Eva Koťátková’s (born 1982 in Prague) work addresses the social, institutional and physical structures of everyday life: the rules and restrictions which shape how we think, learn, move, behave and create. She often focuses on the situation of groups or individuals that are from various reasons excluded, discriminated, silenced. She tries to find alternative ways of expression for those who are not able to communicate and integrate in the standard way, often collaborating with children as she delves into marginalised stories and emotions. Koťátková creates installations made up of objects, drawings, collages, photographs, video, performance and text which engage the spectator in new environments to expose them to new perceptual experiences and approaches.

She is the co-founder of the platform Institute of Anxiety, a space for collaboration between artists, theorists and activists that sees anxiety as a result of social, political, economic and ecological forces. It argues that there is a potential for positive change both in attempting structural changes and system critique but also in diverse acts of sharing.

Eva Koťátková (1982, Prague) studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, at the San Francisco Art Institute, and at the Akademie Bildenden Künste Wien, graduating in 2007. She obtained her PhD from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. In 2024, she represented the Czech Republic at the 60th Venice Biennale with her project The Heart of a Giraffe in Captivity Is Twelve Kilos Lighter, curated by Hana Janečková. It will be presented in 2025 at the National Gallery in Prague. She has been the focus of solo exhibitions held at Sapieha Palace – Centre for Contemporary Art in Vilnius (2025); Ruhrtriennale (2023); Nottingham Contemporary (2023); National Gallery Prague (2022-3); Arter Foundation, Istanbul (2023); La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain (2022); Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden (2022); CAPC Bordeaux, France (2022); MeetFactory, Prague (2021); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2019-20), Kunsthalle Charlottenborg, Denmark (2019); Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy (2018), 21er Haus, Vienna, Austria (2017); Museum Haus Esthers, Krefeld, Germany; ISCP, NY (2016); Parc Saint Léger, France; Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain; MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, MA (2015); Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany (2014); Modern Art Oxford, UK (2013); Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Poland (2013); and Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (2013). Among other group shows, Eva Koťátková has participated in Documenta, Kassel (2022); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2022); the 16th Istanbul Biennial (2019), Metropolitan Museum of Ar, New York (2018); JIWA: the Jakarta Biennial (2017), Sonsbeek16, Arnheim, NL (2016); Migros Museum, Zurich (2016); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2015); the New Museum’s Triennial, NY (2015), Kunsthalle Wien (2013); the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), the 18th Sydney Biennial (2012), and the 11th Biennale de Lyon (2011).

Eva Koťátková, full CV