Ľudmila Bubánová: Anatomical Venus

Medium Gallery

• Curator: Lucia Gavulová
• Opening: Tuesday, 28.7.2026, 18:00
• Duration: 29.7. – 23.8.2026

Annotation

Anatomical Venus is an exhibition about cognitive dissonance and the tensions between what is visible and what is carefully concealed. It is a story about what remains unspoken and socially uncomfortable - a story of pain, but also of female solidarity and sisterhood.

In this project, Ľudmila Bubánová turns her attention to the history of French lacemakers - women from the social margins who produced luxury goods in exchange for starvation wages. Through their labor, they paid the highest price: their own health. They suffered from chest deformities, spinal curvatures, and permanent hand disfigurements caused by repetitive movements. At the same time, these women - mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends - eased the burden of their daily work, or perhaps simply endured it, by singing together and telling stories, creating a circle of female support.

Bubánová invites us to experience this reality, which on the one hand envelops us in a sense of comfort and safety, while on the other reveals its painful and unsettling nature. Soft fabrics, delicate details, and intricately crafted lace are juxtaposed with bruised blue tones and disturbing forms reminiscent of human bodies. Yet in Bubánová's work, these bodies appear distorted, stripped of conventional ideals of beauty. Their naked forms reveal pain and vulnerability, while at the same time inviting us into a shared circle where mutual care and attentiveness become acts of resistance against violence and exclusion.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a sound design by Adela Mede, created especially for the occasion in collaboration with Ľudmila Bubánová.

Ľudmila Bubánová

Ľudmila Bubánová (b. 1992, Slovakia) is a visual artist working at the intersection of installation, soft sculpture, and textile art. Currently based in Warsaw, Poland, her research-based practice explores fabric and clothing as a "cultural skin"—a layer that simultaneously protects, defines, and confines the female body. Her overarching focus lies in feminist reflections on women's labor, both physical and emotional, and how textiles transmit the memory of absent bodies.

This project was financially supported by the Bratislava Self-Governing Region.

Partner: Polish Institute Bratislava