Eva Kotátková
30 Nov 2013 - 02 Feb 2014
EVA KOTÁTKOVÁ
A Storyteller's Inadequacy
30 November 2013 - 2 February 2014
Modern Art Oxford presents the first UK solo exhibition of Eva Kotátková where she proposes a playful and awkward relationship between performance, object, sculpture and installation. A Storyteller's Inadequacy sees a giant speech organ command the space of the Upper Gallery, creating a playground, gym, theatre and circus mixed environment for a group of performers to enact poses and temporary body constellations. The performers interact with an eclectic range of objects in an exploration of the possibilities as well as the limits and barriers in human communication and interaction.
In the Middle Gallery visitors encounter a more intimate performance where an actor in the guise of a professor delivers a lecture that compares traditional forms of storytelling to that of Samuel Becket which 'searches for a narrative form which provides a voice to universal chaos, rather than support the illusion of order'. Exploring philosophical ideas surrounding language and performance, the narrative is based on a script written by Kotátková’s father, Professor of Philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and former visiting scholar in Oxford.
Kotátková begins her artistic enquiry by examining the rituals and mechanisms of her immediate social environment. Drawing on personal experience and biography, she examines the role of storytelling through object and performance.
Her works are blueprints for difficulties that must be overcome in order to explore the limits of human relationships and behaviour. Objects become mediators which borrow human voices and tell personal stories as well as literary narratives of human isolation and otherness.
Kotátková recently exhibited at the 55th Venice Biennale as part of Massimiliano Gioni’s The Encyclopedic Palace.
A Storyteller's Inadequacy
30 November 2013 - 2 February 2014
Modern Art Oxford presents the first UK solo exhibition of Eva Kotátková where she proposes a playful and awkward relationship between performance, object, sculpture and installation. A Storyteller's Inadequacy sees a giant speech organ command the space of the Upper Gallery, creating a playground, gym, theatre and circus mixed environment for a group of performers to enact poses and temporary body constellations. The performers interact with an eclectic range of objects in an exploration of the possibilities as well as the limits and barriers in human communication and interaction.
In the Middle Gallery visitors encounter a more intimate performance where an actor in the guise of a professor delivers a lecture that compares traditional forms of storytelling to that of Samuel Becket which 'searches for a narrative form which provides a voice to universal chaos, rather than support the illusion of order'. Exploring philosophical ideas surrounding language and performance, the narrative is based on a script written by Kotátková’s father, Professor of Philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and former visiting scholar in Oxford.
Kotátková begins her artistic enquiry by examining the rituals and mechanisms of her immediate social environment. Drawing on personal experience and biography, she examines the role of storytelling through object and performance.
Her works are blueprints for difficulties that must be overcome in order to explore the limits of human relationships and behaviour. Objects become mediators which borrow human voices and tell personal stories as well as literary narratives of human isolation and otherness.
Kotátková recently exhibited at the 55th Venice Biennale as part of Massimiliano Gioni’s The Encyclopedic Palace.