A place of otherness, of everything and nothing, khora, emerges in the exhibition of Tereza Kalousová and Erika Velická in a form referring to the architecture of Greek temples and theatres turning into deserts, or vice versa. Visions of temples of Asclepius where the sick in the company of snakes dreamt up their healing methods are intertwined with memories of real places of inactivity. Moments of emptiness and contemplation. In the heat. To the roar of cicadas. On a peninsula connected to the mainland only by a narrow strip of mud covered with a thin layer of salt. The puffs of wool caught on thorns and sticks and the rolled-out nests under the twisted branches of low trees evoke the presence of sheep, undetermined in time.
Here and there the hot air is stirred by the flapping of insect wings, at other times by a refreshing gust from the sea. Every step causes the scampering of a multitude of locusts and the crackling of grass. A lone narrator composes satyr plays in her head.
The form of the installation formally benefits from the original focus of both artists - when it comes to Tereza Kalousová it is architecture, in the case of Erika Velická it is sculpture. They are linked by their sensitive way of dealing with space as an environment along with the topical affinity of their thinking. The architectural solution absorbs the elements of the gallery: the stairs to the lowered part of the gallery space determine the dimensions of the grandstand of which they are a part, just as the morphology of the stone floor is reflected in the floor of ceramic octagons designed by the artists, the vault becomes a canopy.
The latter are the only color accents of the exhibition, the main motif becoming the expressive work with materials in their raw form. The ceramics remain white, unglazed, the tribune built of wood coated with cement reveals its laminated nature with hollow sounds, the gaps between the tiles are filled with sand. By doing this, the artists try to build a displaced space, hovering in the gap that a gallery in the city center can certainly be. A place for contemplation and daydreaming about healing and signs, or just sharing the void.