Klára Hosnedlová - Ponytail Parlour

Klára Hosnedlová’s Ponytail Parlour is an installation taking place at the New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague.

The New Stage – or Nová scéna as the locals call it – is the City experimental theatre, hosted in an iconic modernist building. Since its construction, it has been home of the City’s National Theatre and the Laterna Magika – the world’s first multimedia theatre, and has been a playground for avant-guard directors and performative practices. Transforming the cloakroom, a space of cross-dressing and identity exchange, into a performative space, Hosnedlová imagines a feminine retreat, a parlour, a place of sensitive dialogue populated by extra-ordinary characters.

Precious motives and complex patterns decorate walls and furniture to create a charged and unique environment where time seems to slow down. A selection of costumes from the theatre’s archive, are presented in a group, softly constructed garments unveiling complex narratives and historical profiles. Juliette, Eva, Elettra, Angelica – their identity impregnated in each costume, open the transitional space of the cloakroom into a space of pure potential; a potential for acute catharsis and transformation.

text by Attilia Fattori Franchini