things I love, my work as a 3D designer and music. I have always been a shy girl, the
- [PHYGITAL FUTURE BY HYDRA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/phygital-future-by-hydra/) - WORDS BY THE ARTIST / Hydra is small, simple, and possesses many heads. It undergoes morphallaxis when injured or severed and it appears not to age or die. A series of translucent archetypes reveal the values of the Hydra Project: sustainability, craft, and longevity in the phygital HYDRA future. Digital rituals and physical acts of
- [THE AGE OF IMAGES NEVER ENDED](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-age-of-images-never-ended/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / It was Julius Evola to reveal how, in ancient times, since Cromagnon’s age, figurative art was always “impossible to separate from the naturalistic element and a magical and symbolic intention”. Starting from this concept, it is noteworthy how, in the traditional art world, it was never considered an end in
- [SHOES BUILT TO BE TAKEN APART](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/shoes-built-to-be-taken-apart/) - Do you think that the time has come for clothing and shoe design to undergo metamorphosis? Certainly, metamorphosis is unavoidable, in my opinion. It’s important that we change our approach to overconsumption and reckless consumerism. Our relationship with things is becoming increasingly fleeting, which is supported by the desire for novelty and impersonal perfection. The
- [RAVE NEW WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/rave-new-world/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Originally from Stockholm and trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, I have been based in London since September 2019. Right after graduating from the Antwerp Academy, I was invited by the Russian Fashion Council to showcase my graduation collection during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia in October 2019 as a part of
- [DREAMERS LEAD THE REVOLUTION](https://swarmmag.com/video/dreamers-lead-the-revolution/) - CASIS BLISTERIUS The video is one of many episodes of the Mysterious Rebirths series, imitation documentary approaches. This programme zeroes in on special microorganisms responsible for the restoration of the world as we know it in the distant future. The popular-science piece reveals tiny creatures resisting years of ecosphere damage caused by human inconsiderateness. The
- [METAMORPHOSIS OF A PERSONAL DIASPORA](https://swarmmag.com/words/metamorphosis-of-a-personal-diaspora/) - After almost two years on antidepressants, I decided to quit. Cold turkey (don´t worry, I told my psychiatrist about it and you should too!). The reasons behind the treatment were complex and I don’t want to go too deep into that. What is important is the fact it really helped me during a certain period
- [BATKIM, HORNIE & VILLAIN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/batkim-hornie-villain/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / We get to hear pretty is good and ugly is bad. But I was a jealous person. I was selfish. I was spoiled. I was angry about things. I didn’t appreciate myself. I was hurt. I was just like a mischievous kid with horns in a cartoon. I felt this
- [GARDEN OF DIGITAL DREAMS](https://swarmmag.com/art/garden-of-digital-dreams/) - WORDS BY THE ARTIST / I transform online imagery into material objects, giving the flesh to the product of the free dreaming, merge style of two different centuries. In the online world, you can transform into anyone you want to and be free in your choices so, in my paintings, the characters are sort of
- [SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/subterranean-homesick-alien/) - “On an abstract level, his flower garden may simply represent the experience of desire in a way that you, as Alice, focus your energy and emotions on trying to attain it.” WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / I come from Eastern Europe, from a Polish village surrounded by beautiful nature. Nature is the point around which
- [THE ECHOWORLD DIARIES](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-echoworld-diaries/) - A maker of art books and graphic novels, Joakim Drescher (1986) creates eclectic tales that blend surreal storytelling and graphics and stem from diverse influences such as the work of his dad, Henrik Drescher, alternative comics, the music of 80’s America, and the work of French surreal illustrators. The books and comics come in many
- [WELCOME TO THE BRAINDRAIN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/welcome-to-the-braindrain/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / A world in which the technology of full immersion is at everybody’s reach. Truth is, humanity is completely unprepared to deal with the product of their own desire. Virtual reality, which has also changed over time, has gained awareness of itself. Underground laboratories run experiments in hopes to save the
- [THE TIME OF YOUR VR LIFE](https://swarmmag.com/art/the-time-of-your-vr-life/) - PASTORAL / An excerpt from a an accompanying text from Theo’s exhibition at Eduardo Secci Contemporary in Florence, Italy, curated by THE SWAN STATION (Luca Pozzi): In Pastoral, 2019 (video game), Triantafyllidis constructs a hybrid virtual expanding landscape, a field of hay brushed by golden sunlight. The player finds himself as a muscular Ork character
- [GROBIÁN (THE BRUTE)](https://swarmmag.com/words/th-brute/) - The Brute. What could I have in common with him? With that hateful narcissist? With that laughing-stock creature, psychopath, lover of fur coats, colour monochromes, helmets and constrained gestures? With the whole allegory of self-importance, overplay and haughty ridiculousness? How could I be the bad-ass Brute? I, a shy and smiling 60-year-old boy since forever,
- [WALKING ON A LEAF](https://swarmmag.com/art/walking-on-a-leaf/) - The basis of their “photoshoot” was experiment and searching for a new editorial concept. The two photographers refused to recycle the same-old-same-old approach to fashion photography. Through playing with objects found in their homes and ideas found in their heads, they composed the resulting snaps based on irony, “workslow” and neighbour’s stick insects. CREDITS Photography
- [SSSNAKE SSSADNES](https://swarmmag.com/video/sssnake-sssadnes/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / This is a fable about a snake who managed to escape from the terrarium into the plumbing system of a prefabricated house. The owner-owned relationship of the man and the animal and its practical application has led the snake into an absurd situation of detachment from the natural environment from
- [TELLING OF THE BEES](https://swarmmag.com/photography/telling-of-the-bees/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / What we have, we owe to bees. Human evolution is expressly linked to bees. Among the most prolific and successful pollinators on the planet, bees have helped create and maintain the biodiverse environments that made it possible for human civilization to take root and grow. Across cultures, it was once
- [DEFORMATION EVOLUTION](https://swarmmag.com/art/deformation-evolution/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In my work, I’m following up on the previous cycle of paintings that stemmed from the oversaturation of media, advertisements, and visual attention grabbers, which surround us every day. I’m only referencing the previous cycle formally, regarding the contents, recently, I’ve taken interest in the unpredictable technological evolution and the
- [LOST GENERATION](https://swarmmag.com/video/lost-generation/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Experimental film LOST GENERATION is a story about the mixed emotions of a generation that was born and raised during the break-up of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was made up of six socialist republics with Tito as their leader and it was a huge country where everyone had access to free education
- [LEVITATING THREATS](https://swarmmag.com/video/levitating-threats/) - Peter Mazur is a 35-year-old graphic designer from Kyiv, Ukraine. He takes interest in 3D modelling and design, and inspiration from organic patterns, nature, contemporary art, and technology. He’s also one half of the Internal project, which is a collaboration between two designers working with brand identity, illustration, and web design who are always open
- [AVANT-GARDEN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/avant-garden/) - “…a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.” Story of Daphne as found in Ovid’s “The Metamorphoses”.
- [BUCOLIC NIGHTMARES](https://swarmmag.com/art/bucolic-nightmares/) - An exclusive interview with author Jan Vytiska. Your paintings always have multiple narrative and symbolic layers. How do your creative process and motif choosing look like? It’s a collage principle that sources from photographs and drawings. The whole of prep work, which for me is equally important as the painting process, is searching for photographs,
- [METAMORPHOSIS](https://swarmmag.com/words/metamorphosis/) - Hey y’all, we’ve got news about changes. No, we’re not going to address how the second quarter of 2020 got us a new meaning for the C-word. Besides, this is not the place – let’s focus on other transformations. For the upcoming three months, we’ll be making your acquaintance with METAMORPHOSIS, our second umbrella theme
- [INVERSION 89](https://swarmmag.com/words/inversion-89/) - Over 30 years ago, the North Bohemian city of Teplice bore witness to demonstrations that took place just a few days before the well-known events at Národní třída (National Street) in Prague on 17th November 1989. The unbearable ecological situation manifesting as constant atmospheric pollution drove the people of Teplice into the streets. Shortly after
- [LIVES; CONCEPTUALIZED](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lives-conceptualized/) - An interview with fashion designer Michaela Čapková. What does the theme of heritage mean for your work? Heritage is an indispensable source of inspiration when I create. Even though I sometimes don’t intend to reference it directly, I often slip in that direction with the concept. It inspires me either through clothing forms – I
- [TAPESTRY FOR HOMES, NOT CASTLES](https://swarmmag.com/interview/tapestry-for-homes-not-castles/) - How did you find your way to a craft such as a tapestry weaving? Is there someone who introduced you to it? The answer to this question can be traced to when I was 15. I had a dream of becoming a photographer, we even had a darkroom at home but my parents were getting
- [BOŽENA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/bozena/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / The BOŽENA collection deals with inheritance. I reconstruct the estate of my grandmother Božena based on the stories about dresses she wore and which do not exist anymore. I connect grandma´s descriptions to the expression in my clothing style and this way, I create an inheritance for future generations. The
- [HUMAN BODY AS AN UNDESIRED HERITAGE?](https://swarmmag.com/words/human-body-as-an-undesired-heritage/) - The sense of touch, alongside taste and sight, is interesting to me because it is (at least for now) problematically compatible with the virtual environment. All of these human senses point out to how our corporeal boundaries change over time in relation to technologies. We can transform image and sound into the numeric code but
- [DIGITAL ██████  ETHNOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY](https://swarmmag.com/design/digital-██████-ethnographic-dictionary/) - Display, Prague’s association for research and collective practice, published Dalibor Knapp’s book DIGITAL ██████ ETHNOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY in 2019. Via the ethnographic method, the author examines and describes the situation of a body in a digital space, which has absorbed old power structures and patterns and refined them into new forms of violence, dominance, and exploitation.
- [PLAYDATE WITH MYSELF](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/playdate-with-myself/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / SUNNY SIDE UP / My graduate collection, Sunny Side Up, is a translation of my childhood memories. The inspiration came from a variety of things, from books I read as a kid to crazy cartoons such as my favourite Dexter’s Laboratory. The starting point of this collection was the original
- [CAUCASIAN TYPE NOW AVAILABLE IN ALL FAMILIES](https://swarmmag.com/design/caucasian-type-now-available-in-all-families/) - Languages and scripts (written languages) play an important role in forging national identities and turning them into nation states (or vice versa). These imagined communities of people who think, speak, read, and write the same language form closed groups which often stand against one other. There are many types of alphabets or writing systems for
- [RETROSPECTIVE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/retrospective/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Ретроспективный. Retrospectif. Retrospective. This is what the project title means. Retrospective of Russian culture, the language in which the word is written. Retrospective of my culture, Romanian one, that is closely linked to the one named above. Retrospective of the fashion world and its history. Retrospective of my story, myself,
- [NEW MYTHOLOGY](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/new-mythology/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / In the last year, sustainable fashion has become a lot more mainstream. But not so long ago, when I told potential customers that my jewellery was made from recycled silver, I’d see in their faces a sudden question: a scepticism about the quality. If it was made from old silver,
- [A HOMAGE TO LIFE'S WORK](https://swarmmag.com/words/a-homage-to-lifes-work/) - Bohuslav Woody Vašulka, who died on December 20, 2019, at 82 years old in Santa Fe, spent his life working as an artist, a teacher, and as one of founders of a famous New York art space The Electronic Kitchen. Vašulka – originally a documentary filmmaker, after moving to New York in 1965 advocated for
- [WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS GROW](https://swarmmag.com/photography/where-the-wildflowers-grow/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Where the Wildflowers Grow portrays a rural village, hidden in a mountainous area of northern Greece, in which the past continues to play a significant role in shaping the current state and atmosphere. A part of my family originates from this location and used to live there until they were
- [LANGUAGE LUGGAGE](https://swarmmag.com/words/language-luggage/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Language is a heritage – generous present given to us by our parents and the land where we grew up. Sometimes, origin dictates everything. Sometimes, it’s only the first chapter. Nine months ago, I came to Prague with two valizas. A lot of things I couldn’t take with me: my
- [DON'T PANIC!](https://swarmmag.com/video/dont-panic/) - Olga Krykun’s piece, Don’t Panic, was thoroughly reviewed by František Fekete, the curator of the 35M2 Gallery in Prague. Below, you’ll find his captivating take on untangling the universe of symbolism, dadaism and visual references that is Krykun’s video art. WORDS ABOUT THE AUTHOR / Don’t Panic asks the same question that comes to mind
- [BEASTS OF PREJT](https://swarmmag.com/art/beasts-of-prejt/) - WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / Dogs in folk costumes, animal feasts in graveyards, pig-slaughter, grandmas with bunnies… Mária Gloza sources the inspiration for her work from South Moravian customs and traditions but also things that surround us in our day-to-day life. All this gets thrown into an absurd and bizarre mixture. For example, the series
- [BLACK SUBDIVISION](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/black-subdivision/) - Words by the author / The idea of the Black Subdivision collection was born out of the desire to reproduce the beauty of nature in the process of degradation caused by pollution. The Black Subdivision collection may be described as an example of inspirational amalgam, which is based on the combination of different structures and
- [TO REPEL THE SPOOKS](https://swarmmag.com/art/to-repel-the-spooks/) - Words by the author / For some time now, I’ve been invested in rituals, customs and traditions that, for the most part, come from the pre-Christian period but we meet them even today in some form. At first, I focused my interest namely on wedding rituals that allow for a clear past/present comparison of their
- [MARIA](https://swarmmag.com/video/maria/) - Words by the author: What does caring for a family mean? And when is the right time to start a revolution? Is it responsible to take such a risk when you are a woman, mother, peasant? Maria is the result of one year’s work documenting the lives of the inhabitants of my home village. Collected
- [CAN YOU FEED YOUR COAT?](https://swarmmag.com/words/can-you-feed-your-coat/) - Wool has been, since forever, one of the essential incentives to raise sheep. Sheep are not only profitable for their wool and meat but also play a major role in maintaining the natural character of a landscape, thanks to grazing. Without a hitch, they can mow even hardly accessible terrain, are environmentally friendly for protected
- [HEART BEADS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/heart-beads/) - Hi, can you introduce yourself to our readers? My name is Rasa Vilcinskaite, I work and live in Lithuania. Originally, I am a painter who reclassified herself into the works of jewellery, accessories and wearable art. My passion for jewellery started in 2013 when I made my first beaded embroidery necklace piece. Since then, it
- [SACRED THREADS FROM EARTH'S BOWELS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/sacred-threads-from-earths-bowels/) - Words by the authors: The Para Platform was formed in the powerful year of 2012 as a response to the global need for the creation of sacred garments and accessories of organic origin. “Para” (Sanskrit) means going beyond the limits of something else. “Platform” is a space for co-creation. The best masters from all around
- [INDUSTRIA](https://swarmmag.com/photography/industria/) - An autodidact photographer, Jirásek has been active on the Czech art scene for over 30 years. One of his most famous works, INDUSTRIA from 2006, maps the final life stages of “cathedrals of work” – industrial complexes and iron or metal works of the cities of Blansko, Třinec, Kladno and others. According to Petr Nedoma,
- [NOAH'S ARK](https://swarmmag.com/photography/noahs-ark/) - Štěpánka Sigmundová is a Czech, Prague-based artist, working with multiple media including painting, ceramics and glazing, photography, video or installations. She graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Painting Studio II / Vladimír Skrepl School, in 2015. Right now, photography used to document and to preserve one’s surroundings is Štěpánka’s pivotal artistic interest. For
- [POTATO SHRINES](https://swarmmag.com/art/potato-shrines/) - Gergö’s works are influenced by a kind of nostalgia connected to his childhood memories, reminiscing Hungarian rural and community life. Below he explains the thought process behind painting the holy imagery onto the tiny shrines that emerge from the potatoes. “Potatoes are tightly connected to agricultural work. In our home, the whole family took part
- [SEASHORE COVEN](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/seashore-coven/) - Spanish filmmaker, Laura Martínova, and Finnish Aalto University graduate, Linda Kokkonen, collaborated and created a mystical artistic fashion video steeped in empowering witchcraft and the love and respect for nature. Produced by David Cuní and Laura Bestle, the video showcases Kokkonen’s womenswear collection, inspired by motorcycle racing clothes, Alexandrian Witchcraft and elements from the Victorian-era
- [JE NE SUIS PAS RENTRÉ](https://swarmmag.com/words/je-ne-suis-pas-rentre/) - One of the first drawings I remember is that of a white house, a free-standing house in a green meadow. The house was rather symmetrical, with two windows and a door in the middle, smoke coming out of the chimney. I can’t remember if there was a tree next to it or if the sky
- [PRIVATE MARDI GRAS](https://swarmmag.com/art/private-mardi-gras/) - Alice creates wearable sculptures that can take the form of headdresses, dresses, balaclavas, masks, mittens, jewellery and more. She almost never shoots them on anyone else besides her – family members being the rare exception. As she says, all her objects reflect her inner life so it’s vital they interact and manifest through her, her
- [RIBBON WHIPS](https://swarmmag.com/art/ribbon-whips/) - An interview with the talented Slovak artist duo Jarmila Mitríková & Dávid Demjanovič. Do you work on any new projects at the moment? As of now, we’re working on a new series of glazed ceramic sculptures with the working title ‘Mythology of the Atom Age / Tatra Futurism’ that will thematically touch on superstitions, tradition,
- [LOST AND FOUND HERITAGE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/lost-and-found-heritage/) - A fashion collection by Barbora Procházková, honouring the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, served as a stepping stone for the authors of the ‘LOST AND FOUND HERITAGE’ creative concept. The Czechitas collection came to life under the Power of Identity project and pays homage to traditional Czech and Slovak folk costumes and related
- [AFTER THE BUBNY TRAIN STATION](https://swarmmag.com/words/after-the-bubny-train-station/) - The past deserves to be forgotten. There’s no need to weep for a disappearing place that is, anyway, partly surrounded by fences. No need to mourn the place where caravans park, roadblocks are built, and trees are being chopped down in the anticipation of a paintball playground. The past should be forgotten but before it
- [HERITAGE](https://swarmmag.com/words/heritage/) - Greetings, weary traveller, friend, you’re welcome to join us and rest, for now, we’re sharing stories. You might find them refreshing although they rarely have a satisfactory ending. You see, their very nature is to never reach a resolution, at least not in one’s lifetime. They’re a run-on sentence, ever so often put on a
- [MIRROR GAZING](https://swarmmag.com/art/mirror-gazing/) - “This series of illustrations bears the working title “Mirror Gazing” and it’s been a way for me to explore identity and visions of self through the past year. I draw this alien-like tribe inspired by people I meet in real life and online. I try to let them exist in a world where gender, sexuality
- [IF U GO FAR REMEMBER THE ROOTS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/if-u-go-far/) - CREDITS Concept & Photography / Nika Davydova aka @notyouramericandream Styling / @monochelovek & Assistance @bronislava_may MUA & Hair / @alexandraneus @catherine_ddkn Location / @prostranstvo.studio Model / @marinamarmelade
- [IT'S A GAME FOR US](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/its-a-game-for-us/) - “AI (Artificial Intelligence) was a topic for me since last semester when I dealt with system errors and what a computer programme can do without human supervision. I decided to broaden the “error” theme and find out what it really means for me when we apply it to a social sector,” Barbora describes her thought
- [ARTIFICAL TEARS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/artifical-tears/) - Evelyn Bencicova (b. Bratislava, 1992) is a visual creative specializing in photography and art direction. Informed by her background in fine art and new media studies (University for Applied Arts, Vienna), Bencicova’s practice combines academic research with an interest in contemporary culture to create a unique aesthetic space in which the conceptual meets the visual.
- [THE XENOPHOBIC ATTITUDE OF POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-xenophobic-attitude-of-post-soviet-countries/) - We encounter displays of Czech xenophobia in the rhetoric of politicians, internet discussions, pub dialogues, and even during family lunches. Manifestations that are subtle, hiding behind the so-called typical Czech sense of humour, and those more extreme, oftentimes breaching the boundaries of ethics, decency, and law. In the country and the city, with the young
- [THE VOYAGE TO MARS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/the-voyage-to-mars/) - The Mars collection by Mariana Berec came to life in collaboration with fashion designer Lukáš Spilka and reacts to the current polemics surrounding the planet’s colonization. The leitmotif is a woman in the role of the red planet’s colonizer. The accessories, taking shape of protective shields, masks, and synthetic hair, function as a present-day armour,
- [THE EASTERN BLOCK MYTHOS](https://swarmmag.com/video/the-eastern-block-mythos/) - Filmmaker Matyáš Fára worked his perception of contemporary myths and imagery of urban tribal lore into a short suggestive fashion movie. Prague filmmaker Matyáš Fára brings his vision of a modern myth to life. A short fashion story about warriors, gods and wild tribes is embedded in the scenery of Soviet-era block housing, old mosaics and
- [EVERYDAY SCULPTURES VOL.1](https://swarmmag.com/photography/everyday-sculptures-vol-1/) - Through the practice of wandering, I am attentive to the disruptions in our daily environments and ephemeral moments. I concentrate my attention on urban objects, details or people that seem banal at first but in which I perceive a form of error and a kind of divergence. My images contain abandoned, hand-made, DIY, and ephemeral
- [TRULL CARDS](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/trull-cards/) - I played cards against two French guys. They tried to trick me, but who is the fool now? From a Petit to the highest trump 21 and with stars in the corners, I won. “C’est la vie”, I did count on my last move, boys. CreditsArt Direction / Markéta Kosinová & Kateřina HynkováPhotography / Markéta
- [DARK ISSUES](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/dark-issues/) - Words by author: “The photographic collection came into existence thanks to a project for an online magazine (now defunct), thematically called Dark Issues. Back then, I created six photos but had the feeling that the series is not yet complete and that’s why I initiated two more photoshoots. The leitmotif is our roots and our
- [CLOCKWORK ORANGE](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/clockwork-orange/) - The wide-angle lens, bent mirrors, and magnifying sheet distort the perspective and emphasizes the unique shapes of the collection’s design. The usage of this ‘ reality distorting’ props symbolizes our different perceptions of today’s society and one’s own. Credits Photography / Eliška Sky Kyselková Designer / Wang He Yi Model / Damara Ingles MUA & Hair
- [VIVID SUBJECTS](https://swarmmag.com/photography/vivid-subjects/) - Genia Volkov seeks to reclaim the term “documentary photography”, narrowed into a one-dimensional relationship with reality, as the extension of self. His work flows from a mixture of questions: are images our life? Are we being made into images by our habit of documenting life? Does our routine immersion in them dull our perception of
- [SYMPTOMATIC](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/symptomatic/) - The experimental collection is intended for the leisure activities of Gen Z. It was compiled based on researched symptoms that define the Z members. The cornerstone thought is that Generation Z is one of the first demographies that fluently occupies the boundary between the physical and virtual world. They were the first to be born
- [THE UNDERDOGS PT.3](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-underdogs-pt-1-copy-copy/) - Petr and Jan / Hi guys, do you think that clothing can genuinely express an opinion or it’s too superficial for that? P: I don’t think about this at all. It’s good to take it easy, as something between work and fashion. And girls like it. J: I express an opinion through what I wear,
- [CAUSES OF HYSTERIA](https://swarmmag.com/art/causes-of-hysteria/) - Causes of Hysteria (2019) is a six-piece series of little crystal sculptures that represent the everyday delights that were believed to cause hysteria in women in the 19th century. In my sculptures, these ordinary actions have literally turned women into captivating objects of science and surveillance. On the contrary, men were diagnosed with hysteria only
- [THE UNDERDOGS PT.2](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-underdogs-pt-1-copy/) - Jozef / 31 Hey, can I ask… (Jozef interrupts) J: …what’s in my pocket? DJ Witch asks such things. Well, I have my mobile phone, some snotty handkerchief… What music do you listen to and are you in a band right now? Well, along with my brother, I’m a fundamental part of “Michael Jackson Pollock”
- [THE UNDERDOGS PT.1](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-underdogs-pt-1/) - Tomáš / 31 Hi Tomas, do you play in any band at the moment? I’ve been playing with a band called VOLE for about 2-3 years now, we’ve put out a record, went on a European tour, and now we’re preparing another record and have gigs constantly. We play hardcore-punk; it’s a bit atypical, it
- [CZECHIA](https://swarmmag.com/photography/czechia/) - For me, analog photography isn’t a nostalgic rediscovery of something forgotten, in fact, I started when I was six and practically haven’t stopped since. My first picture was a blurry black squirrel. Together with Filip Slivka, we’ve published the Czechia zine that was initially only supposed to map the bizarreness we saw around us daily,
- [JARMILA](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/jarmila/) - Late evening, on the first of May— The twilit May—the time of love. Meltingly called the turtle-dove, Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay. Whispered of love the mosses frail, The flowering tree as sweetly lied, The rose’s fragrant sigh replied To love-songs of the nightingale. In shadowy woods the burnished lake Darkly complained a secret
- [FRESH TRASH](https://swarmmag.com/art/fresh-trash/) - “Fresh Trash” are the newest collage pieces by Mira Macík that feature painting, drawing, serigraphy, and other techniques. It’s a series of self-portraits that gradually transforms from the likeness of a human skull into a symbol of a cross, symbolising negation. The dominant theme of the whole series is drawing, which the author perceives as
- [ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHT](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/one-thousand-and-one-night/) - Credits Creative Director / Markéta Kosinová Photography / Shotby.Us Styling / Kateřina Hynková MUA / Diana Vitikačová Produced / SWARM MAG Models Karolina / New Alien Agency Designers Ether Daniela Pešková Maria Nina Václavková Dry Milk of Virgin Mary Aleš Hnátek Special thanks to / Buchara Perské Koberce
- [KVASKOVA](https://swarmmag.com/editorial/kvaskova/) - The Eastern Slovak band Kvaskova consists of four members: Jaroslav Ďurček/guitar, Peter Mladý/bass guitar, Ján Čura/drums, and Zdenka Kvasková/vocals and keyboard. They build rich, layered compositions in which the guitar, bearing repetitive melodic motifs, enters together with electronic effects. Dark and melancholic musical passages alternate with energetic ones, rock character alternates with balladic. Non-traditional instruments
- [THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE WORLD](https://swarmmag.com/photography/the-most-beautiful-city-in-the-world/) - In their ongoing project, entitled “The Most Beautiful City in the World” (2014-2019) Matjaž Rušt & Robert Marin are persistently creating the visual diary of Ljubljana. The title of the work stems from the promotional phrase of current Ljubljana mayor who denoted the capital as the most beautiful city in the world. On the contrary, the
- [THE ONTOLOGY OF A CROP TOP](https://swarmmag.com/words/the-ontology-of-a-crop-top/) - The night before creating my first crop top was preceded by a day of pondering the mask with which I would cover my face. The act of revealing the belly and accepting an aspect of clothing conventionally considered feminine, was preceded by hiding the face. While the belly is a vulnerable spot, holding the proof
- [WICKED GAME](https://swarmmag.com/art/wicked-game/) - A Mind Can Go That Way I put you on a pedestal of my fantasies as a muse. Since then, I’ve been feeling magnetized and primitive at the same time. What kind of mask do you want to wear today? What identity should I choose for myself? Stitch by stitch, I created a colorful space
- [HUNGRY HUNTER](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/hungry-hunter/) - Last night I dreamed of chickens, there were chickens everywhere, they were standing on my stomach, they were nesting in my hair, they were pecking at my pillow, they were hopping on my head, they were ruffling up their feathers as they raced about my bed. They were on the chairs and tables, they were
- [THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR DEVICE](https://swarmmag.com/words/there-is-something-wrong-with-your-device/) - The digital code is exact; all information can be expressed via numbers, iconically described by the infamous metaphor of zeros and ones. But try writing a message that will include carons, acute accents, commas and capital letters. Try writing the full name of a street in Prague including the house number. It is not possible.
- [POST–SOVIET: OTHERNESS AND THE AESTHETIC OF DISAPPEARANCE](https://swarmmag.com/words/post-soviet-otherness-and-the-aesthetic-of-disappearance/) - Considering the post-soviet condition requires an amount of elaborate introductions. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the not-so-long-ago late ‘80s and early ‘90s, came a set of new rules and power-structures regarding the political state, international relations, trade, art, fashion, culture, TV-commercials, greasy junk food, game show hosts, and office attire for hostile
- [EX.TREME EX.STREAM](https://swarmmag.com/fashion/ex-treme-ex-stream/) - . be brave . stand for sustainability . avoid automatism . be respectful . dodge mainstream . don’t waste . live in symbiosis . be open-minded . quality over quantity . slow down . take care . recycle . express yourself . think first . mind nature and people . . be an ally .

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