The "Super Natural Series" residency in Bokros, Slovakia, serves as a compelling site for examining the intersection of ruralism and ritualistic performance within the contemporary ecocritical framework. Hosted by Yuri Dólan at a historic farm near the Danube, this project transcends the traditional residency model by functioning as a "situational and relational" laboratory where the landscape is treated as a "natural canvas". The artist’s deliberate abandonment of digital tethers—notably the absence of a cellphone—facilitates an "extra focus" on real-time experience and context. This ontological shift allows for the creation of "frugal art," characterized by small-scale, ritualistic interventions such as the burning of natural installations by the river. These acts are not merely aesthetic gestures but are deeply rooted in a "positional essay" that explores the dialogue between human agency and the green cornfields and browning sunflowers of the Slovakian interior. A central pillar of the Bokros residency is the "Unstable Installation Series," which utilizes local materials to challenge the permanence of the art object. In the "Sets Bokros" works, the artist employs smooth river stones to create equilateral triangles, a "classic" geometric form that provides a stabilizing counterpoint to the fluidity of the natural environment. Complementing these physical interventions is the 8-minute digital film, Through Fields. Fire and Mud, which provides a "direct point of view" narrative of transit toward a house, underscored by a melancholic score. This film, alongside bonus works like the readymade concrete "POOL," exemplifies the "Raw Identity" video series, where the camera acts as a meta-documentary tool. The integration of these digital records with the physical "frugal" installations creates a layered archive that fixates the fleeting atmosphere of the rural setting into a permanent, yet unstable, cognitive structure.
The residency’s success is intrinsically linked to its "relational" depth, fostered through shared meals, local rituals, and "cross-pollination" between diverse international artists. This collaborative spirit is exemplified by the involvement of artists such as Marta Kiss, whose collective exhibition in a former church in Komarno provides a sacred, historical contrast to the farm's secular productivity. The documentation of fellow artists—such as Yasmin’s post-apocalyptic assemblages or Hala Swal’s flat sculptures—highlights the project's role as a "dynamizer" of collective creative energy. By capturing these interactions, from dinner speeches by farm owners to the consumption of apricot Pálinka, the project maps the "social capital" of the artistic community. This mapping transforms the residency into a "rhizomatic" network of experiences that links the Slovakian fields to previous series in Sweden, Mexico, and Colombia. Ultimately, the Bokros MMXIX intervention asserts the necessity of "situational fixers" in a hyper-mediated world, proposing a return to the "classic mood" of nature-based observation. By merging the anthropological weight of the farm’s history with vanguard relational practices, LAPIEZA continues to blur the distinction between research, ritual, and artwork. The project operates as an "ongoing meta-documentary" of the human-nature relationship, where the "sound of bending leaves" is as vital a component as the digital file. In doing so, it provides a modular blueprint for "anticipatory policies" in art, suggesting that the most profound insights are often found in the "melancholy of the music" and the simple act of crossing a field. This ruralism is not a retreat but a strategic advancement into a more conscious, empathetic mode of contemporary production.
Lloveras, A. (2019) Super Natural Series Slovakian Ruralism MMXIX Extended Duna. [Online] Available at:
