Research Catalogue

This exposition gathers a series of visual and linguistic investigations in which signs, form, and the space between them construct expressions that invite multiple interpretations. Here, propositions are understood as attempts, movements, and modes of thought. Between sign and form, a space emerges where meaning can be brought into play – where rhythm, structure, wonder and quietness may interact as an expanded practice of seeing, reading, and listening.

Exam Context as collaborator December 2025 - Makor

This project combines artistic and anthropological research on spontaneous gardening in open public space, predominantly in Brno, CZ. The team, mostly comprising recent graduates and graduate students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, chose gardens and plantings which were, in most cases, rather exceptional. Unlike most typical front gardens, the ones in this study are somehow peculiar, due to their location, their composition and planting schemes, their scale, or methods of those who garden there. The anthropologists on the team analyzed a Facebook group dedicated to street gardening and conducted several interviews, while the artistic team responded to particular places with which they interacted. Some results of this research have been presented to the public in the form of an application comprising an audioguide and an interactive map; this exposition in the Research catalogue documents some of these findings. The team Barbora Lungová is a visual artist and has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology since 2007. Her field of practice is painting and art projects focusing on plants, gardening, and queerness. She is the coordinator of the Partisans with a Hoe project. Lucia Bergamaschi is a visual artist working across the media of photography, sound, and installation. She earned an MA in Fine Art at Università Iuav di Venezia and an MA in Law at Università di Bologna. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT. Nela Maruškevičová combines painting, installations, and glass in her artistic practice. She is a 2023 graduate of the FFA BUT. Kateřina Konvalinová is a visual artist interested in the overlapping spaces of art, communal life, farming, and ritual. She earned her MA in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and is currently a doctoral student at the FFA BUT. Iva Balcaříková is a graphic designer and a member of the team behind the curated audio walks created by Galerie Art in Brno. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT. Hana Drštičková is a visual artist and a social anthropologist interested in environmental and queer topics. She graduated with an MA in Fine Arts from the FFA BUT in 2022 and with a BA in social anthropology from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Masaryk University and is currently a doctoral student at the Gender Studies Department of Charles University in Prague. Anastasia Blokhina is a social anthropologist who graduated with an MA tfrom the Faculty of Social Sciences of Masaryk University in 2022. Polyna Davydenko is a photographer and a video artist who documents social and environmental issues in her work, most recently those connected with the war in Ukraine. Filip Dušek is a media artist who studied at the Department of Photography at the FFA BUT. The project was conducted under the Specific Research FaVU-S-23-8441 Program.

This exposition aims to examine the found and experienced environments as an impulse for artistic and pedagogical potentials in performance design. The writer asks, what kind of performance design could be created through scenographic worlding? The exposition presents a research approach to the urban, built environment, which is seen as an impulse, a constant and ongoing potential for performances and performance designers’ work. The topic is contributed with photographs from the writer’s site-sensitive memos. This approach offers perspectives on contemporary scenography and its theories. It is situated in the field of art-based action research, and the intention is to combine performing arts, performance design, visual arts, and pedagogy. The exposition highlights that an observational, experiential, and environmentally oriented way of working may prove more useful in the future; designers encounter applied and nomadic forms of performance design in their careers. How can we create more sustainable performance design, encourage ecocreativity and work towards more sustainable pedagogy?

The presentation focuses on inclusive sensory drawing as a way to observe, notice and interact with non-human species in local nature, imagine their perspectives and reflect on the experience. It is known that many people today feel alienated from nature while on the other hand connection to nature is linked to pro-environmental behaviour. As an artist and art educator I have been wondering how participatory artistic and educational practices can reinforce the emotional and physical connection with nature, how to create conditions for perceiving the intertwinedness and mutual dependence, moreover, what could be the role of art and art education in the post-growth conditions. Drawing is not a new method for observing nature, but I find the inclusive drawing activities to be relevant to facilitate creative nature experience in contemporary context. As an artist, I have been using sensory drawing and realised how using the pencil and brush as facilitators help me to concentrate, slow down, notice interactions and sense myself as a part of the ecosystem. I have used the embodied and situated artistic thinking as a source for drawing walks and workshops in gardens, forests and parks and introduce some of the simple exercises in this presentation, asking how and which drawing and painting approaches facilitate active engagement with the environment and what is the intersection between artistic practice, environmental and artist pedagogy. I describe the specifics of four methods. These kind of curated nature experiences offer possibilities to recognise other beings, their relationships and ourselves as related to them through actions and reflections.

xeno-/exo-/astro -choreoreadings is a postdoctoral artistic research project that explores research questions that reopen site- and place-responsive choreographic practices by expanding the notions of ‘site’ and ‘place’ to outer space. The prefixes in the title refer to planetary conditions to which I do not have direct access. Another key choreographic exploration focuses on embodying hyper-reading and examining the impact of digital reading on embodied artistic practice. Hyper-reading refers to a computer-assisted, screen-based reading practice that has become common in contemporary daily life globally. It connects the reader to the limitless cyberspace. The research project blends these two spatial dimensions, in which the examination of the notions of choreography and choreoreading happen. The research process is multidisciplinary and hybrid in nature, producing artworks, traces, and reflections. The results are presented in this exposition as artworks and as reflections on the choreographic practice that this process has clarified. Download Accessible PDF