Caretaker

24. May 2023. – 26. May
MegnyitóOpening: May 23, 2023, 6:00 pm

I listen
water you
split in half
observe
hold
warm up
breath in
I listen
water you
split in half
observe

I place objects into the exhibition I’ve spent a lot of time with. I took some of these from home, others I’ve made in the studio. Being with them cultivates my sensitivity and empathy for the inanimate and animate world around. I listen to them, trying to understand their own language, I get back to them again and again so they grow bigger day by day… My care of the objects turns out to be a principle – behind the relationship with inanimate matter we can suspect the care of ourselves, others, animals, plants, landscape…

The background is the everydayness of my and our lived life. It is the objects, situations, feelings and spaces that we inhabit and touch (that touch us) on a daily basis. Close and intimate. The project is rooted in my experience of covid lockdowns, as well as in the recent years that have brought me new roles and responsibilities – like being (suddenly) an adult daughter, granddaughter, partner, sister,aunt of a toddler, friend, colleague, freelance artist, owner of a garden lately and many others.

As I’m experiencing being a caretaker I am deeply interested in a different perception of time that comes with it – it’s stretched, coming in circles, sometimes it feels like it doesn’t even exist when hours and days just melt together. Ongoing repetitive actions that come along with a great dose of will and persistence. There are days when I feel deeply at home through these and fulfilled. Also in contact with other vulnerability I am aware of my own one. Other times I miss myself – lose myself in these time circles, in the needs of the other. It’s a fragile balance that I keep trying for.

Simona Gottierová