Antonie Zichová

Co když mám krásné boty, ale žádnou duši
HIDDEN UMPRUM
12. 11. 2024  / 6. 12. 2024 

We are delighted to present another exhibition at HIDDEN UMPRUM, featuring student of Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Antonie Zichová.

When someone changes their stance, we say they have "turned their coat." But what if someone puts on a different pair of shoes? Do shoes influence our personality? Do they change how we appear or how we behave? In the exhibition What If I Have Beautiful Shoes but No Soul, Antonie Zichová presents a reflection on corporeality and its extensions through the act of dressing. She explores various obsessions and fetishes that accompany us in life, drawing primarily from her own fixations.

Being a woman with an obsession means carrying a heavy load of stereotypes. The obsessive desire to constantly change one's shoes may appear as mere vanity. However, in Zichová’s work, fetish becomes an opportunity to examine the boundaries of one’s body and, ultimately, to explore oneself. Changing one’s shoes means becoming someone else. When a woman puts on high heels, does she suddenly become more powerful and valuable? Is it due to the height she gains? Or does it stem from a desire to conform to the image of men, who never had a need for stilettos—and why, in fact, did they never need them? Similarly, why does a corporate man in a suit find high heels unnecessary?

The word "fetish" originally comes from late medieval Portuguese and was associated with idols and magical practices of West African indigenous peoples. It referred to a crafted object worn on the body, an item that was special and unique to its owner. Over time, the meaning shifted to refer to objects believed to possess a particular power. In What If I Have Beautiful Shoes but No Soul, shoes acquire a similar power, just like the female body, as they travel through space. Here, no one tells us what is or isn’t appropriate—this world normalizes the unusual. Red shoes are not lascivious, stereotypes do not apply, and visitors experience a sense of certainty precisely because the norms are shifting.

Antonie Zichová’s exhibition envisions a world where everyday life and fictional elements intertwine, where the meanings of words and objects are rearranged. Bodies interweave, high heels can be worn by anyone. We slip into shoes made of hair and set off on a walk—even if we can’t be sure whether we’ll return as the same person. But does that really matter?

Curator: Helena Todorová