The monumental sculpture The Gut by Anetta Mona Chişa and Lucia Tkáčová was created in 2020 as a site-specific work for a public space in Chemnitz, Germany. This city is dominated by a 7.1-meter-tall, 40-ton bronze bust of Karl Marx – the largest sculpture of Marx in the world. Complementing this "hegemonic head", the artists materialised a usually invisible and unacknowledged body part – the large intestine. By augmenting the iconography of monuments with this visceral form, they disrupt the tradition of separating the head from the body, rationality from physical experience. 

The artists conceived The Gut within the holistic bodymind theory of the indivisibility of body and mind, which are understood as interconnected and mutually influencing entities. The work thus critically reassesses the general view that the head is the control centre of the human organism, exerting exclusive influence over our actions and personality. Chişa and Tkáčová point out that topological deliberations on the complexity of consciousness fail to take into account other parts of the body and ignore its many dimensions, including, for example, organisms that live within our gut or on our skin. The Gut can thus also be interpreted as a “monument to the microbiome” – an inclusive organ that draws attention to the world of microorganisms that are invisible to the naked eye but which influence systemic processes within the human body. The oversized gut sculpture thereby symbolically represents omnifarious colonies of diverse life forms that are essential not only for our digestion but also for our cognitive functions. 

Situating the work in the grounds of Bratislava Zoo – a space intended for the observation and conservation of various endangered animal species – can thus promote empathy among visitors towards beings that not only live next to us but also directly inside us, intertwined with us in a symbiotic relationship. To support this perception, the sculpture's haptic surface encourages somatic experience across a horizontal, non-hierarchical structure upon which visitors can climb, play, or rest. 

Research status as of 20. 08. 2025.

KT