Katra Petřiček’s project (Ne)delo (“(Non)work”) does not represent an actual break with her work by the artist. The cessation appears as a starting point for reflection on what doing nothing means, how to do nothing or how to not work, and what are the (by)products when we don’t work.
The idea of the (Ne)delo project is based on the self-evidence of the human body’s processes. The artist will emphasize hair as the object of visual identification, placing it in the role of the object of desire through the constellation of the spatial layout. In the project, hair in the form of hair extensions represents an ideal that we can view, touch and smell up close and without limitations, as it is separate from the artist’s body and enacted as an independent body. While the glorifying installation emphasizes the hair as a desired item, the question is whether it remains so even with the awareness that it used to belong to a certain person and that the memories and lifestyle of this person are enshrined in it. Hair thus enables identification on both a biological and visual level. In the case of hair extensions and wigs, the hair does not necessarily still belong to the person identified on the basis of biological analysis. It could belong to someone who recognised it as an approximation of his or her ideal. In these reflections, the project leans on the artist’s understanding of the process of self-recognition: how do we identify ourselves through the ideals that we determine and select ourselves, under the influence of our environment, which are our/mine/your ideals, and how do they impact a person’s representation in society?
Katra Petřiček (1989) is a visual communicator, in recent years active primarily in the field of connecting her creative expression with various aspects of an individual’s identity in relation to another’s views. She uses words, collages and the reinterpretation of randomly produced objects to explore her ideas, which are manifested through occasional physical installations and accompanying zines. During her studies, she participated in study exchanges in Vaasa, Finland, and Oklahoma, USA. Her work has been featured in various exhibitions at home and abroad, including at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Oklahoma, the Palazzo Stelline in Milan, the Photogether Gallery in Zlín in the Czech Republic, and at numerous galleries around Slovenia. She received the Academy of Fine Art and Design Award for Special Achievements in 2013 for her diploma thesis, and the University of Oklahoma Award for Excellence in Photography for her photographic opus in 2015.
Curator: Anja Zver.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
