Esther Stocker: Anything You Would Like to Know about Space

(jiří macek) Space is an essential prerequisite for anything. There are only a few people who explore it so carefully as Esther Stocker. The Viennese artist penetrates its imaginary structure through paintings, installations, and texts, transforming them into fascinating encounters. The closest upcoming encounter will take place in České Budějovice.

Her exhibition in the House of Art in České Budějovice is introduced by the following motto from Ellison: “One could not do anything about it – people have always been only people and space has always been their eternal enemy.” This is her first exhibition in the Czech Republic. Moreover, the project has been designed directly for the space of the gallery. This seems to be the only option when one works with space. Esther Stocker is certainly great at dealing with it.

“Both paradoxes are based on the contradiction between the unification of exact geometrical shapes that produce indefinite visual perception, which may be caused by minute interventions in the regular structure, and works that explore large architectural forms, giving off a 3D illusion and sometimes evoking a hallucinatory geometrical world. Stocker’s installations have the power to intrigue spectators who always see the same, yet in a different way. Thus, we can perceive ourselves both in the role of a protagonist and an observer in one,” explains the exhibition’s curator, Michal Škoda. Apart from exhibitions, Esther Stocker has also implemented several architectural projects. The disconcerting effects of her research were confirmed by successful exhibitions in both Vienna and Brussels (CCNOA).

Esther Stocker was born in Italy in 1974, where she also studied before and continuing her education in Vienna and the USA. Now she lives in Vienna. She won the prestigious Otto Mauer Award in 2004. The exhibition in the House of Art in České Budějovice consists of a spatial installation, complemented with paintings and texts and will be open from October 22 to November 22.

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