Kateřina Olivová

Finalist of Jindřich Chalupecký Award 2018

"First, the works by Kateřina Olivová struck the jury by their strong visuality and direct corporeality. We were pleased to gradually uncover a broad range of questions reflected by the artist under the striking brand. Besides the female body and its eroticism, where the artist’s works rank among the most expressive and explicit ones on the contemporary young scene, the addressed themes primarily include questions related to motherhood." (jury statement)

Kateřina Olivová (*1984) graduated from the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Brno University of Technology (Studio of Body Design of Jana Preková, later Lenka Klodová) where she now continues with her PhD study program. In her work, Olivová deals with the themes of femininity, feminism, corporeality, sexuality, motherhood, interpersonal relationships and emotions. Through her performances, often balancing on the edge of kitsch and intentional awkwardness, she opens the questions of deep-rooted social taboos. The primary medium of her work consists in the body involved in a performance filled with bright rainbow colors, glitter and joy of one’s own existence and nudity. She does not differentiate between her art and her everyday life so sometimes it is hard to tell what is still an act aimed at her viewers and what is already her lifestyle. Besides her own artistic practice, she also works as a curator of Galerie Umakart in Brno and is a founder of the support group for (not only) mothers-artists Mothers Artlovers. She has presented her work at solo and collective exhibitions primarily in the context of the Czech independent art scene, regularly participating in symposia and festivals with her performances, for instance at the Festival of Naked Forms in Vrané nad Labem and ART.eria 2016 public space in Czestochowa, Poland.