One of the favorite territories of Koťátková’s practice is childhood and its educational space, the school, with its paradigms of integration and social control, against which the artist conducts her research on the institution’s sedimented rituals and behavioral models.
The exhibition centers around Room for Restoring Empathy, an installation formed through numerous meetings and workshops with children, who became temporary collaborators of Koťátková. They were asked to bring their jumpers, jackets and other pieces of personal clothing, which were then transformed into the children’s second skin to articulate their opinions, dreams and desires. The jackets acquired mouths able to speak or shout, and eyes capable of seeing through walls or behind corners. During the workshops stories were shared and collected: stories of stigmatization and oppression, as well as stories about empathy and solidarity. When presented to the viewers, the elements of Room for Restoring Empathy act as a group of bodies that have convened to discuss, share or dream together, thus creating a social space respectful of all the participants’ individualities.
Curated by Luigi Fassi and Anni Venäläinen
Eva Koťátková (b. 1982, Prague, Czech Republic) lives and works in Prague.
Her work was shown in many international museums like Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2019); Kunstverein Hamburg, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2018); 21er Haus – Museum for contemporary Art (2017). Solo exhibitions have been organized by Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Maccarone Gallery, New York, Centre d’art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux (2016); Juan Miró Foundation, Barcelona, MIT List Visual Art’s Center, Cambridge, Massachussets (2015); Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2014). Eva Kot’átková has held exhibitions at the Wroclaw Museum of Contemporary Art, Modern Art Oxford and Kunstverein Braunschweig (2013). Her most significant group exhibitions include Diversity United. Contemporary European Art, Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin (2021), Migros Museum, Zurich, the Wellcome Collection, London, the Instanbul Biennale (2019), the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012), Liverpool Biennial (2010) and her participation at the Venice Biennial (2013).
