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House of Art
TUES–SUN 10:00–18:00

I can change you with my magic

2011

video

purchased 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture

This video shows heart-shaped motifs being embroidered into “bleeding cactus leaves”, accompanied by a melancholy piano melody for one hand. It is a demonstrative example of Dopitová’s use of long poetic titles. The words and poetic titles in her installations play an important role – indeed they often represent the starting-point of the entire work. The other key aspect of the work (and one which is typical of Dopitová’s oeuvre) is its poetic treatment of pain and vulnerability. The video (like its title) conceals the motif of latent manipulation and wounding, which (though it is accompanied by the “loving” motif of the embroidered heart) demonstrates the control over – and wounding of – living tissue. It can also be read with a contrasting meaning, as a monotonous process of personal therapy.

DOPITOVÁ MILENA

(1963, Šternberk) A conceptual artist who works with various media – photography, sculpture, installations, video, and body art. She studied under Milan Knížák at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts (1986–1994). In the 1990s she travelled abroad for a number of residences, especially in the USA. In 2002 she participated in the prestigious International and Curatorial Program in New York. She has won several major awards, such as the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1997) and the Michal Ranný Prize (2011). She was a member of the (now-defunct) “Monday” group. Dopitová is a social artist; she is associated with the emergence of Czech feminist art (or gender-focused art in general). Her work addresses issues connected with human life – death, ageing, and pain. Her more recent works have been somewhat more positive, moving away from weighty existential problems such as death and birth. Her installations combine a range of different media and materials. She takes everyday items (such as chairs or hairdressers’ hood dryers) and covers them in cloth or weaves threads around them (made of wool or cactus leaves). Although Dopitová has been described as a feminist artist, she also explores (with a level of intimacy that is typical of her work) the world of men, viewing them from a personal perspective (as a mother or partner) as well as from a broader gender perspective.
digital photograph, paper 700 × 1000 mm, purchased 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture
2014

Collective transmission (1)

mixed technique, textile, wood, 180 × 230 × 70 cm, purchased 2020 with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture
2017

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