MICHAELA KRÁLIKOVÁ
Eye'm
The invitation to slow down, to observe, and to discover new perspectives in places we think we already know.
Eye’m is a movement-based performative installation primarily designed for public space, with a strong capacity to adapt to gallery and cultural center environments. Its central element is a large eye - a headpiece worn by performers, that creates surreal, slightly absurd figures. These figures move through space, explore it, and gently redirect the audience’s attention toward details that usually go unnoticed.
The project was developed during the Reimagining Realities artistic residency, realized under the auspices of Tabačka Kulturfabrik in 2024. The outcome of the residency was a performative pop-up in the form of a work-in-progress, presented during the immersive Festival 66 hodín.
The initial impulse was the need to create a sense of trust and safety within a larger festival community. At that time, the eye was not meant to see - and it was precisely this “dysfunction,” which gradually transformed into fragility, that opened up a playful space for exploring shared responsibility, spatial perception, and interaction with the audience. Although the eye eventually “sees,” it does so only within a limited range, its vulnerability remains a key element of the overall experience.
Since then, we have continued to develop the project across various contexts, and its form remains open. As part of the ongoing research, we have had the opportunity to test our concept in several different settings -as a performative intervention in public space, as a guided exhibition format within the ACMC Conference Vienna, and as an experimental performance with hints of a narrative structure, presented at the XVI. Prague Microfestival. Each of these presentations represents not only a way of sharing our current outcomes, but above all a means of further testing, developing, and opening the project to new questions and directions.
"We therefore understand the project as a long-term artistic research rooted in the need to transform everyday environments into spaces of encounter, playfulness, and shared attention. Audiences are not merely observers, but are gently drawn into the situation. Their presence, subtle reactions, and movements naturally become part of the composition and unfolding of the performance."
In its current phase of development, the project was selected in 2026 by the European platform In Situ,
which has long supported the creation and development of art in public space. We intend to use this opportunity to further deepen and gradually complete the project through international mentoring and artistic collaboration.
Within a series of planned immersive laboratories, we will continue to develop the project’s movement language, work with objects and sound, and deepen the relationship between performer, audience, and space. At the same time, we see this collaboration as a space for sharing, encounters, and dialogue with artists and organisations across Europe.
CREATIVE TEAM
Concept by: Michaela Králiková
Research and creation: Michaela Králiková, Jana Ryšlavá
Performers: Michaela Králiková, Jana Ryšlavá, Viktórie Szaloczi
Production: MOVE Ostrava
The performance was created with the support of the City of Ostrava and In Situ. The research phase of the project was carried out with the support of Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Malý Berlín, the IZOLYATSIA Foundation, and Trans Europe Halles.
Duration: minimum 50 minutes, depending on the nature of the location
