Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? © Courtesy of Bildmuseet. Photo: Erik Hillbom
Empathy and the ability to understand the situation of others is the theme of Eva Koťátková’s exhibition. Her dramatic stagings are reminiscent of dreamy states and curio cabinets with references to both historical images and contemporary culture. With sculpture, collages, drawings, text, sound and suggestive scenography, she examines what evokes emotions and how they help us connect with each other beyond categorical subdivisions and hierarchies.
The exhibition’s central work is a giant talking bush surrounded by beds. There, visitors can lie down and listen to stories of a fish out of water, an exotic bush torn out by the roots, a body which didn’t grow yet, or a spider arousing disgust.
Koťátková takes an interest in social structures, like the relationship between the collective society and the individual. Her surrealistic stagings portray fear and vulnerability, often from the perspective of children or elders. Childhood, learning, and school are recurring themes. She calls this exhibition a cross-species classroom where she invites us to share experiences and dreams together.
Eva Koťátková (b. 1982, Prague) is based in Prague, Czechia. She has exhibited in museums, art institutions and biennials worldwide. This exhibition at Bildmuseet will present the artist in Sweden for the first time.
LIST OF ARTWORKS
What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace?, 2022
Installation, wood, textile, costumes, sound, paper
Reading: Tobias Morin, Leena Uotila, Leea Klemola.
A (Spider), 2016
Metal
Plant of the Second Category, 2021
Costume, metal
Me and Others, Me from Parts, 2018
Metal, textile, wood
Sleeping Bush, 2021
Metal, textile
Dreams of the Sleeping Woman Going to Battle, 2021
Textile
Unrooted (Red Kitchen), 2021
Costume
Unrooted II (Red Kitchen), 2021
Costume
E (Ed), 2016
Metal
Sleeping Body Going to Battle, 2021
Installation, costume, metal
The Unrooted, 2021
Installation, textile, metal, shoes
Training in Ambidexterity, 2015
Metal
From the series The Unrooted:
Sleeping Woman Going to Battle, 2021
Collage and red ink on paper
Eva Koťátková / What Does a Turtle Feel Through the Carapace? is a collaboration between Bildmuseet and Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. The central installation in the exhibition is created as a whole divided into two parts, one of which is exhibited at Bildmuseet and one at Kiasma.
This collaboration between Bildmuseet and Kiasma is initiated and supported by the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation.
