Maria Bartuszová | A tiny void full of tiny infinite universe
- EXHIBITION: Maria Bartuszová | A tiny void full of tiny infinite universe
- DATES: May 6 – September 13, 2026
- OPENING: May 6, 2026, at 6:30 p.m.
- VENUE: Museum of Modern Art, Trojlodí
- CURATORS: Gabriela Garlatyová, Gina Renotière
- PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION: Anna Bartuszová, Soňa Bartuszová
- SPATIAL SOLUTIONS: Anna Bartuszová, Gabriela Garlatyová, Michal Soukup
- COPYEDITING AND TRANSLATION: Eva Hrubá, Lucie Kasíková, Zuzana Henešová
- GRAPHIC DESIGN: Kateřina Manková
- INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář, Radka Žáková
- PHOTOGRAPHY: Anna Bartuszová; Archív Marie Bartuszovej, Košice; Michael Brzezinski; Gabriel Kladek; Viera Kladeková; Rudo Prekop
- EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: David Hrbek, Denisa Tessenyi
- EXHIBIT LOANS: The Bartusz Family Collection, Košice; The Robert Runták Collection
On May 6, the Olomouc Museum of Art will open an exhibition dedicated to one of Central Europe’s most remarkable yet long-neglected sculptors—Maria Bartuszová. The project, poetically titled A tiny void full of tiny infinite universe, builds on the international success of her work, confirmed in recent years by exhibitions at venues such as London’s Tate Modern and the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg.
A native of Prague, Maria Bartuszová, who spent most of her life working in seclusion in Košice, Slovakia, developed an original sculptural language based on the relationships between matter, emptiness, and touch. “The primary symbolic element for her was the vessel, an object creating a hollow form. The vessel—a vase, similar in shape to the female body—is an archetypal symbol of motherhood, fertility, creativity, life, and parenthood,” explains curator Gabriela Garlatyová.
Visitors will see key themes in the artist’s work: from early biomorphic sculptures to experiments with so-called gravity-assisted or pneumatic casting, through which the material transforms into a thin, almost fragile shell. Bartuszová works with physical principles—pressure, gravity, and inflation. “Around 1981, she also began experimenting with hollow balloon forms. While the material was still setting, she inserted thin, egg-shaped shells into one another and layered them to create Infinite Eggs,” adds Gabriela Garlatyová.
Her work resonates today in a broader context—it is akin, for example, to the work of the French sculptor Louise Bourgeois or the American painter and sculptor of German origin Eva Hesse. Nevertheless, it retains a unique position: a quiet, focused exploration of the relationships between humans, nature, and space. The exhibition in Olomouc is thus not only a tribute to a remarkable figure, but also an invitation to perceive sculpture as a living organism.
The Marie Bartuszová exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Olomouc Museum of Art, the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, and the Marie Bartuszová Archive in Košice. “It is part of a series of exhibitions through which the Olomouc Museum of Art showcases artists with roots in Czechoslovakia, whose significance for the local art scene was often only confirmed by major international awards,” adds curator Gina Renotière.
Marie Bartuszová’s work was featured in solo exhibitions at London’s Tate Modern (curated by Juliet Bingham) and the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, which took place between 2022 and 2024. Her work was presented internationally at documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007 (curated by Ruth Noack) and at the Venice Biennale in 2022 (curated by Cecilia Alemani). Works by Marie Bartuszová are held in the collections of the Tate in London, the KUNSTHAL in Vienna, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and other museums and private collections.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996) was born in Prague, where she lived until 1961. She studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and the inspiration she gained there was fundamental to her work. She moved to Slovakia with her husband, the sculptor Juraj Bartusz (1933–2025), whom she had met during her studies in Prague. The couple settled in Košice in eastern Slovakia, a city that became a new home for Marie Bartuszová, where she lived and worked until the end of her life. At the same time, the story of an artist on the margins—the other, the minority, the foreigner—unfolded here, shaping her work as an authentic imprint that transcended the context in which it was created.
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