Models in both science and art allow us, among other things, to examine reality, reveal hidden relationships, challenge established notions, and consider reality from different perspectives. We are interested in what scientific and artistic approaches have in common, where they diverge, and what possibilities arise at their intersection. A dialogue about methods and motivations for understanding, about the relationship between abstraction and experience, about the construction of models, and about what happens when a model ceases to be merely a tool for explanation and becomes the subject of critical examination.

Zbyněk Baladrán is a visual artist. He explores the contradictions of the contemporary world and the possibilities for understanding them through art and artistic practice. He studied art history at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and new media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 2001, he co-founded Display—Association for Research and Collective Practice, where he works as a curator and organizer. He served as a curator for Manifesta 8 in Murcia (2010) and Steirischer Herbst in Graz (2012). From 2006 to 2010, he worked on the interdisciplinary project *Monument of Transformation*. He has participated in exhibitions such as Manifesta 5 in San Sebastián (2004), the 11th Lyon Biennale (2011), and the 56th La Biennale di Venezia (2013). He has exhibited in group shows at MoMA in New York (2015), Bonniers Konsthall (2026), and elsewhere. Since 2025, he has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague alongside Ladislava Gažiová.

Jakub Podgorný is an astrophysicist currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2023, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Strasbourg and Charles University. His research focuses primarily on X-ray radiation from the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, as well as polarization and radiation transport. Although his work is predominantly theoretical, he has led and participated in several large-scale observational campaigns, notably as part of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission (NASA and ASI, operational since 2021), where he serves as a scientific collaborator. For his individual contributions, he received, for example, the Česká hlava Award in 2024 (in the “doctorandus” category for the natural sciences).