PRE-OPENING WORKSHOP: Scent is Present at holo-: Pupal Fluid exhibition

On the day of the exhibition opening, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. holo- will lead Scent is Present, a workshop centred on migration.

Participants will experiment with different scent materials before composing, naming and bottling their own scent composition. The migration of cranes provides one point of departure for exploring departure, memory and belonging through scent.

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Book your place—the spaces are limited! Buy your ticket HERE!

About the exhibition:

MODEM presents Pupal Fluid, a solo exhibition by holo-, the artistic duo formed by transdisciplinary glass artist Michaela Cagáňová and designer Kamila Valešová. The collective’s name stems from the Greek-derived prefix holo-, used in scientific compound words and meaning “whole” or “complete”. Its fragmentary form evokes a sense of interconnectedness.

The title refers to the radical bodily reorganisation that takes place during insect metamorphosis. Inside the pupa, some larval tissues break down, while others persist and are reorganised as the adult body develops. The exhibition takes this transitional state as its point of departure: the previous bodily form is already changing, while the new one has not yet fully emerged.

Formed through a long-standing friendship, the duo’s working method is based on dialogue and interdependence, rejecting the myth of the individual artistic genius. Through field research and collaborations with specialists from different scientific disciplines, they construct hypothetical landscapes and para-fictional narratives that engage with forms of life and communication beyond ordinary human perception. Their work takes the form of installations, glass objects, scent-based projects, publications, performances and workshops. Glass is a recurring material in holo-’s practice: during the making process, its form is shaped by heat and gravity as much as by the artists’ intervention.

At the heart of Pupal Fluid is Autochora, accompanied by scent compositions and glass objects. The installation consists of an altar, five custom-made scent compositions and glass cocoons. Drawing on the visual language of ritual objects, it places microorganisms, insects and plants where anthropomorphic deities might otherwise appear. The altar proposes the possibility of a teaching that requires no human language. The transparent glass cocoons, by contrast, do not reveal what happens within them: we can observe their casing, but the outcome of the transformation remains hidden. In this way, the exhibition approaches metamorphosis as an uncertain transition and draws attention to relationships between human and non-human forms of life.

Smell is the principal narrative device of Pupal Fluid. Five scent compositions trace an imagined cycle of life on the planet: from the emergence of the first organism, through the movement of life onto land, the flourishing of plant life and the arrival of the human, to decay and, finally, extinction. Seawater, algae, sulphur and ozone give way to moss, fungi and roots, then nectar and petals, flesh, bodily fluids, processed leather and coffee, before ending with the smell of a burnt landscape and plastic. Through these speculative “fossils,” holo- continues its research into how scent can become a means of storytelling.

Pupal Fluid does not focus on the outcome of transformation, but holds open the intermediate state in which the previous form is already breaking down while what comes next remains unknown.

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We reserve the right to alter the program. By attending, visitors consent to the recording of audio and visual media during the event, which may be used by MODEM for promotional purposes.