NEO-MEDIEVAL

“Everyone should have beauty. Everyone should have access to beauty.” Chances are you have never seen anything like Nina Sivager's embroidered and tapestry-infused concrete house banners and decorative tiles, which manufacturing process was inspired by medieval handicraft.

In an exclusive SWARM Mag interview, illustrator Julia Sayapina talks dream logic, the cultural significance of sharing tales in Russia, and introduces us to her series of graphic works dedicated to the female image in cinema and songwriting.

Julia Makivic invites us on a journey that juxtaposes folklore with futuristic technology. Join us on a visit to Camaraderie Park, a haunted theme park where holographic spirits recall a painful history from a position of reconciliation and intimacy. Don’t forget to bring your wearables!

“Maybe it's the need for mystery and spirituality or maybe it just looks good.” Jakub Hrdlička, working under the artistic pseudonym of Hrzla, shares in an exclusive interview for SWARM Mag his creative processes, inspirations, and the outlook on the recent gradual resurrection of medieval themes in art.

The sharp, defined and technically demanding silhouettes of the dark, mostly black leather garments created by Alexandru Floarea are reminiscent of a twisted monarchy from a distant dystopian future. Enjoy an exclusive SWARM Mag interview.

“I prefer an imperfect but lively drawing.” Belgian native Mathieu Van Assche is adding more (perhaps mythical and ritualistic) layers of meaning to already loaded historical photographs and old masters' paintings.

Via linear hand embroidery, Czech artist Tereza Melková unleashes swarms of dancing skeletons and devils, dragons, girls turning into trees, and mythical creatures onto second-hand sweaters and hoodies.

When looking at Marijpol's world, we get the distinct feeling of encountering a mythical folklore monster born out of superstition and hearsay. Her digital illustrations of various chimeras and (human?) beings are rife with patterning and repeated structures almost to the point of a moiré effect.

Audiovisual artist Lea Petříková presents a series of three videos, all encompassing the NEO-MEDIEVALISM theme, bordering on contemporary expressive dance performance with added visual effects and a hint of storytteling. During viewing, they invoke a feeling that we're about to witness something ominous – but it never comes.

Trying their hand at predicting and outlining a future youth subculture aesthetic, German artist Ines Hanf presents their vision of a 2090 graphic and design trend, rooted in medieval sentiments filtered through black and death metal.

“It is a fact that I would not have been an artist without the death of my brother. I lost my whole frame of reference, part of me still remembers that time.” Belgian artist Laurent Impeduglia creates painstakingly crowded, slightly disturbing, colourful and seemingly random scenes in which the viewer can get lost for hours on end.

In her collection based on the mythical and folktale phenomenon of shapeshifters, Swedish designer Maya Sundholdm studies the breaking point where a garment essentially changes its wearer's silhouette and appearance, via developing her own technological and material-crafting processes.

“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 chimera look, and what does repetition lead to?

In a self-described transhistorical and cyclical view of historical events, digital French artist Léa Porré explores the idea of the 'Sacrificial King', a mythological pattern found across all civilizations and eras, in juxtaposition with the decapitation of King Louis XVIth during the French Revolution.

Dominika Dobiášová's distraught girl guide will take you through dreamy, floaty scenes drowning in dimmed light and colours. The author regularly cuts up and resews canvases to emphasize the already fractured feeling.

The armoured, almost intimidating purses by MADE IN HATE are true examples of solid handicraft, being sturdy enough to double as a fashionable flail.

While being often likened to Charles Burns, Tomáš Motal's one-of-a-kind personality, distinctive underdog humour and outcast characters never fail to make his black and white illustrations and comic books stand out on their own. Welcome to the creepy vortex.

If black metal were a landscape, it would manifest through the works of Russian artist Vladimir Omutov. His objects and sculptural works are distinguishable and noticeable mainly thanks to dark organic shapes that feel constantly fluid and pliable, reminiscent of dripping tar.

“If it's not worth waiting for, you don't need it.” Jeweller and wearable-object maker Corrina Goutos crafts tongue-in-cheek future artifacts from everyday throw-away items using historic handiwork techniques.

French illustrator Louisa Vahdat kindly gave us a tour of her royal-blue and verdant-green dominated fantasy landscapes with oftentimes unsettling occurrences in an exclusive interview.