Pavla Sceranková

In the work of Pavla Sceranková, we can encounter several fundamental moments. One of them is her emphasis on direct physical relationship between an object-sculpture and its creator or user. In her older work this viewpoint has literal foundations in her video performances that start up the game of the artist’s body and her objects-devices (Moving In – Moving Out, 2007, Go Away – Come Back, 2009). The result of this symbiosis is labelled by the artist as “video sculpture”. The mechanical aspects of human corporeality and the kinetic objects constructed by the artist (Mobile Tools, 2007) make a reference to the mechanics of ordinary objects around us, such as furniture.

This kinetic, spatial and symbolic bond shifts the logics of her artefacts – frequently occurring in her recent work and being seemingly neo-modern – to a psychological level of the examination of our being among the objects of this world, which is another fundamental moment of her work. Her artefacts come from household equipment such as a vacuum cleaner, a porcelain statue and others; these are deflected from their everydayness by plastic modifications that shift their function from the formal, constructive, even kinetic position (Visit Home, 2010). The subject of this formal but simultaneously functional game can be, however, even much more monumental elements, shifting her game to an architectonic scale (Umzug, 2007, Open – Closed, 2008). More recently, this artist’s work has shown also a more strongly accented narrative aspect, connected, among other things, with questions of gender (Woman on the Moon, 2013).

The gradual genesis of this artist’s work can be perceived also in the context of her classmates from the Academy of Fine Arts, such as Eva Koťátková or Dominik Lang. Similarly to them, we can observe a certain development in Sceranková from straightforward self-performing work and installation interventions in the spirit of post-conceptual tradition, towards a more sophisticated aesthetic game reacting to current world art trends in analytical returns to the aesthetics of a sculpting object, its autonomy, subjectivity, etc. (Missing Chapter, 2012). A frequent aspect of Pavla Sceranková’s work is the already mentioned kinetic revival of the object perceived as a sculpture. This moment, penetrating through a substantial part of her work, can be connected also with an “animistic” question being dealt with in present theory of art, often exactly in the relationship to modernistic heritage, the influence of which cannot be overlooked in the artist’s recent work. Through her work in the Czech environment Pavla Sceranková articulates a significant individual position with her ability to connect the creative sovereignty of an object with a dynamic thought of the depicted situation. 

Zálešák, Jan (ed.): Pavla Sceranková – katalog, OFF/FORMAT, Brno 2012

www.nekultura.cz/vytvarne-umeni-recenze/pavla-scerankova-das-spiel-war-gut.html

Reflex journal: www.reflex.cz/Clanek29577.html

Artalk.cz: artalkweb.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/tz-pavla-scerankova-2/

www.avu.cz/modules.php

Sceranková, Pavla: Mysl bez obrazu (dizertační práce), 2012