The central theme of the exhibition is the Labyrinth, or one’s time in the Labyrinth as an existential constant, which is exacerbated by the current historical situation of permanent crisis. Economic, ecological, security crises, a crisis of democracy and a specific crisis of truth and the criteria of truthfulness in the context of the explosion of information in the online space and the erosion of trust in the power and expert establishment. Multiple interconnected crises manifest themselves in the everyday life of an individual as a system of more or less visible, but always acute dilemmas, when the correctness of a decision (e.g. in the form of political action) is existentially necessary, but at the same time very difficult, sometimes even impossible. The situation in such a Labyrinth is enlightened in the work of Xénia Hoffmeisterová through many perspectives and by pointing to partial moments that are experienced by one who decides which direction to follow in the maze. She considers different forms of mazes: those with and without a way out. Fear of the unknown is omnipresent and no answer is definitive. The risk that the illuminated path will turn into a dead end is enormous. The awareness of impermanence and illusiveness encourages the wanderer (and at the same time the viewer) to be ever vigilant. In her artistic expression, Hoffmeisterová reflects on the paralysis of indecision as well as the consequences of rushing forward headlong. However, she does not only connect the dead ends, intersections, center and exits from the labyrinth, as well as all its inhabitants and the challenges of a successful pilgrimage, to the crisis situations of today; she also sees them in the everyday life of people. The realization of this fact is also the task in the maturation of an individual, which is eventually in accordance with the traditional mythology of the maze, as a symbol of life's journey in ancient, Christian and romantic iconography.
Ondřej Novotný
Xénia Hoffmeisterová studied under Rudolf Fila at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Bratislava from 1973 to 1977. From 1981 to 1986, she studied scenography and costume design at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and painting with Oldřich Smutný. She works with a comprehensible sign, narrative and artistic contraction in her creations, with which she dramatically points out current topics. The range of means by which she achieves a suggestive expression seems inexhaustible: it extends from the primary drawing of an idea through a masterful painting up to a multitude of plastic techniques – by weaving together three-dimensional objects, she composes ingenious moving installations in which she incorporates the play of shadows, carves in stone and casts in plastic. She has been represented in a number of important collections, and has exhibited regularly at home and abroad. She is a member of the Mánes and Hollar associations of artists.
