Science and art are not worlds apart, but on the contrary, they can complement each other beautifully. This is evident at first glance these days in the lobby of Building C of the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia, which is filled with works of art. The opening of the second edition of the exhibition Scientists Artists - Between Worlds featured artworks by current and former students, staff and scientists of the faculty. This year's theme, 'Between Worlds,' opens up a space for dialogue between science and art, fantasy and reality, humanity and nature.
The exhibition is open every weekday and admission is free until November 20. Not only students and staff, but also the public are cordially invited. Come and be inspired and discover what artistic souls are hiding behind the lab coats.
One of the exhibiting artists and the co-organizer of the exhibition Scientists Artists 2025 is Jakub Opelka, a PhD student in the Integrative Biology program at the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia. His research is conducted at the Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Biology of the Biological Centre of the CAS, where he studies silk in butterflies. In his spare time, he is a visual artist, especially acrylic painting and ink illustration, in which he combines a scientific view of the world with fantasy imagination. His work is characterized by layering themes and a surreal, often bizarre conception of reality. For example, his painting of a spider and a bubble from a series of paintings with an entomological theme works with the idea that insects and humans switch roles.
"What do you do if you meet a spider at home? Do you throw it away? Step on it? Squash it to atoms until it leaves a greasy spot on the floor? And what about if you were to get a spider in your living room? Just gliding on a soap bubble through ghostly clouds of light. It spreads its silvery webs across dreams, catching the souls of unwary travellers. Like a set trap, like a street lamp, it lures and does not let go in its murderous nature, it turns. And behold, who is now at the mercy of the predator," the author Jakub Opelka describes his work.
All medallions of the exhibiting artists are available on the faculty's website HERE.
