Anna Hulačová
Underworld Upside Down
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for Underworld Upside Down
Artist
Anna Hulačová
(1984, Sušice), Czech
Original Title
Underworld Upside Down
Date2018
Mediumconcrete and graphite on paper mounted on metal plate, plastic and bubble machine
Classificationsinstallations
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionIn her sculptures and allegorical imagery, Anna Huláčová addresses the questions of a quickly changing world. She observes the contemporary world and its problems through the eyes of a person living in the countryside, intensely experiencing the devastating influence of technological progress. Her work is characterised by the tension between the local and the global, as well as that between utopia and dystopia, the natural and the digital, evolution and mutation, science fiction and scientific fact. In her composed installations she uses objects inspired by vegetal life and hybrid, mutated figures whose faces are usually replaced by masks in the form of digital print components which seem as non-living monuments to former states of human existence. She finds inspiration for her visions of the future in Classical mythology, Christian religious symbols, east-Asian cultures, folk tradition, but also Modernism, thus reflecting the hybrid nature of contemporary society. She masterfully connects technologies with hand craft, technical features of concrete and digital print with natural elements such as wax, honeycomb and wood. The colour scheme of her works is usually replaced by a pronounced material contrast of the individual components.
The large installation Underworld Upside Down is centered around an inverted plastic pool where the artist placed concrete figures which carry kitchen appliances on their heads and shoulders. By means of its morphology, the form of the inverted pool evokes an image of a funeral temple or sacrificial altar on which lies a hedonistically sprawled figure reminiscent of Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and vegetation, wine and extasy. The scene seems like a classical sacrificial ritual where the earthly gifts in the form of wine and food have been replaced by technical artefacts which, with the absence of food, lose their function and become a worthless object.
Anna Hulačová (*1984, Sušice) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where she attended the sculpting studio of Jaroslav Róna and the Studio of Intermedial Works II with Jiří Příhoda. She took study trips to the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul and Gray’s School of Arts in Aberdeen. She was awarded a special invitation by the Vienna Insurance Group to the Essl Art Award (2009). In 2016 she was among the finalists of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award. In the summer of 2020, she went on residency in The Albert Gleizes Foundation in Moly-Sabata in France. Hulačová presented her work in many renown Czech institutions, such as the National Gallery, the Gallery of the City of Prague, MeetFactory or the Hunt Kastner Artworks. In 2014 she was selected for a residency at the CEAAC in Strasbourg where she then presented her solo exhibition. In the international context, she was also represented in London’s Kunstraum (Graceful Ride, 2018), the Palais de Tokyo (CHILDHOOD: Another Banana Day for the Dream Fish, 2018) or at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (Underworld, 2018).
The large installation Underworld Upside Down is centered around an inverted plastic pool where the artist placed concrete figures which carry kitchen appliances on their heads and shoulders. By means of its morphology, the form of the inverted pool evokes an image of a funeral temple or sacrificial altar on which lies a hedonistically sprawled figure reminiscent of Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and vegetation, wine and extasy. The scene seems like a classical sacrificial ritual where the earthly gifts in the form of wine and food have been replaced by technical artefacts which, with the absence of food, lose their function and become a worthless object.
Anna Hulačová (*1984, Sušice) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where she attended the sculpting studio of Jaroslav Róna and the Studio of Intermedial Works II with Jiří Příhoda. She took study trips to the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul and Gray’s School of Arts in Aberdeen. She was awarded a special invitation by the Vienna Insurance Group to the Essl Art Award (2009). In 2016 she was among the finalists of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award. In the summer of 2020, she went on residency in The Albert Gleizes Foundation in Moly-Sabata in France. Hulačová presented her work in many renown Czech institutions, such as the National Gallery, the Gallery of the City of Prague, MeetFactory or the Hunt Kastner Artworks. In 2014 she was selected for a residency at the CEAAC in Strasbourg where she then presented her solo exhibition. In the international context, she was also represented in London’s Kunstraum (Graceful Ride, 2018), the Palais de Tokyo (CHILDHOOD: Another Banana Day for the Dream Fish, 2018) or at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (Underworld, 2018).
