Radek Mrština↓

About the work

In ancient Egyptian religion, Taweret is the protective goddess of childbirth and fertility. Its embodiment was as a female hippopotamus walking on two legs and with distinct sagging breasts. She also served to safeguard the fruitfulness of the land around the Nile and the vitalizing floods. Mrština’s three-part installation plays with multiple fictions. The first introduces into a space simulating a museum, where the goddess acts via culturally-historical and natural objects. The altarpiece reflects the fictitious Taweret myth about the birth of humankind, the selection of animals, and the subsequent revelation of the truth about humans as animal descendants. The sculpture of the goddess with many arms documents the spread of its cult into the sphere of Hinduism. And finally, the imaginary, archaeological find of a scull questions her mythical existence and transforms it into a scientifically proved reality. The figures on the altarpiece at the same time serve as functional puppets, allowing the artist to ritually present his “new myth” as a performance.