Anna Jožová at the Venice Design Biennial 2021
Anna Jožová a promising young glassmaker from the UMPRUM Glass Studio will present her latest projects GAIA and KETO responding to the current environmental situation at the 2021 Venice Design Biennial. She was approached directly by the exhibition organizers to participate in this magnificent show, the theme of which is Design As Self Portrait.
Anna Jožová at the Venice Design Biennial 2021
May 20 - June 27, 2021
Venice Design Biennial 2021, SPUMA-Space for the Arts, Fondamenta S. Biagio 800R, Giudecca, Venice
Anna Jožová has been studying at the Glass Studio since 2017. From the very beginning, her work has attracted attention and reaped a well-deserved positive response. She is not afraid to experiment, to revive obsolete glass techniques, or, on the contrary, to push the boundaries of already experienced production processes. One example of this bold creative approach can be seen in the Líza lollipop vases, where she humorously replaced the ancient glass technique of millefiori with rox lollipops.
At the Venice Biennale, Anna presents two projects that are strongly influenced by her eight-month study stay in New Zealand. In both works, she responds to the fragility and vulnerability of the landscape in which she had the opportunity to live.
Anna created GAIA porcelain vases during her stay at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand. She used a combination of transparent glaze and volcanic sand, which she collected in places that would probably soon disappear due to adverse effects. The vases, as well as the landscape that inspired her, contain traces of erosion, cracks, rising peeling layers, dunes.
"The well of inspiration for me was also a long road trip, which I underwent after completing the internship and as a result, the KETO project was born. In this case, I was affected by the waste. Waste swaying on the ocean floor and waste as such ", as Jožová describes the formation of black crystal vases in combination with wire.
Anna Jožová's works are exhibited in SPUMA-Space for the Arts, which houses a collection of works responding to the theme of Design As Self Portrait. The curatorial selection responds to the growing importance of identity and the way we communicate and present it. The GAIA and KETO vases, which carry a strong statement of environmental anxiety and a description of the state of the country where we live, are a concise portrait of the thinking of the current young generation.
Anna Jožová (*1996) has been studying at the Glass Studio since 2017 under the guidance of Rony Plesl at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. She previously studied Ceramic Design under Antonín Tomášek at the Faculty of Art and Design UJEP in Ústí nad Labem. She devoted herself to ceramics and porcelain even while studying at the Václav Hollar Secondary School of Art. She presented her work in several exhibitions (London Design Fair 2018, Czech Design Week, Glassfest Karlovy Vary, Prague Design Week2019, Designblok 2019 and 2020, New Glass Selection 2021). She won the award for the Best Product 2019 Prague Design Week, was selected in the Talente competition, and was also nominated for the Czech Grand Design award in the discovery of the year category.
In recent years, she has been systematically focusing on glassmaking and design, she creates new unique objects while combining various, at first glance disparate materials and classic glass techniques.