Macrobiotopes: New  Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges

Bihać, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2024
    Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges is an interdisciplinary artistic and research project exploring the intersections of ecology, migration, and cultural exchange through the lens of expanded ecologies and environmental interconnectivity. The project investigates how ecosystems, histories, and human communities intertwine, emphasizing the fluidity of cultural and ecological identities in the context of global environmental change.

    By engaging with artists, theorists, and local communities, Macrobiotopes fosters transcultural dialogues that reconsider ecological entanglements beyond national and disciplinary boundaries. The project operates through a series of residencies, workshops, public interventions, and discursive events, facilitating the exchange of knowledge, artistic practices, and ecological awareness across different geographical and cultural contexts.

    At its core, Macrobiotopes examines the concept of biotopes—localized ecosystems that sustain life—and expands it metaphorically to include cultural, social, and historical interrelations. Through this expanded notion of ecology, the project seeks to redefine how artistic practices can contribute to urgent environmental and geopolitical discussions, positioning art as a space for ecological speculation, activism, and alternative storytelling.

    By embedding itself in multiple locations and incorporating site-specific research, the project generates new understandings of cohabitation, sustainability, and the shared vulnerabilities of both human and non-human life forms. Through its interdisciplinary approach, Macrobiotopes aims to challenge existing narratives of ecology and culture, fostering a more interconnected and holistic vision of environmental futures.



      The inaugural edition of Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges takes place in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, along the River Una, in August and September 2024. This edition is structured as an artist residency and a public program of site-specific interventions, exploring the ecological, cultural, and historical layers of the Una River as a site of exchange, memory, and transformation.

      We have specifically for first year invited emerging artists from the Czech Republic to partake in the art residency stay and the mini festival in public spaces of Bihać. We are happy to host: Carolina Arandia, Alyssa Dillard, Hana Janečková, Karolína Jansová, Michal Kindernay, Rigoberto Nicolas Gallardo Schwan, Tereza Silon, Zlata Ziborova, Monika Collective (Anna Chrtková, Matyáš Grimmich, Karolína Schön)

    • By situating the first edition of Macrobiotopes in Bihać—a city historically shaped by migration, trade, and natural flows—the project underscores the transcultural nature of ecological systems and the interconnectedness of human and non-human communities. This residency sets the foundation for future iterations of the project, expanding the discourse on expanded ecologies and transcultural exchanges across diverse landscapes.



       Public Programme Schedule 



    • – 29. august 2024: 
    •     14h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Hana Janečková: Liquid Assets – performative lecture on the ecologies of assets and spaciotemporal monuments

      18h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Tereza Silon: Eluvial States – collective performative performance ritual


    • – 2 - 3. september 2024: 
    •     16h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Michal Kindernay: Sound Ecology – participatory sound workshop about ecology of sound

      18h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Alyssa Dillard: Macrobiotopes Parallel Spaces – video workshop and collective recording


    • – 4. september 2024: 
    •      15h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Karolina Jansová: Just ten minutes of (not) overthinking, 2024.– multimedia installation with a sound piece 

      17h, Sokolac Fort,  Bihać: 
      Michal Kindernay: Golubić, 2024. – participatory sound performance
    •     18h, Sokolac Fort,  Bihać: 
      Carolina Arandia: Aurora, 2023. – dance performance


    • – 5. september 2024:
      14h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Zlata Ziborova: Metabolised by Waters, 2024.– participatory performance 

      16h, Golubić Beach,  Bihać: 
      Rigoberto Gallardo: Una set, 2024.– sound performance

      18h, Bihać City Beach: 
      Monika Collective (Anna Chrtková, Matyáš Grimmich, Karolína Schön): A Temporary Autonomous Relax Zone, 2024.– performative relax workshop. 






      Entry to all programmes is free and requires no ticket reservation! 



      Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges 2024 was funded and made possible by the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Recovery Plan and the European Union.










    ⑥ Collective Monika




    Collective Monika invites you and your voyeuristic self to join them in the intervention moment on the city beach of Bihać. 

    Monika is both individual and multividual at the same time. Her body is universal—a costume makes her anonymous. 
    She is the superhero of fatigue; her body embodies the chronicles of crisis, extractive, and exhausting labor. She is coming back from the future—after The Great Burnout—and through her lenses, we see our contemporary “safe” or “resting” spaces. Wellness was claimed by capital long ago, and home is no longer a private space. She seeks to rewrite the past of her body, savoring the remnants of rest and healing while it is still possible.



    Monika Collective (Anna Chrtková, Matyáš Grimmich, Karolína Schön): A Temporary Autonomous Relax Zone, 2024.
    River Una, Bihać Beach, Bihać.







    ⑦ Zlata Ziborova




    Metabolized by Waters explores themes of personal and collective transformation through the interaction of external and internal environments, drawing attention to the liminal space between fabric, flesh, and water. Our liquid bodies are always collective, defined by how they interconnect with other bodies, places, and technologies. Whether living or non-living, human or animal, by will or determination, a fertile multitude is born from situations, objects, partnerships, and collaborations. The white dress embodies fragments of the self, shedding the past and absorbing what is to come. Immersed in the living waters of kombucha and the Una River, the dress acts like a sponge, drawing the liquids into its fabric and becoming a witness, carrying the memory of the process. Renewal emerges subtly, as the river does—cleansing while carrying the remnants of everything it touches. The living culture of kombucha, brewed with Una River water, reinforces the interplay of life and decay, creating a ritual of rekindling where body, water, and SCOBY interact, with the river serving as a medium for transformation.

    The boundaries between body, garment, and earth blur, merging in the current of the river.



    Zlata Ziborova: Metabolized by Waters, 2024.
    River Una, Golubić, Bihać.







    ⑧ Karolína Jansová



    Karolína Jansová: Just ten minutes of (not) overthinking, site-specific intermedia installation with sound, 2024.
    River Una, Golubić, Bihać.







    Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges
    • Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges was in 2024 produced by OKRA, z.s., an art non-profit based in Prague, in collaboration with KRAK Center for Contemporary Culture in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

      Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges 2024 was funded and made possible by the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Recovery Plan and the European Union.

      We thank them for their support! 

      We also thank everyone who participated in the project and made it possible with their work and dedication!
        Participating artists in 2024: 
        Carolina Arandia, Alyssa Dillard, Hana Janečková, Karolína Jansová, Michal Kindernay, Rigoberto Nicolas Gallardo Schwan, Tereza Silon, Zlata Ziborova, Monika Collective (Anna Chrtková, Matyáš Grimmich, Karolína Schön)

        Curator: Lamija Čehajić
        Production: Džana Ajanović, Zuzana Jírová
        Technical support: Eli Levi, Alexander Lochman

        Supported by KRAK team: Irfan Hošić, Sijana Hošić, Mehmed Mahmutović










        ©2024 Macrobiotopes: New Ecologies of Transcultural Exchanges 
        is funded by the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Recovery Plan and the European Union.