Anna Daučíková is a pioneering figure in feminist and queer art in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. After completing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava in 1978, Daučíková moved to Moscow in the early 1980s. Upon returning to Bratislava in 1991, she co-founded several women’s non-profit organizations, she took on the role of art editor for the feminist journal ASPEKT and became a vocal spokesperson for LGBTQI+ rights in Slovakia.
Over the past five decades, Daučíková has developed a diverse and comprehensive body of work, which spans painting, photography, collage, film, and sculpture. Her artistic practice evolved from traditional studio work to active participation in performance art events, which were widely organized within the Slovak art scene in the mid-1990s. In her video art, the engagement of the artist’s body and bodily action projected onto the screen became a central concern, articulating feminist and queer statements. Her practice is particularly focused on the concept of the ‘mental body,’ a result of her exploration of ‘in-betweenness’—a term she coined to describe her transgender identity and the ways in which it shapes her art and worldview.
Her first solo exhibition in Hungary at Trafó Gallery will explore themes related to feminist critique and gender politics. It will feature a selection of her works from the last decades, including early single-channel videos, collages, and photo and video performance works from the 1990s, focusing on her understanding of the body as a “tool of intermediation” and addressing the sensualization of the visual. Anna Daučíková’s approach is characterized by an extraordinary sensibility for the way overarching societal structures shape self-definition and personal expression.