Anna Hulačová
Nymph and Medusa, 2024

Nymph (figure) –h 164 x 72 x 60 cm weight- 80 kg concrete, pencil drawing on painted sheet metal, stainless steel.
Medusa (engine) –h 125 x 170 x 80 cm weight- 140 kg, concrete, pencil drawing on painted sheet metal.
Courtesy of Galeria Pedro Cera.

Drawing on concepts of mutation and hybridism, Anna Hulačová’s work thematizes the inextricable relation of the subject with a fluid, highly mediated reality. Weaving motifs from science-fiction, folklore and myth, her practice incorporates elements of classical sculpture to engage in a dialogue with current contexts, creating a conceptual framework that seeks to critically unite the past with the future. Imagining a flow of interventions, “Nymph and Medusa” (2024) testifies Hulačova’s enduring interest in the dialogical interplay between industrialization and naturalization, ranging from narratives of ecological devastation to the historical collectivization of agriculture, symbolizing the social and natural consequences of these processes.

By merging the brutalist and industrial quality of the concrete with an apocalyptic vision of the machine’s impact on individuality, Hulačova presents a broader commentary on the reduction of the subject to a mere cog in a larger engine, underscoring the triumph of exploitation over selfhood. Traditionally a symbol of nature and fluidity, the nymph is now petrified by the haunting Medusa of mechanical forces, embodying standardization as the collective and impending reality of our contemporary world.

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