Soon at the SCHIRN: Anna Hulačová. Abundantia

The first gallery features imposing machine-like sculptures in concrete, such as “Engine” (2026) and “Big Machine” (2026). Concrete reliefs suspended from the ceiling feature delicate graphite drawings and are combined with carved linden wood or honeycomb. Here, Hulačová references the reliefs commonly found on socialist-era buildings, drawing on familiar motifs and forms from this visual tradition, such as upward-reaching stalks of grain. At the SCHIRN, she combines these elements with the sculptures “Alien Bees” (2021 and 2026) to surreal effect. The insect-like figures have humanoid features and recall comics and science-fiction films from the 1950s.

The second gallery features the newly produced installation “Still Life / Still Alive” (2026), a food conveyor belt flanked by metallic, clinical-looking walls. Figures of female workers are positioned throughout the space. At the end of the conveyor belt, fruit has accumulated in a large pile, while one worker attempts to tackle the abundance of produce with a whisk. The work also references conventions of representation in Western (male-dominated) art history, in which women were frequently associated with an abundance of fruit, as in sixteenth-century depictions of market scenes. At the same time, it points to the exploitation of (female) labor in food production, both historically and today, as well as to women’s role as consumers at the end of a long, highly specialized and mechanized chain of production.

The second work in the gallery, “After Bugonia” (2025), addresses the dairy industry. Three female workers in rubber boots, work coats, and headscarves recall the figures of Socialist Realism in both bearing and aesthetic. This totalitarian art promoted the archetype of the mother through concepts such as land, earth, and fertility. The workers’ heads are either faceless or filled with honeycomb. The title “After Bugonia” derives from an ancient myth according to which colonies of bees were spontaneously generated from the carcass of a bull. The motif of the bee thus brings together multiple layers of meaning. As a female collective, bees – evoked in expressions such as “busy as a bee” – also become a symbol of the oft invisible labor of women across different societies.