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In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we sit down with Polish artist Natalia Kleszczewska, whose first solo exhibition outside Poland, SPELLBOUND, is currently on view at HIDDEN Bořivojova in Prague. Kleszczewska discusses Mark Fisher’s idea of “lost futures” and her concept of artificial romanticism, exploring how familiar images, myths and cultural references can become strange, alien and almost otherworldly. She talks about the figures that inhabit her paintings, the relationship between attraction and fear, and her interest in folklore, horror, science fiction and forgotten cultural traditions, including the Slavic figure of Marzanna and the Japanese tradition of Ohaguro. The conversation also explores Kleszczewska’s approach to world building and her movement between painting, graphics and digital media. She reflects on her recent collaboration with Björk and Natalie Liu on Nerve Bloom, where her painted creatures and environments were transformed into an animated and sonic world. SPELLBOUND is on view at HIDDEN Bořivojova: https://hiddengallery.cz/exhibitions/natalia-kleszczewska

In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we meet painters Jan Vytiska and Jakub Janovský in their joint exhibition THE DEVIL GAZES ALSO INTO YOU at Hell Smoke BBQ in Prague. Inspired by Nietzsche’s famous image of the abyss gazing back at us, the exhibition replaces the abyss with the figure of the Devil and explores memory, childhood, death, violence, folklore and the darker sides of human nature. The conversation begins with the artists discussing each other’s work and the very different memories embedded in their paintings. Janovský speaks about childhood, post-communist landscapes, distorted memories and his series of concentration camps reconstructed from children’s building blocks. Vytiska discusses folklore, pagan rituals, desire, death and the recurring figure of the Devil in his paintings. We also talk about cinema and the influence of Andrei Tarkovsky, the aesthetics of old Flash websites, moving images, music and underground communities, working with found photographs, and the return to traditional painting in the age of AI. The artists consider what makes a handmade image different from an AI-generated one, and why imperfection, mistakes and physical intervention may become increasingly important. Finally, we discuss the idea of depression in art, the tension between darkness and colour, and whether images dealing with death and evil can ultimately become celebrations of life.

In the new episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, we meet painters and sculptors Martin Kolář and Matěj Pokorný in their joint exhibition HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE at (A)VOID Gallery. Built around Sartre’s famous proposition that hell is other people, the exhibition explores the uneasy relationship between people, the gaze of others, violence, technology and the human body. The two artists created the exhibition through an unusual process of mutual influence. They visited each other’s studios, responded to each other’s ideas and gradually began transforming and reinterpreting each other’s motifs. The result deliberately blurs the boundary between original and copy, painting and sculpture, human and non-human. Kolář speaks about his move away from pop-cultural references towards figures and forms that emerge directly from his imagination, his interest in toxic human relationships and the way violence and sexuality remain embedded in his work. Pokorný discusses his fascination with bones, biological structures and the physical resistance of sculpture, as well as his experiments with concrete, asphalt, silicon and other materials of civilisation. We also talk about the human body as a last remaining form of resistance to technological optimisation, the possibility of imagining non-human intelligence, ancient Mesopotamian imagery, cyberpunk, artificial intelligence, destruction as part of the artistic process, and why both artists see the current exhibition less as a prediction of the future than as a reflection of the strange present we already inhabit.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.