Photosyntéza
A new residency collaboration in partnership with Creative Industry Košice
We are delighted to announce Photosyntéza, a new residency collaboration, established in partnership with Creative Industry Košice (CIKE) and Košice Artist in Residence (K.A.I.R.), two closely connected organizations based in Slovakia. CIKE is a broad cultural organization that positions Košice’s creative sector internationally, while K.A.I.R. focuses specifically on artist residencies and international exchange. Together, they organize programs that enable artists from various countries to work in Košice and collaborate with local creators. Photosyntéza connects new media art with contemporary environmental themes. As part of this residency, the Peru-born, Netherlands-based artist Lorena Solís Bravo will travel to Slovakia to collaborate with Slovak artist Beáta Kolbašovská. Over the course of the two-month residency, the two artists will jointly create a new media artwork that reflects on the ecological challenges of Eastern Slovakia.
Lorena Solís Bravo is a Peruvian artist based in Amsterdam. Their work focuses on themes of movement, transformation, and symbiotic relationships. It explores the transience of existence, the constant dynamism of life and matter, and the networks of relationships that interconnect everything. Through narrative and often poetic imagery, Bravo examines the boundaries between the human and the non-human. At these intersections, they invite the viewer to experience the world as a body in continuous transformation and interconnectedness. During the residency, Lorena will collaborate with Beáta Kolbašovská, a Slovak media artist whose practice includes site-specific installations, live visuals, performances, and 3D animations. She frequently works internationally to produce complex multimedia projects.
For this project, Lorena intends to research medicinal plants. “I’m interested in exploring how they have been used in the past and how they are used today. I want to learn how this knowledge is passed on and where these plants can still be found,” they explain. In addition, Bravo wishes to further develop their interest in archaeology, saying, “I find archaeology fascinating because it offers us fragments and clues about past societies, yet never the ultimate truth of how they lived or thought. I see it as a way to speculate, to access the minds of the past, and to create narratives that connect history with imagination.” By combining both subjects, Lorena hopes to weave together multiple forms of knowledge and create new connections.
The resulting artwork will be presented for the first time during Art & Tech Days, taking place from 24–29 November 2025 in Košice.