The exhibition Traditual explores the delicate boundary between tradition as the constant flow of time and ritual as its concrete, physical manifestation. While we perceive tradition (from the Latin tradere—to pass on) as an invisible link between the past and the future, ritual is the moment when this continuity materializes through repeated gestures and bodily experience. Here, tradition emerges as a specific form of communication that actualizes the past within society while simultaneously framing the possibilities for future action, as Reinhart Koselleck suggests in his work Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time.
The project asks whether tradition can survive at all without ritual, or whether it is precisely active, ritualized action that gives tradition its contemporary meaning and power. Ritual can be understood as a plurality of traditions—as a set of bodily-embodied actions in which tradition materializes, becomes present, and turns into a shared experience, as Roy A. Rappaport demonstrates in his work Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity.
In today’s fragmented society, rituals often shift into our everyday functioning, where even seemingly banal acts take on the function of stabilizing elements and internal balance. According to Erving Goffman, these gestures manifest in common forms of behavior and social interaction, and even though they are not always consciously identified as traditions, they create continuity and a sense of grounding. The exhibition presents works that treat material objects as carriers of collective memory. Tradituál is not merely a look back, but a space between what has been and what lies ahead. It is an invitation to explore the moments in which the abstract passage of time transforms into a tangible presence of experience and memory.
Exhibitors:
Barbora Wolfová brings tenderness and intimacy to the exhibition. Look forward to objects made from recycled fabrics and embroidery that transform abstract memories of childhood and home into soft, tactile sculptures. She shows that family tradition isn’t in our genes, but in small gestures of love.
Čmarky presents tattooing as a profound cleansing ritual. Her work guides you through a process where physical pain transforms into therapy and symbols become a lasting safeguard of identity. It’s a raw look at how ritual shapes our bodies.
Daniel Doležal will present a work that embodies the power of natural rhythms and the precision of the sculptor’s craft. Look forward to an object whose structure is rooted in subconscious symbolism and the principle of repetition, reminiscent of a magical artifact or a three-dimensional Rorschach test. A keen sense of wood transforms the raw material into a living process that invites you to seek your own meanings.
Veronika Čechmánková connects prehistoric archetypes with the present. You will see photographs of figures resembling prehistoric statuettes, yet situated against the backdrop of modern department stores. In her interpretation, shopping ceases to be a mundane activity and becomes a modern ritual of our consumer culture.
Aneta Votavová returns to the foundations of civilization: ceramics and baking. Her project celebrates collective effort and the feast as a moment when people connect. Look forward to works that smell of home and remind us that tradition survives where people gather around a single table.
Matěj Velička presents a provocative installation that confronts traditional religious motifs with an uncertain future. His post-apocalyptic Madonna in a digital frame raises the question of how our values and rituals are changing in a world full of technology and environmental crises.
Curator Team
Marie-Luisa Borková
Paulina Hlavnová
Jana Kotková
Laura Mikušková
Zuzana Stieldorfová
The curatorial team consists of students of the Master's program in Curatorial Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Design JEPU