From Ancient Waters to Arid Landscapes is an exhibition by artists Lucie Kordačová and Miroslava Večeřová. drawn from an ongoing project. The project has migrated across landscapes, shapeshifting into a body of work that traces echoes of ancient history, folk traditions, ocean ecology and the cosmos. Now circling back to GLOAM, where the project originated on Hromnice (2 nd February 2024), the exhibition will see the expansive works transform the post-industrial gallery space, inviting us to recognise our entanglement with the more-than-human world.
The artists explored the merging of traditions and mythologies, welcoming the sun through rituals which celebrate the dawn of Spring. The passing of the Sun is the core of Arietis Sisters and The Sun, a performance brought to life at St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings. Five figures dressed in costume - a Sun figure is surrounded by four stars, a Slovak song ‘Na jarný veselý čas’ (To the Joyful Springtime) is sung, and a ritual in the sea occurs.
Alongside the digitised performance, inspired by the sun's passage through the Aries constellation, recurring symbols and mythologies emerge through motifs, using horns to represent Aries, and circles remind us of unity, connection, time cycles and continuation. The conglomerate of themes presented through From Ancient Waters to Arid Landscapes explore the astronomical to the microcosmic. The wider context can be brought home to the heritage of the artists’ migratory past, as we explore the interconnection between people, land, sea and sky.
Singer: Adelaide Percy, Performers: Lise Boucon, Hannah Collisson, Jess Mabel Jones, Santi Sorrenti, Camera and sound: Atom Inions Morton, Props fabricated by Studio Hadaikum and Glynde Forge.
Lucie Kordačová is a Czech artist living in the UK. Her largely collaborative practice takes the form of site- specific installations, sculptures, moving image and performance working with textile and costume. She focuses
on practices and issues that are pertinent to the communities she works within, including how we situate ourselves in a more-than-human world, and the transformation of landscapes through human and non-human activity. She is interested in ritualistic practices and myth-making in relation to the land and its protection.
on practices and issues that are pertinent to the communities she works within, including how we situate ourselves in a more-than-human world, and the transformation of landscapes through human and non-human activity. She is interested in ritualistic practices and myth-making in relation to the land and its protection.
Miroslava Večeřová is a Czech artist living in the UK. Her art practice, fascinated by deep time, seasonal
rhythms, ecological patterns and fossilised ideas reflects on human relationships with the ecosystems and other species. Through the language often composed of sculpture, drawing, performance and participation, her works with elemental qualities navigates contemplations on the future of diverse ecologies and reflects on the entangled processes relating to embodied experiences and co-existings. ~ This exhibition is part of GLOAM’s studio holder open call 2025 and is the first of two exhibitions.
https://www.miroslavavecerova.org/
https://luciekordacova.org/
Supported by GLOAM and Czech Centre in London.
