Reaching The Earth, 2024, Tomas Umrian Gallery, Bratislava

Photo: TUC/Adam Sakovy

In many religious traditions the first human being was made out of clay. Some fictional stories tell us 
that mankind came from another planet. In some way, biologists say the same if they suppose that 
terrestrial life originally came from outer space. However, the scenery which the Hamburg based 
artist Anna Bochkova presents to us, emerges somewhere between materialism and spiritualism. In 
our present days, “reaching the sky” appears suspicious – seriously only represented in the ambitious
space programs of the leading nations. As a metaphor for an idealistic and even utopian attitude, it is 
fairly worn out. In this sense, “Reaching the Earth” may point to a new view on our lives, today’s 
conditions and a hopeful and productive imaginary.
In this show, Anna Bochkova does not present the armour or the space suite, but very vulnerable 
beings, touching our souls. Using basic and down-to-earth materials such as clay, metal and papier 
mâché, the instant connection to nature and environment is evident. But there is a shift. Clouds are 
uncannily sharp, and landscapes are in a process of transition. Bochkova poses a question: How can a 
deserted or not yet populated landscape become a shelter? And how can new forms of 
communication and patterns of interaction arise?
The creations and creatures the sculptress Bochkova shows today reach out for something not yet 
realized in the real world. It’s about the visual expression of a peaceful and tender finding. She 
developed this language after focusing on concepts like housing, space and cosmos - and formally - 
on more minimal conceptualisations and by that enlarged her expressivity. Rather than giving tribute 
to the vast oeuvre of sci-fi, she gives weight to the very human needs and deep wishes. The result is 
an ambiguous world of creatures, plants and objects, well-known and strange at the same time.
The installation consists of different zones that create a space, where we can think about non-
hierarchical interactions between human beings and non-human others:  as for example in the group 
‘vulnerable dawn’ of ceramic human figures, which communicate with flowers and organic elements. 
Their arrangement and poses express gestures of care towards each other. 
The big floor ensemble ‘Unkown Commitment’, that was already part of a group show in Belvedere 
21, Vienna, invites you to lose the sense of dimensions as the micro and the macro perspectives are 
kept in a vague state.
Another level of meeting the conceptual world of Anna Bochkova is given by her drawings which are 
secured inside ceramic frames. In these scenes we can get a glimpse, how humans of ‘tomorrow’ 
interact with the environment around them. 
Do we need to be aliens in order to care for the space around us?