Eva Kot'átková
Experiment for Seven Body Parts
Artist
- Eva Koťátková
Curators
- Johan Holten
- Luisa Heese
From November 9, 2014 to March 1, 2015, the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden is showing an extensive solo exhibition by the artist Eva Koťátková, born in Prague in 1982. Experiment for seven body parts presents the human body and its social norms as its central motif. With sculptures, performances, installations, drawings and collages, Koťátková traces social rules and norms that can shape and also deform the human physique in the course of life. In Baden-Baden - alongside the work "Asylum" shown at the Venice Biennale in 2013 - almost exclusively new works by the Czech artist created especially for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden are on display. Among them are some that are used for performance.
The exhibition focuses on five large metal constructions that are absurdly adapted to the human body and used accordingly by performers: Lying or leaning in them - stretched, compressed or elongated - they assume contorted, uncomfortable positions. Other works are reminiscent of medical test set-ups that refer to various bodily functions or parts. These include oversized hearing prostheses or speech machines that seem to replace or amplify bodily senses. To this end, the artist often draws on images, experiments and equipment from past eras, which she uses as models for room-filling installations as well as for small-scale collages.
In her idiosyncratic works, the artist repeatedly addresses how social norms and constraints limit a person's space for action and movement. To this end, she takes a detour via historical artifacts. Nevertheless, she is interested in examining the present: we continue to obey disciplinary constraints, often unconsciously.
Eva Koťátková, born in Prague in 1982, studied in Prague, Salzburg and San Francisco and has created an internationally acclaimed body of work in recent years. She has participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide; her works have been shown at the biennials in Venice (2013), Sydney (2012), Lyon (2011) and Liverpool (2010), among others. This year, Eva Koťátková received the Dorothea von Stetten Art Prize from the Kunstmuseum Bonn.