17. June 2026

Dissident Bodies: FOCUS / Eliška Konečná

We asked cura­tor Sara Castelo Branco for a clo­ser look to the works of our cur­rent Exhibition Dissident Bodies:

Part 5: Eliška Konečná

The work of Eliška Konečná explo­res the body as a fra­gi­le and shif­ting site, whe­re boun­da­ries bet­ween the inter­nal and the exter­nal, the orga­nic and the con­s­truc­ted, begin to dis­sol­ve. Through deli­ca­te mate­ri­al pro­ces­ses and subt­le forms, her prac­ti­ce reflects on trans­for­ma­ti­on, vul­nerabi­li­ty, and the insta­bi­li­ty of bodi­ly identity.

Konečná often works with mate­ri­als that sug­gest soft­ness, per­mea­bi­li­ty, and chan­ge, evo­king skin, mem­bra­nes, or pro­tec­ti­ve lay­ers. These ele­ments crea­te forms that feel both inti­ma­te and distant, fami­li­ar yet dif­fi­cult to ful­ly grasp. Her works seem to exist in a sta­te of sus­pen­si­on, as if they are con­ti­nuous­ly forming or dis­sol­ving, resis­ting fixed definition.

In the con­text of the exhi­bi­ti­on, her work con­tri­bu­tes to a broa­der reflec­tion on how bodies can be reim­agi­ned bey­ond tra­di­tio­nal cate­go­ries. By empha­si­zing fra­gi­li­ty, flui­di­ty, and trans­for­ma­ti­on, Konečná invi­tes view­ers to con­sider the body as an open system—one that is con­stant­ly nego­tia­ting its boun­da­ries and rede­fi­ning its form.

Eliška Konečná is a Czech artist who com­bi­nes tra­di­tio­nal craft­sman­ship with con­tem­po­ra­ry art. After stu­dy­ing pain­ting in Prague, she deve­lo­ped her distinc­ti­ve tech­ni­que during a stay in The Hague: embro­ide­red and stuf­fed tex­ti­le art­works with a reli­ef-like, tac­ti­le surface.

Image: @ M. Moser