A new artwork, Cliffhanger, has appeared in M. R. Štefánik Park in Trenčín. Created especially for Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture by visual artist Veronika Žilinská, a native of Púchov, the work takes the form of a 3D animation displayed on the Zero digital tower. It represents another artistic intervention in the city’s public space and raises questions about the ecological crisis, uncertainty, and our relationship with a changing world.
In her long-term artistic practice, Veronika Žilinská explores themes of memory, the passage of time, the changing nature of our surroundings, and the fragility of the material world. Through drawing, digital animation, and moving image, she examines the relationships between people, space, and traces of the past.
In Cliffhanger, she moves between two opposing states of reality – threat and its denial, anxiety and the desire for safety. Images of burning vegetation also introduce an urgent environmental dimension to the work. They point to the vulnerability of nature, the consequences of the climate crisis, and the growing uncertainty we face in today’s world. The alternation between images of danger and apparent calm also reflects the contradiction between our awareness of the ecological crisis and our everyday efforts to live as though it did not directly concern us.
The work therefore calls into question our very perception of safety and asks whether a sense of security may itself be another form of an ongoing crisis. By placing the work in public space, these themes become part of the city’s everyday life. Cliffhanger invites passers-by to stop and reflect on our relationship with nature, our own vulnerability, and the ways in which we respond to a changing world.
Veronika Žilinská
Cliffhanger, 2026
3D animation, 4:50 min.
