Eva Kotatkova
18 Sep - 23 Oct 2010
EVA KOTATKOVA
"City of the old"
18.09.2010 - 23.10.2010, Karlsruhe
We are pleased to present “City of the Old”, Eva Kotatkova ́s second solo exhibition in our gallery and her first in our Karlsruhe gallery space. In her drawings, collages, sculptures, installations and performances Eva Kotatkova deals with possible forms of self-perception. The artist sketches the concept of self as a model-like hull in her surrealistic, machine-like objects, spatial complexes and drawings: further, she questions the positioning of the self as a defined subject - in her artistic work she focuses on its role as a mutable construction in an almost playfully narrative way.
In the show “City of the Old” Eva Kotatkova addresses the environment in which seniors live, with an emphasis on interlacing fictive and authentic concepts of life. Based on memories and conceptions from sketches, letters or conversations, the artist generated the shown work based on the personal stories and experiences of old people - she transfers, relates, encompasses and annotates these as a form of artistic (re-)construction in her objects and drawings. The fine line between seclusion and isolation as well as the detachment and subversion of time and space are subjects with the same extent of importance in these pieces.
“City of the Old” is concieved as an ongoing project, the show in our gallery presents an excerpt of a more comprehensive conceptual piece. With the title “Stories from the Living Room” Kotatkova is currently showing a section of this project at the Liverpool Biennial. While there, the artist focuses on the relationship between older people and children (as bearers of the seniors ́ memory) – some derivatives of this subject matter can be seen in the drawings and collages in our show – here, Eva Kotatkova emphasises the isolation and mindscapes of the old, which are spread out before the viewer like a panorama.
The object “Rudolf ́s City of the Old” is based on a utopian model city as imagined by an old man, it sketches the ambivalent character of a retirement home (simultaneously a place of refuge and of captivity) in a synthesis of architecture, furniture and memorial. The modules positioned around one another do not observe a realistic sense of proportionality: The chairs and shelves arranged in the centre are outsized in comparison with the surrounding building complexes. They form an associative structure that – shifting between construction and subversion – turns an inner visualisation into an outside realisation, and documents the imagined spatial structure as a visionary concept.
“Maria ́s Window Theatre” refers to the life situation of a woman whose daily routine revolves around the view from her window, on which she takes notes in a diary. Reflecting the static picture frame of the window and the events seen through it with their only slight variations, Eva Kotatkova developed a construction of layered sliding image panels that show interchangeable scenarios, much like a sequence of sets, which serve as the backdrop of the presentation. Similar to the view through a window, these panels serve as a substitute for reality that Kotatkova sets against the diary notes. The diary, attached to a chair in front of the object, is to be read as a narrative commentary on the panels, which can be viewed in sections or as a whole.
The installation “Otto ́s Doors” is formed by a small door within a door that connects the two showrooms, but limits the accessibility to the rooms by restricting the
entrances size. Eva Kotatkova ascribes this almost fantastical door to the story of an old man who had imagined such a door within a door, custom-fitted to his body size, to serve as a boundary and retreat, protecting him from visitors and outside influences.
While the sculpture “Reading machine” - a rotatable wheel with open books attached to it - suggests a release from a static viewpoint as a mobile display, in the second room a grid-like wooden construction on the wall encloses a series of collages and drawings like a corset. Eva Kotatkova ́s graphic works, presented in this wall installation comprise another focal point of the show.
Utilising various formats and types of paper, the artist portrays bodies, body segments or faces of children, animals and old people in surrealistic situations. Kotatkova binds the human body to objects like books or furniture, or incorporates it within architectural constructions. The artist interlaces the pictorial elements in a manner that causes the bodies of her figures to appear as empty hulls, mere instruments, even as machines – subjected to a system of reference of which they compose the main part. By including arrows and lines Kotatkova suggests and directs lines of sight and movement immanent to the picture, which imply relational bearings and create a mute narration. In other drawings the artist includes solitary scraps of language in the picture, or assigns numerical systems to individual image fragments, appearing to refer to an explanation outside of the image, which, however, does not exist.
Antagonisms such as presence and absence, mobility, immobility, standstill, movement and lack thereof are motifs throughout Eva Kotatkova ́s work. Her sculptures, installations and drawings revolve around the capability to be independent and the loss of control. The artist sketches the formation, sustainment and loss of identity in “City of the Old” through forms of memory and imagination, which she endows with visual synonyms and delivers from the physical reality as a conceptual narration and surreal construction.
Christina Irrgang
translation by Zoe Miller
"City of the old"
18.09.2010 - 23.10.2010, Karlsruhe
We are pleased to present “City of the Old”, Eva Kotatkova ́s second solo exhibition in our gallery and her first in our Karlsruhe gallery space. In her drawings, collages, sculptures, installations and performances Eva Kotatkova deals with possible forms of self-perception. The artist sketches the concept of self as a model-like hull in her surrealistic, machine-like objects, spatial complexes and drawings: further, she questions the positioning of the self as a defined subject - in her artistic work she focuses on its role as a mutable construction in an almost playfully narrative way.
In the show “City of the Old” Eva Kotatkova addresses the environment in which seniors live, with an emphasis on interlacing fictive and authentic concepts of life. Based on memories and conceptions from sketches, letters or conversations, the artist generated the shown work based on the personal stories and experiences of old people - she transfers, relates, encompasses and annotates these as a form of artistic (re-)construction in her objects and drawings. The fine line between seclusion and isolation as well as the detachment and subversion of time and space are subjects with the same extent of importance in these pieces.
“City of the Old” is concieved as an ongoing project, the show in our gallery presents an excerpt of a more comprehensive conceptual piece. With the title “Stories from the Living Room” Kotatkova is currently showing a section of this project at the Liverpool Biennial. While there, the artist focuses on the relationship between older people and children (as bearers of the seniors ́ memory) – some derivatives of this subject matter can be seen in the drawings and collages in our show – here, Eva Kotatkova emphasises the isolation and mindscapes of the old, which are spread out before the viewer like a panorama.
The object “Rudolf ́s City of the Old” is based on a utopian model city as imagined by an old man, it sketches the ambivalent character of a retirement home (simultaneously a place of refuge and of captivity) in a synthesis of architecture, furniture and memorial. The modules positioned around one another do not observe a realistic sense of proportionality: The chairs and shelves arranged in the centre are outsized in comparison with the surrounding building complexes. They form an associative structure that – shifting between construction and subversion – turns an inner visualisation into an outside realisation, and documents the imagined spatial structure as a visionary concept.
“Maria ́s Window Theatre” refers to the life situation of a woman whose daily routine revolves around the view from her window, on which she takes notes in a diary. Reflecting the static picture frame of the window and the events seen through it with their only slight variations, Eva Kotatkova developed a construction of layered sliding image panels that show interchangeable scenarios, much like a sequence of sets, which serve as the backdrop of the presentation. Similar to the view through a window, these panels serve as a substitute for reality that Kotatkova sets against the diary notes. The diary, attached to a chair in front of the object, is to be read as a narrative commentary on the panels, which can be viewed in sections or as a whole.
The installation “Otto ́s Doors” is formed by a small door within a door that connects the two showrooms, but limits the accessibility to the rooms by restricting the
entrances size. Eva Kotatkova ascribes this almost fantastical door to the story of an old man who had imagined such a door within a door, custom-fitted to his body size, to serve as a boundary and retreat, protecting him from visitors and outside influences.
While the sculpture “Reading machine” - a rotatable wheel with open books attached to it - suggests a release from a static viewpoint as a mobile display, in the second room a grid-like wooden construction on the wall encloses a series of collages and drawings like a corset. Eva Kotatkova ́s graphic works, presented in this wall installation comprise another focal point of the show.
Utilising various formats and types of paper, the artist portrays bodies, body segments or faces of children, animals and old people in surrealistic situations. Kotatkova binds the human body to objects like books or furniture, or incorporates it within architectural constructions. The artist interlaces the pictorial elements in a manner that causes the bodies of her figures to appear as empty hulls, mere instruments, even as machines – subjected to a system of reference of which they compose the main part. By including arrows and lines Kotatkova suggests and directs lines of sight and movement immanent to the picture, which imply relational bearings and create a mute narration. In other drawings the artist includes solitary scraps of language in the picture, or assigns numerical systems to individual image fragments, appearing to refer to an explanation outside of the image, which, however, does not exist.
Antagonisms such as presence and absence, mobility, immobility, standstill, movement and lack thereof are motifs throughout Eva Kotatkova ́s work. Her sculptures, installations and drawings revolve around the capability to be independent and the loss of control. The artist sketches the formation, sustainment and loss of identity in “City of the Old” through forms of memory and imagination, which she endows with visual synonyms and delivers from the physical reality as a conceptual narration and surreal construction.
Christina Irrgang
translation by Zoe Miller