Eternal Garden, a pop-up exhibition by Markéta Bia

An exhibition of artworks by Lenka Kubelová, Marion Rénier, and Nikola Brabcová is a final dissertation project curated by Markéta Bia, a student of Anglo-American University. Lenka Kubelová starts the exhibition off with her fermented works. Marion Rénier presents interactive sculptures/costumes, which are the centre of her performance. And Nikola Brabcová combines nature and technology in her work. The optimistic exhibition about a sustainable future and practices showcases artworks that tackle this topic from various perspectives. The exhibition is for all open-minded people eager to learn something new. This 2-hour pop-up exhibition will take place from 17:00 to 19:00 on Thursday, 25.08.2022.

I am tired of the pessimistic scenarios of the future, and I am sure you are too. Showing a dystopian future is not the right approach to encouraging people to work for a better world as it only induces powerlessness. I find that offering a utopian possibility is much more effective. Because there is no reason to give up yet, humanity’s destructive behaviour can be stopped, and a sustainable future in which we can thrive can be established. We do not have to choose between technology and nature, so let’s refuse dystopia and embrace a Solarpunk future.

Solarpunk represents an optimistic version of the future. It is all about being more connected to each other, respecting nature, and embracing technology that works for us and not the other way around. This is a future in which humanity has solved its contemporary challenges with an emphasis on sustainability and pollution. Where people care about nature, technology doesn’t harm the world, and society is free of greed and suffering. When I imagine what Solarpunk art of the future would look like, I think of art that not only takes from nature but collaborates with it and exists in harmony with it. It is useful, implements ancient and current knowledge and takes
advantage of technology. Its purpose is to teach us about nature and its importance and bring us all together. Such art currently exists, so come and see it in the botanical garden, a place intentionally created to showcase the diversity of our natural world.

The Eternal Garden exhibition aims to introduce its audience the contemporary art practice and its alternative ways of artmaking. The exhibition presents artists and their artworks that tackle the topic of sustainability, nature, and change from optimistic perspectives instead of climate doomism. All the while providing an experience outside the traditional white cube gallery. Hopefully, this exhibition awakens in you the need to protect what is left of our planet and motivates you to embrace utopian thinking. Furthermore, it encourages you to envision a future where all species live sustainably and harmoniously.

Lenka Kubelová (CZ)
“Lenka Kubelová is interested in collaborating with microbes. Her fermenting projects and fermentation lab help her discover the quality of relationships with non-human subjects and find inspiration for social change toward more holistic systems. She believes in the power of images and subtle actions. She teaches people how to work from a position of biocultural hope and runs a Facebook page called Velké kvašení.”

Marion Rénier (Fr)
“I am a performer who uses texts, costumes and sculptures to approach the theme of the cocoon. The cocoon is for me a fictional envelope that can help us evolve for a while or prevent us from existing. A cocoon can be a gesture, a place, an imaginary, a gender, a law, a society. We live in the hope that things will last forever but no cocoon is stable, the butterflies know it, they destroy it to be able to fly away. Thus, the performance allows me to play with codes and illusions to try to be a breach in your cocoons.”

Nikola Brabcová (CZ)
“Nikola Brabcová focuses on layering pictures and creating installations in which the
relationships between the subjects are more important than the individual artefacts themselves. Their themes are usually shapes from nature that decay and create abstract forms and new situations. Her last works are concerned with soil and natural materials. A part of the latest projects is creating united structures and collaborations. She exhibited in the galleries Entrance, Jelení, Meetfactory and at the Zlín Youth Salon 2021. She collaborates on the project Prototyp and Artyčok.tv.”

For further information about the exhibition, please contact Markéta Bia by email at
bia.markeeta@gmail.com.