ON THE VERGE OF UNSEEN

  • ELISKA KOVACIKOVA,
  • ZAHRA ZAVAREH

As part of the exchange program with Detroit Stockholm gallery in Sweden, Atelierhaus Mengerzeile is pleased to announce the exhibition On the Verge of Unseen. This duo exhibition features Stockholm-based artists Zahra Zavareh and Eliska Kovacikova. The conceptual framework of the show focuses on the notion of a resilient body—its interiority, external presentation, and relationship to a specific space. The exhibition title offers multiple interpretations within this context, aiming to reflect on the tension between visibility and invisibility, and the fine line between concealing and revealing. Particular emphasis is placed on traces: unseen forces leaving marks behind. When observing the two lines of presented works and their variety of mediums individually, one can detect a subtle commonality between the practices. This common ground lies in the artists' exploration of the intersections between process, materiality, and bodily experience (both internal and external), where the audience is consciously or unconsciously invited to connect the dots. In doing so, viewers form their own narratives, revealing unseen connections, stories, and forms through their visual journey.


Kovacikova’s installation, Beyond the Confined, focuses on the relationship between the body and confined spaces, evoking a powerful sense of tension between limitation and liberation. It suggests a struggle to transcend both physical and psychological boundaries while still feeling the weight of confinement. The site-specific work consists of monotype and relief prints on semi-transparent mirror films, fragmented and stretched across the space. These printed compositions bear images of underground spaces, rendered with varying degrees of opacity. Light filtering or reflecting through small gaps represents hope or freedom beyond, while the darker, enclosed areas symbolise entrapment. This project is another chapter of the artist's broader interest in bunkers and subterranean landscapes and their role in urban and societal contexts.


Intimate Residue reflects Zavareh’s exploration of the fragmented body, process, and material intimacy. This installation—comprising forged and cast aluminium pieces and a video sculpture — delves into the body’s confrontation with what it expels, such as blood, skin or sweat, eliciting feelings of unease. By examining the body’s tendency to spill over its limits, the work embodies a sense of excess, leakage, and vulnerability. A holographic projection of the artist’s head, suspended in an endless loop of effort and strain, exists alongside the aluminium forms, creating a dynamic relationship between solidity and dissolution. Highlighting the labor involved in creation, the installation emphasizes the material's responsiveness to touch, weight, and heat. In Intimate Residue, the body becomes a process — constantly reconstructing, leaking, and resisting, while never fully containing itself.

Opening hours


Vernissage: 25th October 6 – 9 pm

Opening hours:
Sat- Sun 1 – 4 pm
Thu - Fri 5 – 7 pm
Or by appointment

Artists