Ales Cermak & Jindriska Cermak Krivankova

Ales Cermak (artist, transdisciplinary researcher and founder artistic research platform Ausdruck Books Hybrid Publishing Platform), Jindriska Cermak Krivankova (choreographer, lector) and our two children Vavrinec Reza and Elza. In our work, we focus on research and development of embodied, multisensory forms of cognition, hybrid thinking, social interaction, writing and education that is directed towards performativity.

We are currently working in a small team on the hybrid educational and research environment Sea-Water Amplification (SWA), which seeks to develop interspecies communication, multi-sensory cognition methods and situational knowledge in connection with outdoor pedagogy and seascape epistemology with a focus on the Atlantic Ocean. The epistemology of seascape in this project is not only a critical knowledge of the ocean or other marine-aquatic environments, but also encompasses a multitude of events and ideas that are organized according to how they move and interact, emphasizing the recognition of our own perspective, mode of perception, and place within a dynamic, constantly moving interface. In the past, we worked on the Portuguese coastal line Praia de Norte. Currently, all our educational and research activities take place on the Pico in the Azores archipelago, which has also become our home.

Through our practices (together AB HPP), we develop the potential of so-called tacit knowledge, i.e. those forms of knowledge that enable us to know (or see) more than we are able to communicate.

In the long term, we focus on developing the concept of the Ecology of Practice. A key aspect of our work is that it is not primarily intended for professional artists or art institutions, but should be accessible to both artists and non-artists. In recent years, our work has been so open that practically anyone or no one can take part in it and it can take place anywhere.

We see our research stay in Saari as a continuous process. Similar to our practice, which is not primarily result-oriented, but primarily a process of rigorous listening and understanding, we will strive to continue our work seamlessly, but with a stronger focus on a specific place. We are currently working on a large educational research project called Pedagogy for Extended-Interspecies Listening, of which our two children (Vavrinec and Elza) are also a natural part. Their presence and activities significantly influence the shape and direction of the whole project. We would like to bring this project closer within our stay and further develop and think through our own embodied practice the abundance of ocean fluid flow, which integrates into our senses such forms of force as ice, rain, fog, spray, the smell of (sea) water, taste, sound, resonance, images and daydreams contained “far” beyond the shorelines.

This could be an interesting point, which could create a bridge, for future longer-term research and collaboration, which would pay attention to the multiplicity of ocean materialities.

Website:

https://swa.abhpp.org

https://www.abhpp.org/en/