Group exhibition
A Place Where We Listen to Silence
Vladimíra Večeřová’s solo exhibition opens up a space where it is possible to stop for a moment, be quiet, and listen not only to our surrounding world, but mostly to ourselves. Through subtle but profound gestures and materials, the idea of the void unfolds before us—not as a negative place where something is missing but as a sensitive place where we can hear our inner self if we can tune in and focus on ourselves. The silence here is not empty. With Vladimíra Večeřová, it is full; soaked in the gentle rustle of bamboo, the scent of white lilies, and the touch of clay.
The white lily, which appears in the exhibition space not only visually but also through its delicate scent, carries a strong symbolism of cleansing, healing, and a return to one’s own center. Within herbalism and ancient traditions, it has been associated with the renewal of inner strength, healing the adrenal glands which become depleted under the onslaught of stress. In this quiet space, the lily becomes a companion on the journey back to us, to the inner peace we so desperately need. Stress takes us away from ourselves, from our core missions. The lily and its presence invite us into a different perception of time: slower, more sensitive, more perceptive, perhaps even more soothing, more loving.
The gallery space turns into a place where sound and silence communicate with each other. The reflection of sound, whether of your steps or a distant street noise, gently reminds you of the breath of a pulsating place that is never completely silent, like nature, but at the same time never loud. This sound, at once natural and almost imperceptible, makes us slow down our inner pace, to the possibility of hearing not only the sounds outside, but also those deep inside us.
Vases play an important role: simple, archetypal forms carrying the depth of symbolism. Some remain unglazed, the shade of flesh-colored clay, others are fired and solid. This contrast between rawness and solidification refers to the duality of emptiness and fullness, to the process where something is created and takes its time to become a whole. The vases, as empty vessels waiting to be filled, are an image of ourselves—what content will we fill ourselves, our lives, with?
The flesh-colored clay, soft and earthy, is reminiscent of skin, of touch, but also carries other layers of meaning. Vladimíra Večeřová connects this color with the image of a salmon: a fish embarking on a journey upstream to return to the place of its birth. The salmon, as a symbol of perseverance, strength, and courage, faces the currents of life, it is subtly present in the choice of material, color, but also in the gesture of creation itself; how it is constantly struggling and moving against the current. The vases, like the salmon, carry inside them a story of return, cycle, and rediscovery of one’s own center.
The earth, the clay from which the vases are made, is the material of the primal touch—the earth, a piece of ourselves. Through hands, shaping, slow modelling, a form is born that bears the imprint of time and body. The vase is at once a void that waits and a birth in which something new sprouts; like a seed in the ground that grows slowly, hidden from the outside view. The silence contains the hope of growth, transformation, and renewal.
The exhibition thus opens up a space where the body, breath, nature, and thought can meet again. A place where we can hear what remains hidden under the layers of everyday noise. It is in the softness of the murmur, in the silence between sounds, in the scent of lilies, in the physicality of clay that we may begin to question again how to listen—to ourselves, to the world, to others. How to stop when everything is rushing and screaming.
And perhaps it is here, in this empty yet full space, that we can discover that a return to ourselves is a return to the world. That to listen to ourselves is to open up again and create a new world out of the silence and emptiness.