Eva Kot'átková. The Dream Machine is Asleep

Pirelli HangarBicocca presents “The Dream Machine is Asleep”, from 15 February to 22 July 2018, a solo show by artist Eva Kot'átková, conceived as investigation of dreams, fantasies and fears in which children are the protagonists.
The work of Eva Kot'átková (born 1982 in Prague) investigates the internal and external forces that influence human behavior, in particular the institutional rules and educational systems that can manipulate and produce situations of control.
For “The Dream Machine is Asleep,” Kot'átková presents a compelling selection of her installations, sculptures, collages, and performative works, focusing on the idea of the human body as a machine and an organ that continues to function while sleeping, creating parallel inner worlds.  Drawing on her personal experiences and a recent body of work—like the multimedia installation Stomach of the World (2017)—for this show in Milan, Kot'átková transforms the exhibition space into a labyrinthine organism in which to explore private thoughts, intimate visions, and dreams, as well as the anxieties and struggles of contemporary society.
Evoking the aesthetic of Eastern European Dada and that of the Surrealism exhibitions, the show also includes live moments, staged performances, lectures and oral narrations held by different characters inhabiting the show. Among them, a special role is played by children— recurrent protagonists of Kot'átková's works—inhabiting a dedicated space, the “Children office,” where they will create an archive of dreams.
Curated by Roberta Tenconi, the exhibition is accompanied by afully illustrated publication of the works on show and installation views. Structured as a diary of the body, the catalogue further investigates the concept of struggle and anxiety as productive forces and as well as critical and theoretical essays it includes conversations about daydreams, fantasies and fears between the artists and children participating to the project.

Eva Kot'átková (Prague, 1982) lives and works in Prague. She studied at the Academy of Applied Art of Prague and at the San Francisco Art Institute. She has exhibited in several institutions including among others, Haus 21 - Museum of Contemporary Art, Wien (2017); K21, Düsseldorf, Migros Museum, Zurich and Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shangai (2016); MIT List Visual Art’s Center, Cambridge, Massachussets (2015); Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden- Baden, Baden-Baden, and Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2014); Wroclaw Museum of Contemporary Art, Wroclaw (2013). She also took part in different international group shows: 55th Biennale of Venice and 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013); 18th Biennale of Sidney (2012); 11th Biennale of Lyon (2011). In 2018 she will partecipate at the 47th International Film Festival in Rotterdam.
Exhibition Program
The exhibition “The Dream Machine is Asleep” is part of the 2018 exhibition program, conceived by the Artistic Director Vicente Todolí together with the Curatorial Department: Roberta Tenconi, Curator; Lucia Aspesi, Assistant Curator; Fiammetta Griccioli, Assistant Curator.
The program will continue with exhibitions by Matt Mullican, “The Feeling of Things” (12 April – 16 September 2018), and Mario Merz, “Igloos” (25 October 2018 – 24 February 2019) in the Navate space and by Leonor Antunes (14 September 2018 – January 2019). 

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