The exhibition examines emotions in the context of today’s interconnected crises and increasing political polarisation. It addresses a condition in which systemic exhaustion, political manipulation, and enforced self-control come into conflict with fundamental human needs for meaning, joy, and hope. Within this framework, the exhibition reflects on the growing tension between individual emotional experience and broader societal pressures.

The presented works explore how emotional maturity and resilience are shaped through upbringing, education, and social frameworks. They offer strategies for confronting fear, developing empathy, coping with loss, and enduring hostile environments. In this way, the exhibition provides thoughtful perspectives on emotional awareness and endurance in challenging times.

At the same time, the exhibition emphasises the urgent need for collective healing, shared care, and the renewal of hope in uncertain circumstances. It draws attention to quiet perseverance and subtle, everyday gestures of resistance that arise within the gaps of existing systems. Participating artists include Róza El-Hassan; ex-artists’ collective (Tamás Kaszás and Anikó Loránt); Oleksandr Halishchuk; The Hologram; Jana Kapelová; Mouries Collective; Katarína Poliačiková; and Eva Koťátková.

Eva Koťátková, a Czech artist whose practice focuses on social structures, is represented through collages and sculptures that combine portraits of unknown individuals with depictions of human body parts or everyday objects. These surreal hybrids frequently address themes of anxiety, control, and manipulation. Together, the exhibition offers a cohesive and reflective exploration of emotional resilience, care, and quiet resistance in times of crisis.

• https://wien.czechcentres.cz/program/rotor-v-kole-emoci