Curator: Zuzana Doleželová

The exhibition Animal Farm presents work emerging from the doctoral artistic and research project of ceramic designer Helena Beer Patelisová. The artist has long been devoted to creating figurative porcelain sculptures. In 2023, she presented her Mascots collection at the House of Arts in Ústí nad Labem as part of the exhibition The Garden of Virtues and Vices. The characters hidden in costumes that seem slightly oversized and clumsily sewn — Shark, Rocket, and Fly Agaric — are self-portraits of the artist in various life situations. Authorial design, depictions of human traits, and a touch of humor make her work truly distinctive.

In the Animal Farm series, inspired by George Orwell’s allegorical and satirical novel, the individual protagonists gradually appear in the forms of pop culture icons, mythical beings, and extinct creatures. The artist poses a “what if” question — what if the characters from Orwell’s novel could reveal their true selves and reach a utopian ending? Animal Farm is a series about the fragility of self-discovery, especially when one happens to be made of porcelain.

The series is created through a slow, focused process in which the gestures and knowledge of the craft are passed down from generation to generation. The artist learned the fundamentals of porcelain sculpture twelve years ago from Antonín Tomášek, who is also the supervisor of her doctoral project. Each sculpture in the series is quite literally dressed — the costume becomes a second skin, one that each animal was born to wear. The works are made through a time-consuming and technically demanding process, in which a hand-sewn garment is soaked in porcelain slip and carefully applied to the figure. The material thus transforms into both body and expression, while the original fabric disappears during firing, which transforms and seals the characters’ new identities in one of the most fragile yet enduring materials of all.

The Animal Farm project was presented in the High Craft section of Designblok 2025, curated in collaboration with Vogue CS magazine. This platform showcases works by Czech designers that intertwine traditional craftsmanship with innovation and sustainability.