smells like kin    as we synch    stuff change    what does the gut rehearse to tell you?    after swallowing    ars for nons   bug    zynthe    trash    rausch    give us a poem

sikau/pubalova



Denisa Pubalova and Dr. Lea Luka Sikau have worked in a duo since 2020, exploring the intersection of media arts and experimental sound theater. In summer 2024, they were artist-researchers in residence at Ligeti Center Hamburg. In 2025 they are part of Studiotopia, working on a project with LABoral & Bionuc, Spain.

Dr. Lea Luka Sikau (she/her) is an artist-researcher with a PhD on posthumanism, new opera and rehearsal ethnography from the University of Cambridge. As a media artist and stage director, she focuses on post-Anthropocentrism, having worked with artists such as Romeo Castellucci, Marina Abramović, and Rimini Protokoll. Currently, she is the curator for sound art and music at the ZKM.

Denisa Pubalova (she/her) is a media artist, a researcher on environmental philosophy, critical posthumanism, and technological infrastructures, and a creative coder fascinated by interspecies communication and post-anthropocentric narratives.

They have been commissioned by Ars Electronica, LABoral, IMPAKT Utrecht, transmediale Berlin, Ensemble Modern, TONALi Hamburg, and ligeti zenter Hamburg.

leasikau@outlook.de
denisapubalova@gmail.com


CURRENT/UPCOMING:
CALORIE, Science Gallery Bengaluru


Smells Like Kin, Solo Exhibition, LABoral


EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS

2025: Smells Like Kin, solo exhibition, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial
2025: Tabboo-Transgression-Transcendence, as we synch: processign and becoming processed
2025: Schemerlicht Festival Nijmegen, As we Synch
2025: Re/Silence, BASE Milano, Stuff Change
2025: CALORIE, Science Gallery Bengaluru, Stuff Change
2024: Performance, Zynthe, Kulturpreis Bavaria
2024: Multisensory installation commissioned by STARTS, TONALi, ligeti center, Stuff Change
2024: Multisensory dinner at Toepfer Foundation, What does the gut rehearse to tell you?
2024: Audiovisual performance at Ars Electronica Center, After Swallowing
2024: Installation and workshop at ISEA 2024 Melbourne, BUG
2023: Installation at Ars Electronica Festival, BUG
2023: Installation commisioned by IMPAKT Utrecht, transmediale Berlin, BUG
2023: Media dramaturgy at Biennale für aktuelle Musik Frankfurt Rhein Main, Give Us A Poem
2022: Performance at Reeperbahn festival, TRASH
2022: Presentation at Vasulka Kitchen Brno, Ars for Nons
2022: Installation at Ars Electronica Festival for Linz Institute of Technology, Ars for Nons
2021: Performance at Reeperbahn festival, RAUSCH
ARTICLES AND MENTIONS

Selected emerging artists, LABoral, Bionuc, STUDIOTOPIA Residency Programme

Insight: ‘Stuff change’, synchronising our gut feelings through metabolic acoustics, Clot magazine

Residency: Juli - September 2024: stuff change / látková přeměna by Lea Luka Sikau & Denisa PůbalováLigeti center