Marketa Slana is a multidisciplinary artist whose work navigates the liminal spaces between the grotesque and the sublime, post-ironic detachment, and the enigmatic terrain of digital landscape. Her practice centered in performance and installation creates space where feelings of dissociation, the numbing cadence of doomscrolling and the search for meaning converge. Slana simultaneously embraces the absurdity and mundanity of a hyperconnected yet disconnected world, offering a nuanced reflection on the complexities of modern existence where the search for meaning, success and connection becomes both - a game and a deeply felt struggle.
The Silent Scrutiny project consists of a video set in the High Court in Prague, which becomes an imaginary stasis for exploring the symptoms of contemporary cultural unrest. The courtroom itself symbolizes dynamic spaces that involve strong interpersonal and social interactions and are characterized by a clear hierarchy of power. The space is occupied by four individuals whose gestures suggest whispering,
preparing to speak, swearing, or attempting (unsuccessfully) to move the unyielding architecture. The protagonists seem to be both actors and observers, imaginary NPCs (non-player characters) who are stuck in the courtroom, constantly preparing for a speech and narrative that never happens. The video draws inspiration from collective experience, internet culture, shared journals, the choreographer's practice, principles of discipline and emotional expression. It aims to capture a complex lyrical situation that explores personal vulnerability while depicting bizarre situations as a means to understand active relationships and social boundaries.
The video, which symbolizes bureaucratic processes by its (non-)performativity, is complemented by an installation in niches, the central symbol of which is a paper clip. It is a banal, but at the same time archetypal object of (not only) the office environment, whose task is to deal with the chaos of its surroundings. However, its rigid function can be completely transformed, it can also be a representative of rebellion, playfulness or the desire for freedom.
In the hands of a girl who slips through the loopholes of the rules, it can become a subversive tool, blurring the lines between good and evil. It opens lockers, locks, secrets, but also questions of morality, crime and punishment. This girl lives on the edge, in the liminal space between the legal and the illegal. In her world, the paperclip is more than just a tool for organization - it is a key to secrets, a way into forbidden places and a symbol of rebellion. It connects two worlds: the official, legal one and the hidden, subversive realm where girls make their own rules. Whether it's "keying" cars or removing RFID chips from designer clothes. Girls like her create their own systems that make everyday items like a paperclip part of their arsenal. It's not just about cleaning up the chaos, it's about opening doors to limited worlds and defying control.
✰ Vibe: girlhood x bureaucracy x theft ♡
It's time to have no schedule, it's time to just vibe. Vibe is what remains when everything else has disappeared.
