offline assemblages

Maja Štefančíková: offline assemblages ongoing performative situations, 2025 What happens when a human tries to feel, think, and move like an animal? As part of Echoes of the Venice Biennale, artist Maja Štefančíková and her collective introduce a new series of day-long performative situations. In these live actions, they intentionally step into the movements, physical qualities, and behaviors of other beings—questioning the idea of human dominance. Through a process of mutual learning, the performances deepen empathy with more-than-human creatures. By exploring how others move, blending in with their surroundings, or shifting behavior, new constellations of bodies begin to form—mixing with objects, digital networks, and the presence of the audience. This constantly changing togetherness shapes new ways of sensing, noticing, and following—uncovering hidden links and dynamics between all who take part. It becomes a kind of performative ecology. The situations explore a wide range of themes and images that interconnect, creating a living web of meaning. There’s a newborn giraffe learning to balance its long neck, a peacock spider in ritual dance, and Jeremy—the left-turning snail. We witness sea anemones losing their color, cacti moving in time-lapse, and the No Mow May movement inviting stillness and slow care. Lions appear during lockdown, next to the CECOT prison in El Salvador and a wolf pack in a zoo. The world reveals itself through small stories: female mosquitoes, dolphin legends in Venetian canals, or Homo sapiens live-streaming his life. Each gesture resonates within a larger web of more-than-human connections—calling us to rethink how we move, sense, and relate across species and systems. In collaboration with: Silvia Bakočková, Jakub Cerulík, Anja Naňová, Nela Rusková, Marta Poláková, Silvia Sviteková, Danny Takieddin, Daniela Voráčková, Lukáš Zahy Curator: Hana Janečková Music collaboration: Petra Noskaiová Thanks to: Matej Gavula, Iveta Haasová, Zuzana Janečková, Anna Sedlačková Production: Hana Kozubová, Alena Kotyza The performative situation was developed during the artist residency and the exhibition Echoes of the Venice Biennale: Eva Koťátková – The Heart of a Giraffe in Captivity Is Twelve Kilos Lighter. The artist residency and the creation of the work were supported by public funding from the National Recovery Plan – 2024 and the Internal Grant System of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.