The exhibition Roman Parties presents a trio of videos and a series of prints created as part of a unique collaboration between the artist Pauline Curnier Jardin and a collective of sex workers, artists and architects who, since 2020, have been performing under the collective name Feel Good Cooperative. Formed in Italy during the strict lockdown measures of the Covid-19 pandemic, the collective aims to raise the profile and economic and social empowerment of sex workers. Through involvement in artistic projects, this initiative contributes to supporting and empowering the independence of those who have faced*in the past*marginalisation within mainstream society, stigmatisation and exclusion from opportunities for self-representation. Their works thus address, among others, the themes of migration, gender identity or post-colonial heritage.
Pauline Curnier Jardin (born in 1980 in Marseille) is a visual artist, filmmaker and performer who draws from a vast repertoire of references, ranging from Graeco-Roman mythology to folk tales, from various religious practices to pagan rituals.
Her films and installations, which she often conceives as theatrical stages, reflect spaces of play or popular entertainment, such as circuses, cabarets, carnivals or fun fairs, worlds where all identities, every kind of cross-dressing and reversal, is allowed. In a kind of wild and organic ethnology, Pauline Curnier Jardin documents various rituals: processions, pilgrimages, votive festivals.
She has showcased her works in prestigious international museums and institutions. Curnier Jardin received numerous accolades, including the Prize der Nationalgalerie in 2019, the Villa Medici Residency 2019/2020 in Rome, and the Villa Romana Fellows 2021 in Florence. Other prestigious awards include the Dutch NN Award (2018) and the Prix Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard (2017).
Feel Good Cooperative is a collective comprising Colombian trans sex workers and their allies. This collective emerged in Rome during the Spring 2020 lockdown, driven by the artist Pauline Curnier Jardin, photographer and sex worker Alexandra Lopez, and architect and researcher Serena Olcuire. Recognizing art as a powerful space for expression and economic empowerment, Feel Good Cooperative aims to uplift subjectivities that have historically faced marginalization, stigma, and exclusion from self-representation. Through collective works and performances, they create art from shared experiences and training workshops that encompass diverse artistic techniques. The reach of Feel Good Cooperative’s works extends to various cities, including Rome, Berlin, Genoa, Bonn, Cologne and now Prague.
Marie Lukáčová (1991, Opava) has long been an established artist in the field of visual art and music. She graduated from the Brno-based University of Technology and UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design) in Prague, has served as a lecturer at CAS FAMU, and is one of the few Czech artists who, in addition to her role as an artist, is also involved in the demanding field of film production. She presents her stories in multimedia installations combining feature film and animated film, music (especially rap), drawings, prints and murals. She includes in her stories, founded on documentary as well as narrative principles, socially engaged motifs from the fields of gender and politics, as well as from folk religion and science which plays the role of modern mythology. Primarily from a feminine perspective, she highlights the self-destructive role of a polarised, patriarchal society in the current era of global environmental and social crises.
Visitors’ information for the exhibition Roman parties
The Prague House of Photography, as well as the inner area, are both barrier-free. Access to the object is via the corridor that runs between Revoluční and Benediktská streets. To gain entry from the mezzanine, ring the Prague City Gallery bell or contact the ticket office at (+420) 702 283 922. Admission to the exhibition is free for those who possess a ZTP card (persons with disabilities and handicaps) or a ZTP/P card (persons with severe disabilities and handicaps requiring a guide), as well as any guides accompanying a ZTP/P card holder. The exhibition space includes rest areas, but no café.
Nudity is portrayed in the video, Fireflies by Pauline Cournier Jardin and the Feel Good Cooperative. There is explicit sexual content in the graphics at the installation The Death of the Pope. The exhibited artworks pose no risk in terms of sensory triggers. It will take about 45 minutes to witness the exhibit.
The exhibition Pauline Curnier Jardin & Feel Good Cooperative: Roman Parties is organized within the international project Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions, co-funded by Czech Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, City of Prague, State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic and the European Union.
