Eliška Dvořáková↓

About the work

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Eliška Dvořáková’s diploma thesis is the result of examining the contrast between active movement and passive playing of virtual games or watching sports on the screen. She tries to connect physical and active movement with the passiveness. At the same time, she solves the topic subjectively, therefore not criticizing the world around – instead, she focuses on herself and her partner. The works are made by hand; Dvořáková creates gobelins and tapestries from strings and textiles. The technique she has chosen is something very present, tangible and real compared to the virtual world on the screen. Paradoxically, it is more physical than watching a football match. So instead of processing the subject virtually, she employed contrast and turned to a specific, material technique to underline the difference between the passive and the active. The method allows her to return to the activities she has pursued in the past: her relation to the material is crucial to her. The form she selected to produce the thesis is also a return to the pre-virtual era, when people had fun with more active activities. The motifs of Eliška Dvořáková’s tapestries are visual fragments mainly taken from the sphere of football. The technique, tender and typically feminine, contrasts with the content – since football is a sport widely perceived as a typically masculine affair.