I’ll Hold You With My Gaze

The exhibition of the work of the intermedial artist Miroslava Večeřová and the painter Denisa Štefanigová examines the possibilities of sharing and interconnection with other beings. For the artists, directness, sincerity and intimacy of eye contact become a metaphor for alternative ways of communication and recognition, which by contrast with rationalist Western discourse are not shackled to a tendency to pigeonhole the universe into norms and formulae in an attempt to govern and control everything. Via the eye as a symbol of empathy and understanding, in which physicality is combined with emotion and spirituality, the artists seek more sensitive ways of interaction and bonding with other beings, either human or non-human. While Denisa Štefanigová perceives the fluidity of being-with-otherness as a process that guides her towards an understanding and acceptance of herself, Miroslava Večeřová in her work revives the archetypal desire for communion with the elemental forces of nature and other beings. The personal levels of the approach of both Denisa Štefanigová and Miroslava Večeřová are linked not only by their emphasis on the authenticity of their creation, conceived as an expression of desire and enchantment with all forms of life, but also in their anchoring in ecofeminist discourse, which focuses on a search for interspecies solidarity and sustainable relationships, and on a more general level also in the concept of a new materialism with emphasis on the specific experience of the body.