One Day Every Day (2020-2022)

Zuzana Pustaiová explores the roles and stereotypes in today ́s society and tries to view them critically. She sees them as a principal element, which forms the relationships between family members, relatives, friends, and other social groups. With a sense of wit, humour and irony, she uncovers cultural stereotypes related to gender, age, and traditional social influences. Her current project One Day, Every Day is partially autobiographical. The artist examines behaviour patterns, which she keeps finding in her closest social groups. Dealing with the inability to escape a social pressure imposed upon us by the world of political and media parareality, the work explores the fine line when the useful routine turns into the pathological one. Visually and conceptually, the project focuses on different aspects of masks wearing as the allegory of roleplaying. As the artist put it: “In fact, the masks are a self-hybridisation of women ́s (and generally human) appearance, of what an individual is supposed to look like according to the society. But who or what does represent society? An abstract entity one can neither control nor submit to. And yet, there are so many people trying to meet its expectations. They consider these expectations natural without giving a thought to their basic concept, which brings the exact opposite: unnatural behaviour and restrictions on personal freedoms.” Anna Vartecká