Quiet, please! Panel discussion and book launch of the monographic publication accompanying the exhibition Kvet Nguyễn: Till the Water Meets the Shore

05/11 / 6:00 pm

The panel discussion will bring insights into different forms of solidarity that can serve as responses to the suppression of human rights. What levels of appeal and encouragement toward responsible engagement can civil society develop? And in what way can we address human rights issues from the position of art and its institutions?
A panel discussion on the necessity and possibility of universal solidarity from the civic, artistic, and institutional perspectives. Different international approaches and projects, as well as the absence of Palestinian discourse in our domestic/local context, will be discussed by multidisciplinary designer and activist Yara Abu Ataya, senior curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana Bojana Piškur and visual artist Kvet Nguyễn.
  • The discussion is part of the public programmes accompanying the exhibition Kvet Nguyễn Till the Water Meets the Shore ↗, currently on view at the Bratislava City Gallery.
  • As part of this event, there will be a book launch of the monographic publication accompanying the exhibition.
  • The discussion will be held in Slovak with simultaneous translation into English.
YARA ABU ATAYA is a multidisciplinary designer, born in Gaza and based in Prague. She studied architecture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, where she developed a broad approach to design and art. Currently, she focuses mainly on graphic design and social media management, though her creative practice also encompasses scenography, product design, and other disciplines. Yara combines her roots and experiences from both Czech and Palestinian contexts, which is reflected in her work. Since October 2023, she has been actively engaged in advocating for the rights of the Palestinian people, facing waves of silencing and censorship.
KVET NGUYỄN is a visual artist and PhD student at the Department of Photography and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. Her multidisciplinary work primarily explores the theme of otherness in the context of post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in broader geopolitical relations. Using autoethnographic theory, she reflects on issues of dual cultural identity through the categories of memory, migration, exile, and longing. Nguyễn won the Oskár Čepan Award 2024 (together with Svetlana Fialová, Paula Malinowska, and Tomáš Moravanský) and completed a residency at the Delfina Foundation in London in 2024. She is author of the autobiographical essay Everything That Connects Us (2024). Her most recent solo and group projects have been showcased at Galerie 35m2 (Prague, CZ), tranzit.sk (Bratislava, SK), The Július Koller Society (Bratislava, SK), Kunsthalle Bratislava (SK), VCCA (Hanoi, VN), and Center A (Vancouver, CA).
BOJANA PIŠKUR is a senior curator at Moderna galerija in Ljubljana and holds a PhD from Charles University in Prague. Her research and curatorial work focus on the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav context, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the evolving concept of the “East(s),” particularly in relation to art, culture, and politics. Since 2019, Piškur has curated and co-curated Southern Constellations exhibitions, exploring the legacies of political and cultural resistance, at institutions such as Moderna galerija (Ljubljana), Gwangju (South Korea), Filodrammatica Gallery (Rijeka, Croatia), Contemporary Art Centre of Montenegro (Podgorica), the Qattan Foundation (Ramallah, Palestine), National Opera and Ballet (Skopje, North Macedonia), and The Mosaic Rooms (London, UK). Her work examines how past emancipatory struggles and alternative geopolitical imaginaries can inform and reshape contemporary debates on power, identity, and solidarity, using art to challenge historical narratives and offer new perspectives on global political movements.