Opening: 5. 2. 2026, 19:00
6. 2. 2026 - 4. 3. 2026
Galerie NIKA - entrance via, Underpass leading to Metro B, Karlovo náměstí, Palackého nám.
Amália Kotradyová & Beata Kotrášová | Everybody Gangsta Until High Potential Becomes Burnout
Exhibition
today
The feeling that our supposed "high potential" has ultimately resulted in total burnout is shared by people across generations in this fast-paced and individualistic world. Career growth and sharp elbows are desirable and sexy, but paradoxically, social media and marketing celebrate and romanticize, or even fetishize, burnout. It is visually appealing, yet detached from its real-life experience. Thousands of memes and ironic motivational quotes create a martyr-like self-image of a generation of people who conceive and conceptualize themselves through market-driven advertising and internet post-irony. Recognizing where this "personality" really hides in an era of narcissistic and individualistic personalities is one of the most difficult tasks of our time. Reading oneself through symbols is only possible until they are completely emptied of meaning.
Amália Kotradyová (VU3) and Beata Kotrášová (VU4) exploit the emptiness of the internet image of burnt-out corporate "office sirens"; balloons represent exhaustion, superficiality, and transience, not only of internet culture, but also of the identity that is constantly performed within it. At the same time, their kitschy appearance implies the visual smog of advertising and the ironic nature of motivational quotes on social networks, which are often associated with exaggerated femininity in connection with the neoliberal manifestation of one's own strength and resilience. At the same time, the photographs paraphrase well-known meme formats and images with affirmations. The quote on the glass is also a direct reference to the meme format and reminds us of the collective and systemic nature of burnout. Why is burnout portrayed as something aesthetically appealing, and what does this say about the ways in which we shape our own identity today?
The opening will be accompanied by a DJ set by @mon_inom.
See you there!
graphic design: Matouš Kašpar