What if we paused for a moment, slowed down and looked at nature through the eyes of a botanist?
We invite you to the official unveiling of a new artwork, Walking with Holuby (Pešo s Holubym), by Slovak architect and artist Adam Hudec. The artwork is part of the LANDMARKS / STOPS IN THE LANDSCAPE series, which brings contemporary art into the natural environment of the Považie region.
📅 7 November 2026 at 2:00 PM
📍 Near Holuby Cottage, Veľká Javorina
Join us for an extraordinary walk through a landscape where art, nature and history meet. Seven artistic stops await you, inviting you to slow down, engage all your senses and see familiar surroundings from an entirely new perspective.
Seven Stops, Seven Perspectives on the Future of Nature
Walking with Holuby is inspired by the life and botanical walks of Jozef Ľudovít Holuby, a prominent Slovak botanist who spent more than fifty years exploring and documenting the natural environment of the White Carpathians on foot.
His approach to discovering the landscape – through walking, observation and curiosity – became the inspiration for this unique art trail.
Seven artistic stops have been created along an approximately 1.2-kilometre circular trail near Holuby Cottage, offering a glimpse into what the future of nature might look like in 2050.
Each stop tells a different story. Stories about soil and microorganisms, plants, fungi, pollinators, animals and ourselves as humans. Together, they raise questions about how the landscape will change as a result of climate change and what role we play in shaping its future.
The artistic objects were created from tree trunks that had to be removed for safety or health reasons. But their story does not end there. Over time, the wood becomes a new home for fungi, mosses, lichens, insects and other organisms.
Nature thus becomes a co-creator of the artwork. Its appearance will gradually be transformed by time and the life that emerges within it.
And what makes this trail so special? Simply looking is not enough. The individual stops invite you to sit down, crouch close to the ground, gaze up into the treetops or simply remain still for a moment and experience the landscape with all your senses.
Accompanying Programme
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Meet the Artist Adam Hudec and Join a Guided Walk along Walking with Holuby – Join the artist for an approximately 1.5-hour guided walk along the new educational trail. Adam Hudec will personally introduce the individual stops, explain how they were created and share the ideas behind them. Together, we will explore what nature can reveal about its future.
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Living History with Jozef Ľudovít Holuby – Discover the story of a prominent Slovak botanist, naturalist and Lutheran pastor who devoted his life to studying the plants and natural environment of the White Carpathians. Holuby was a passionate observer of the landscape, and his botanical walks inspired the creation of this artwork. Through a living history experience, we will travel back to the time when he explored nature step by step and remind ourselves how important it is to observe the world around us with care and attention.
Programme for Families with Children
Become Little Explorers of the Považie Region! 🌿
Set off with your children on an adventurous journey of art and nature! During the unveiling of four new artworks from the LANDMARKS / Stops in the Landscape series, you can discover the beauty of the Považie region together and collect impressions of nature in your very own journal, FOLLOWING THE LANDMARKS TRAIL – My Little Journal of Great Discoveries.
At each of the four stops, you can capture a unique impression of nature in your journal, creating an original keepsake of your shared journey through the landscape.
The journal and all the necessary materials will be provided free of charge on site. Just come along, let your imagination run free and set off to explore the Považie region!
About the Artist
Adam Hudec is a Slovak architect, researcher and educator originally from Bánovce nad Bebravou, who lives and works in Vienna. His work combines art, science and architecture, exploring the relationships between nature, humans and the environment around us.
His projects often reveal processes and phenomena that we tend to overlook – from invisible particles in the air to microorganisms living on the surfaces of buildings.
In 2022, he created the interactive installation Airsight Deck, which uses twelve atmospheric scenarios to make changes in the air visible. The artwork was also presented in Trenčín in 2025 as part of the Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture project.
Another of his notable works is Huso Huso (2026) – an inflatable sculpture of a juvenile beluga sturgeon that draws attention to ecological memory and the consequences of human intervention in river ecosystems. The artwork was part of the Biela noc 2026 festival.
About the LANDMARKS / STOPS IN THE LANDSCAPE Project
LANDMARKS / STOPS IN THE LANDSCAPE is a series of site-specific artistic interventions created for locations across the Považie region, near cycling routes and hiking trails.
The individual artworks serve as both landmarks and places for contemplation within the landscape – places where visitors can pause, take in their surroundings and discover the historical, natural and cultural layers of the environment.
The project aims to create artworks that respond sensitively to the environments in which they are situated, offering a fresh perspective on the relationship between landscape, memory, movement and the way we perceive the world around us today. LANDMARKS thus connects art with the exploration of the region, inviting visitors to rediscover familiar places from a new perspective.
Come and walk in Holuby’s footsteps with us. You may discover that all it takes to uncover an entirely new world is to slow down and take a closer look around. 🌱
The activity is organised in cooperation with the Regional Tourism Organisation Región Považie (OOCR Región Považie). The activity is implemented with financial support from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Slovak Republic.
