Maria Bartuszová | A tiny void full of tiny infinite universe
The Czechoslovak sculptor Maria Bartuszová seems to have fallen out of the mainstream of art history, yet she remains significant in the Czech art scene. It is precisely this retrospective exhibition at the Olomouc Museum of Art that brings this forgotten artist, a member of the postwar artistic neo-avant-garde, back into the context of Czech art. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Maria Bartuszová Archive in Košice and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, where it premiered.
The specific aim of the exhibition, conceived as a living organism, is to begin with the later phase of the sculptor’s career, namely her works from the 1980s. During this period, she created spectacular site-specific installations and large-scale objects. Visitors will see large-scale plaster reliefs and objects created using the pneumatic casting technique, as well as smaller plaster gravity-cast sculptures and their bronze or aluminum casts, some of which are being exhibited for the first time.
Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996)
- She 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 while studying 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 outsider—unfolded here, shaping her work into an authentic imprint that transcended the context in which it was created.
The title of the exhibition, which is a quote taken from Maria Bartuszová’s notebook, suggests the contemplative nature of her thinking. In her work, Maria Bartuszová drew inspiration from the ideas of Zen Buddhism and a holistic approach to life, which she interwove with the themes of nature and the universe.
The exhibition follows Marie Bartusz’s major solo shows at London’s Tate Modern (curated by Juliet Bingham) and the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, which took place between 2022 and 2024. Bartusz’s 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). Her works are held in the collections of the Tate in London, KUNSTHAL Wien in Vienna, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and other museums and private collections.
The Olomouc Museum of Art has acquired three works by Marie Bartuszová for the collection of the Central European Forum in Olomouc, joining the ranks of many prominent institutions that hold her works (the Tate, Kontakt in Vienna, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and others).
About the exhibition
- 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: Sbírka rodiny Bartuszových, Košice; Sbírka Roberta Runtáka
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)