Nika Batista: I Live in Realities That Are Not Completely True

Our bodies constantly manifests emotions – sometimes subtly, other times with full intensity.  Often, the body reacts faster than our mind can comprehend. Our bodies also store memories in the form of response patterns that are triggered in specific circumstances. That is why a place, a texture, and above all a scent can suddenly evoke a feeling even before we recall a clear memory. Textiles, which are in constant contact with the skin, function similarly: they absorb, mold themselves to the body, become carriers of experiences, and store memories.

In Nike Batista’s works, textiles transcend their function and offer a space where personal and collective memories materialize. The exhibition I Live in Realities That Are Not Completely True guides visitors through the spaces of the Lapidarium from the emotions of others and our perception of them, through the artist’s inner world, back outwards, toward an understanding of the emotional flow as something shared and universal. It concludes with a focus on the person physically walking through the final room, where a step, a snap of a branch and triggered emotion echo in a moment of introspection.

Through responsive textiles and delicate threads, Nika Batista explores the sensitivity and continuous flow of thoughts and emotions that form the foundation of her work. The ability of textiles to take shape reflects the artist’s interest in the materialization of feelings. And its history carries her need for connection and understanding – of others, of herself, of the moment and of the past.

Exhibited works:
-All My Thoughts Would Still Not Be Enough, 2025
stainless steel construction, jackets, sand
-I Come in Pieces, 2025
textile installation
-Don’t Leave Your Entire Heart There, 2025
steel, yarn
-Relic of a Feeling, 2026
wood, Japanese ink

Nika Batista (1991)  is an interdisciplinary artist who moves between performance, textile, body and contemporary art and design. Her work pursues harmony between conveying and visualising. As a centrepiece, she puts human being in all her/his/their emotional existence. She expands her work and concepts beyond physical, visual and emotional borders with subtility.

Curator: Deja Bečaj
Photographer: Jaka Babnik