HIDDEN podcast

HIDDEN gallery

The dynamic duo of gallerist Filip Kartousek and curator Kamil Princ brings you a deep but unconventional insight into contemporary fine art, whether of well-renowned authors or outstanding young talents from art academies. The personal interviews combine complex esthetic and philosophical topics with relaxed humor and non-conformist reveal of the secret sides of the author’s life and thoughts.
Podcasts are held in Czech or English language.

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22 episodes
Avg 58 min
Czech

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S2 · E46
Wednesday · 1 hr 2 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Dorka Hlinková on Memory, Friendship & the Magic of Everyday Life
In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we meet painter Dorka Hlinková, whose solo exhibition Čury Mury Fuk brings together scenes drawn almost entirely from her own experiences. Rather than inventing imaginary worlds, Hlinková describes herself as a collector of moments, gathering fragments of everyday life, journeys, friendships, encounters and strange situations and transforming them into paintings. We talk about her earlier utopian landscapes and the shift towards painting lived experience, as well as the idea of home as something created by people rather than a particular place. Hlinková speaks about travelling alone through Europe, sleeping on a cemetery in Spain, encountering fire, animals and moments of vulnerability, and the way these experiences gradually become material for her paintings. She also explains why she deliberately leaves out information, allowing her images to remain open and slightly uncertain. The conversation moves between the intimate and the absurd, from nudity and bodily functions to death, friendship and the relationship between humans and nature. Hlinková also talks about her painting process, her use of tempera and thin oil glazes, her plans to explore found materials and other media, and the challenge of turning personal memories into images that can still speak to people who were never there.
S1 · E45
August 20 · 58 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Renata Jelínková on Solitude, Memory & Civil Archaeology
In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we sit down with painter Renata Jelínková, whose solo exhibition ODEJDI OKNEM, DVEŘE NECH OTEVŘENÉ is presented at (A)VOID Gallery in collaboration with HIDDEN Gallery. We talk about abandoned places, solitude, memory, and the subtle tension hidden within spaces that have lost their original purpose. Renata describes her approach to what she calls “civil archaeology”, collecting fragments, structures, traces, and atmospheres from overlooked places and transforming them into paintings without directly reproducing the locations she encounters.
S1 · E44
August 6 · 1 hr 6 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Filip Kůrka on Cambion, Folklore, Mythology & Contemporary Painting
Filip Kůrka returns to the HIDDEN Podcast alongside art historian and curator Kamil Princ to discuss Cambion, his latest solo exhibition at (A)VOID Gallery. Inspired by medieval folklore and the legend of changelings, the exhibition explores figures that exist on the boundary between the human and the inhuman, questioning ideas of otherness, monstrosity, and social exclusion.Beyond the exhibition itself, the conversation expands into the broader practice of painting. We discuss symbolism, mythology, historical artistic references, the role of craftsmanship in contemporary art, assistants in artists’ studios, authenticity, and the balance between concept and technical skill. Rather than focusing solely on individual works, the episode offers an honest conversation about what it means to be a painter today and how historical narratives continue to shape contemporary visual language.
S2 · E43
July 21 · 55 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Klára Hartlová & Eva Fajčíková | Uncanny Paradise
In this 63rd episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we speak with painters Klára Hartlová and Eva Fajčíková about their joint exhibition Uncanny Paradise, presented by HIDDEN Gallery. Recorded inside the exhibition, the conversation with Filip Kartousek and guest host Kamil Princ explores the fragile boundary between beauty and unease, and how painting can reveal what lies beneath seemingly familiar worlds.The discussion begins with the concept of the uncanny itself – a place that appears comforting yet slowly becomes unsettling. Drawing on philosophy, psychology, and mythology, the artists reflect on how paradise can transform into a psychological landscape shaped by memory, anxiety, projection, and hidden narratives. From Heidegger, Freud, and Jung to fairy tales, folklore, and Disney’s Bambi, the conversation traces unexpected connections between contemporary painting and the stories that continue to shape our imagination.Klára Hartlová speaks about how psychology and psychoanalytic training influence her artistic practice, why she deliberately leaves room for the viewer’s interpretation, and how dreams, free association, and the unconscious enter her paintings. Eva Fajčíková discusses poisonous plants, mythology, religion, medieval symbolism, vampires, forests, and her experiments with beeswax, moss, scents, and even insect pheromones, expanding painting beyond the purely visual.Together they also discuss artistic collaboration, destroying unsuccessful paintings, finding ideas through reading and dreams, naming artworks, balancing intuition with discipline, and how two distinct artistic languages merged into a single exhibition. One of the highlights of the conversation is an open discussion about interpreting artworks and the relationship between the artist’s intention and the viewer’s reading.👉 Exhibition info: https://hiddengallery.cz/exhibitions/eva-fajcikova-klara-hartlova📍 HIDDEN Gallery, PragueThis conversation is in Czech.
S2 · E42
July 4 · 52 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Ester Wala on Limit Situations, Asphalt & Her Debut Solo Show
Painter Ester Wala joins us at HIDDEN at (A)Void Gallery for a conversation recorded inside On the Edge, her debut solo exhibition. We talk about painting bodies suspended between stability and collapse, working with industrial asphalt and porcelain, why her titles arrive only after the painting is finished, and her path from architecture and graphic design into painting at AVU. Curator Kamil Princ joins the conversation. This conversation is in Czech.
S41 · E2
July 3 · 1 hr 1 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Markéta Špundová & Viktorie Macanová on Feminism, Tradition & Christianity.
In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we sit down with Markéta Špundová and Viktorie Macánová, the artists behind the exhibition MOTOROVKA at HIDDEN UMPRUM. We talk about where the deliberately provocative title came from, playing on the contrast between the "rough" chainsaw and the "domestic" bábovka (a traditional Czech bundt cake), and what that has to do with how we still divide men's and women's work today.Viktorie describes the making of her photo editorial Women Are No Bábovkas, shot at her mom's cottage, including the styling, the casting, and how she turns the Czech rural stereotype (a man with a chainsaw, a woman at the stove) on its head. Markéta talks about her project The Ten Commandments of Masturbation, born out of her Christian upbringing, the shame around sexuality, and how it gradually grew into a longer-term interest in feminism within the church.We go through the two artists' shared history, seven years since they first met at UMPRUM, through the collaboration between the ceramics and photography studios, the exhibition Husí kůže (Goosebumps), the project Beránci (a reinterpretation of the Easter lamb tradition), and now Motorovka. We speak openly about how hard it is to make a living as an artist in Czechia, the reality of selling photography versus painting, and why both of them are currently looking for a "normal" job on the side.We also touch on topics rarely discussed openly in the art world: peeing in public in broad daylight (and why it's still a problem for women), tattoos as a late rebellion against religious upbringing, and Viktorie's thesis on authentic family portraiture as a counterpoint to commercial studio photography.
S2 · E30
June 15 · 58 min
HIDDEN Podcast – Emma Prosová: Urushi Techniques, Vietnam, Japan & Contemporary Painting
In this episode of Hidden Podcast, we speak with artist Ema Prosová about her journey through Vietnam and Japan, and the experiences that have shaped her artistic practice. Ema shares stories from learning traditional lacquer techniques in Vietnam, working with natural materials, and discovering the demanding craftsmanship behind a process that has been passed down for generations. We discuss the physical challenges of working with lacquer, cultural differences, artistic education, travel, and the role of curiosity in building an artistic practice. The conversation moves between Prague, Tokyo and Vietnam, touching on contemporary painting, material experimentation, life abroad, collecting shells by the ocean, and the unexpected experiences that continue to influence Emma’s work today.
S2 · E29
June 9 · 54 min
HIDDEN Podcast – Klára Korbelová – Painting from Personal Experience
In this episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we speak with painter Klára Korbelová about memory, childhood, solitude, and the personal experiences that shape her work. Recorded during her exhibition Nebe–peklo–ráj, the conversation moves between painting and everyday life, revealing the autobiographical foundations of her practice. Korbelová discusses recurring motifs that appear throughout her paintings, including childhood objects, self-portraits, diary-like fragments, and symbolic imagery rooted in personal experience. Together, we explore how memories transform into paintings, how humour and vulnerability coexist in her work, and how seemingly ordinary moments can acquire lasting emotional significance. The conversation also touches on her experiences outside the studio, her relationship to nature and isolation, and the role of observation in building a visual language that is both intimate and open-ended. Rather than illustrating fixed narratives, Korbelová’s paintings invite viewers into a world where personal memories become shared emotional spaces.
S2 · E38
April 6 · 55 min
HIDDEN Podcast – Martin Gerboc – On the Body, Grotesque, and Painting
Martin Gerboc is an artist whose work operates on the edge of the grotesque, the physical, and the symbolic. In this episode, we talk about painting as a confrontatio, with the body, identity, and the darker layers of human experience. We discuss the role of instinct in his process, the tension between control and chaos, and why certain images need to remain uncomfortable. The conversation also connects to the recent exhibition with Anna Krištofíková, where both artists explore identity as something unstable, not hidden behind a mask, but intensified by it. Rather than concealing, the image exposes the deeper contradictions of the self. This episode moves beyond interpretation and focuses on what painting does — not just what it shows. https://hiddengallery.cz/exhibitions/anna-kristofikova-martin-gerboc
S2 · E37
March 28 · 59 min
HIDDEN Podcast: Sára Konečná on Her First Solo Show “Heat”
Recorded directly at the exhibition, this episode follows Sára Konečná’s first solo show Heat, selected as Exhibition of the Week by Respekt. The paintings were created within a single month of intense studio work, shaping a body of work that moves between physical sensation and inner psychological states.We talk through her use of color: blue as bodily coldness, orange as a fever pushed to its limit, and brown as an undefined space outside of time. The conversation also traces her references to Mannerism, from the elongated figures of Bronzino to the tension of El Greco, alongside her gradual shift away from perfectionism toward a more intuitive, imperfect approach.The episode closes with Kamil Princ’s philosophical reading of the works: blue as ghosts of the dead, orange as hell, and a quiet reminder of our own mortality.
S2 · E36
February 20 · 57 min
HIDDEN Podcast — Tereza Mátlová on Painting Between Seasons, Emotion, and Identity
Czech painter Tereza Mátlová discusses her exhibition Between Winter and Summer at HIDDEN Bořivojova. In this conversation recorded inside the gallery, she reflects on her intuitive approach to color, the tension between figuration and abstraction, emotional states as a driving force of painting, and the long temporal process through which her works evolve. The discussion also touches on memory, identity, mythology, and the personal experiences that shape her visual language.
S2 · E35
February 12 · 51 min
HIDDEN Podcast – Jiří Petrbok & Klára Hartlová on the Unconscious, Psychoanalysis, and Why Darker Paintings Feel More True
In this episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we meet painter Jiří Petrbok and artist and psychotherapist Klára Hartlová for an open conversation recorded inside the alternative space of Hell Smoke BBQ. Together we discuss collaboration, intuition, and the role of the unconscious in painting. Petrbok speaks about working with overpainted images, fast digital sketches and instinctive decisions, while Hartlová reflects on how psychoanalysis, dreams and therapeutic practice shape her visual language.
S2 · E34
January 4 · 51 min
HIDDEN Podcast #54 – Martin Mlateček o noční malbě na Žižkově a práci mimo ateliér
V tomto díle HIDDEN Podcastu mluvíme s malířem Martinem Mlatečkem v kontextu jeho výstavy Flâneur, která byla představena v prostoru HIDDEN AVU. Výstava vychází ze série nočních plenérových obrazů malovaných přímo na místě v Praze 3 – na Žižkově, v nočních a ranních hodinách. Rozhovor se soustředí na Mlatečkovu pracovní metodu: malbu venku bez návratu do ateliéru a práci v reálných podmínkách, které formuje chlad, únava, počasí a neustálý kontakt s okolím. Bavíme se o setkáních s kolemjdoucími, lidech vycházejících z hospod i o situacích, které se stávají přímou součástí malířského procesu – včetně rušení, hluku a nepředvídatelnosti. Mlateček se vrací i ke starším pracím, například k nočním plenérům z Pardubic nebo k obrazům vzniklým v opuštěných budovách, kde pracoval v prázdných interiérech a dostal se i do přímého kontaktu s policií. Rozhovor se dotýká jeho zázemí, vztahu k řemeslu, studia a fyzické reality práce mimo institucionální a ateliérové podmínky. Epizoda nabízí vhled do tvorby založené na přímé přítomnosti, disciplíně a vztahu ke konkrétnímu místu – malby vznikající v reálném čase a v reálných lokacích. -- Více informací: https://hiddengallery.cz ⁠⁠Výstava Martina Mlatečka: Flâneur (HIDDEN AVU)⁠ Instagram @hiddengallery.cz
S2 · E23
Dec 8, 2025 · 1 hr
HIDDEN Podcast #53 — O těle, jizvách, bolesti a tom, jak vzniká forma
V tomto dílu Hidden Podcastu se setkáváme se sochařkou Marií Bokovou a umělcem Kryštofem Víchou, autory výstavy Distorza v HIDDEN UMPRUM. V otevřeném rozhovoru zkoumáme témata tělesnosti, fragmentace, funerální estetiky a osobních zkušeností, které formují jejich tvorbu. Mluvíme o práci s hlínou, o jizvách a proměnách těla, o psychosomatice, bolesti a o myšlence, že urna může být stejně intimním objektem jako socha. Epizoda propojuje osobní vhled, humor i teoretickou rovinu. Od psychoanalýzy přes tradiční čínskou medicínu až po kulturní rozdíly ve vnímání těla. Oba umělci sdílejí své tvůrčí procesy, přístup k deformaci i vztah k tomu, co je na lidském těle viditelné a co zůstává skryté.
S2 · E22
Dec 4, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
HIDDEN Podcast – Episode 52: Ján Bátorek on Childhood Territories, Subcultures, and the Painting.
In this episode, we meet Slovak painter Ján Bátorek, whose work grows out of childhood territories, subcultures, and the overlooked architecture of everyday life. We talk about growing up in Čadca, the hidden spaces children claimed around panelák housing estates, and how these early experiences formed the emotional vocabulary of his painting.Bátorek shares how anime, emo aesthetics and early subcultures shaped his sense of identity, and how ordinary objects – railings, dumpsters, stairwells, concrete passages – became symbolic anchors in his visual language.This conversation dives into memory, transformation, escapism, and the raw realism that defines his work.Topics discussed:• Childhood landscapes and panelák environments• Early subcultures and identity formation• Escapism and emotional memory• Developing a raw visual language of painting• Working with everyday objects as symbols• The evolution of his style and artistic motivationAbout the artist:Ján Bátorek (born 1989, Čadca, Slovakia) is a painter based in Prague. His work blends raw realism, nostalgia, and personal mythology, built from the ordinary yet emotionally loaded environments of his childhood.This episode is in Czech.
S31 · E2
Oct 25, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
Jiří Marek on Layers, Destruction, and the Palimpsest of Painting
Recorded at Trafo Gallery during Jiří Marek’s exhibition Palimpsest, this conversation opens a window into the painter’s meditative and material approach to image-making. Marek speaks about the duality of construction and destruction, the act of erasing as a form of creation, and the emotional charge that remains within matter. His reflections unfold as a poetic study of painting as an archaeological process, a constant rewriting of surfaces, memories, and personal history.
S2 · E30
Sep 9, 2025 · 44 min
Katerina Šťastná
In this diploma-series episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, sculptor Kateřina Šťastná traces a path from photography studies to sculpture, from fast ink sketches on a tram to embroideries that take hours to breathe into being. Her recent installation pairs five monochrome embroideries on chiffon, studded with glass beads, with tender yet grounded sculptures in plaster and concrete. The through-line is breath: once a subject, now a tool for sensing shape without the limits of anatomy. The cycle also holds an intimate narrative about a mother–daughter relationship—how care can shelter, compress, and finally allow distance so both figures can grow. This episode is in Czech
S2 · E29
Sep 8, 2025 · 38 min
Ekaterina Gordeladze
In this 49th episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, sculptor Ekaterina Gordeladze speaks from the midst of her diploma installation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU). Graduating in 2025 from Figural Sculpture and Medal, she reflects on finding her language through shallow reliefs, the pull between painting and sculpture, and how intimacy, pressure, and space are negotiated on a plane only centimeters deep. Her recent series links bodies and thresholds using pigmented concrete, plaster, and experiments with transparent media.This conversation is in Czech
S2 · E28
Aug 16, 2025 · 49 min
Ilona Koroman
In this 48th episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, Czech painter Ilona Koroman speaks from the middle of her diploma installation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU). Graduating in 2025 from the Drawing Studio under Alice Nikitinová and Matyáš Smetana, she reflects on her path through multiple studios, a formative semester in Carrara, and the shifts in her approach to figuration, space, and colour.From her early plein-air works to carefully constructed, fictional interiors and cityscapes, Koroman’s paintings balance intimacy and observation, often framed through windows—both literal and symbolic thresholds between the public and the private.This conversation is in Czech🎧 More from HIDDEN🌐 Website: https://www.hiddengallery.cz📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiddengallery.cz Explore on our site:• Best of AVU Diploma 2025 – curated selection of the most powerful AVU graduate projects• Exhibitions – current solo and group shows at HIDDEN Bořivojova, with a 2025 focus on emerging Czech artists• Podcast Archive – interviews with artists, curators, and collaborators including Josef Bolf, Jiří Petrbok, and more• TableTalk – informal public gatherings for deep conversations with artists over food and beer• HIDDEN Store & Editions – unique original artworks and editions by HIDDEN artists🖼 Want to support emerging artists? Discover available works, studio visits, and curatorial picks on our website.🎙 HIDDEN Podcast is produced by Filip Kartousek, founder and curator of HIDDEN Gallery in Prague.
Aug 3, 2025 · 1 hr 25 min
Otto M. Urban
HIDDEN Podcast: David Lynch – Up in Flames with Otto M. UrbanIn this episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we go behind the scenes of Up in Flames — the most comprehensive exhibition of David Lynch’s visual art ever presented anywhere in the world. Curator Otto M. Urban takes us through the show at DOX in Prague, where lithographs, drawings, watercolors, photographs, objects, and experimental films converge into a raw, unsettling portrait of an artist obsessed with insects, fire, dream logic, and subconscious decay.Urban speaks candidly about curatorial decisions, the collaboration with Lynch’s team, and why the exhibition avoids traditional chronology in favor of intuitive, visual echo. Alongside Filip Kartousek and Kamil Princ, the conversation turns to deeper cultural questions: Why have we forgotten how to look? How does visual oversaturation numb our sensitivity? And why is reading not just about knowledge — but about training the eye?Otto argues that “aesthetics” shouldn’t be taught in schools. Instead, children should draw, sing, and build — through making, they learn to feel. Beauty can’t be explained, but it can be experienced. Up in Flames embodies that idea: it doesn’t explain Lynch, it lets you meet him, image to image, in tension and silence.This conversation is in Czech

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