photo © Sea-Water Amplification (SWA) Atlantic Ocean Azores 2026

We would like to share with you a new interview that was created for the work Thinking with the Ocean: Artistic Research and More-Than-Human Knowledge in Contemporary Art.

The interview was conducted by Nicol Sopikova as part of the SWA residency on the island of Pico, on 15. 3. 2026.

photo © Sea-Water Amplification (SWA) Atlantic Ocean Azores 2026

Nicol: What role does the body play in the process of cognition?

Ales: Research based on embodied practice, also means research based on direct experience. For some reason, we believe that we own our bodies. Yet much just flows through our imagination. In one of our works, we say that we are, in a sense, soft vessels of seawater. Bodies in the process of cognition can perform the function of a kind of temporary archive or database. They are shaped by places and weather effects. They are sensory organs and vessels for reading the atmosphere. We feel this very intensely on ourselves. Everyone can feel it a little differently over time. The body becomes our weather and form over time, as the weather also changes. This means that it is dynamic and, above all, interactive. But the body also influences the environment, because it always extends across different worlds, which themselves are also very large, unknown and different. Listening through our bodies means immersing in how these worlds meet each other.

The interview is now available in Czech on the website of the Journal of Sea-Water Amplification and will shortly be translated into English.