Lucia Čarnecká – Velata
In her artistic practice, Lucia Čarnecká has long been dedicated to sculpture as a medium, exploring its new forms and extensions from material to virtual realms. She frees her work from physical materiality, rendering it in a way intangible and elusive. She adapts the medium of sculpture to the contemporary world, innovating its essence while maintaining the presence of “classical” modelling and figuration in her works.
Exhibition venue: Towers of the Synagogue – Centre for Contemporary Art, Halenárska 2, Trnava
A recurring theme that dominates her work is one of the most fundamental and classical forms of sculpture – the bust. It not only holds physical symbolism in art history but also represents a metaphor of identity, contemplation, and the human mind itself. In her most recent work, she focuses specifically on the phenomenon known as the figura velata. The veiling of the human (female) face and head is a motif known in visual art since antiquity. Throughout art history, it has played an important role and, in certain cultures, has been associated with various symbolic interpretations. Based on this, the artist plays with the relationship between the concepts of veiling and unveiling, or visibility and invisibility, while also reflecting on the role of women in society. The veil becomes a bearer of meaning, representing layers. Veiling as such can have many reasons and dimensions; it is associated with modesty, the covering of ugliness or imperfection, and can symbolize concealment but also protection — protection of wounds or scars. It may also be a sign of certain revelations…
The possible gestures hidden under the drapery are revealed and shaped by the artist in the exhibition’s central work, where she herself becomes the “figura velata” in a digital performance. She gives new meaning to the anonymous woman — partially legible, typified, one of many similar ones. She makes her specific, humanizes her, and reveals her identity, giving her a face through which she comes to life. This site-specific installation carries an almost altar-like character, emotionally celebrating the individuality of the veiled woman, amplified further by the context of the Jewish synagogue.
As in her previous works, we can sense elements of theatre in Lucia Čarnecká’s practice, which is reflected in her collaborations on the individual components of the piece. The work was created based on the principles of an authorial performance, where gesture becomes the dominant bearer of the idea.
Exhibition curator: Lucia Kotvanová
Exhibition architecture: Anna Mihoková
Sound composition: Lenka Novosedlíková
The exhibition was realized with the support of the Internal Grant System of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava.