About the Exhibition
The exhibition Boundaries of the Seen brings fresh energy from the young Ostrava art scene to Trenčín. Sculptures, paintings, and spatial installations come together at the FOR MAAT gallery to collectively explore the question of what we are able – or unable – to perceive. You’re invited to a quiet dialogue with material, space, and your inner self. Expect contemporary art that reflects on where the visible ends – and where feeling begins.
The exhibition opening will take place on May 9, 2025, at 6:00 PM at the FOR MAAT gallery.
Boundaries of the Seen connects three contemporary artists – Sabina Knetlová, Libor Novotný, and Tereza Samková – strong representatives of the young Ostrava visual scene, whose work explores the relationship between space, materiality, and human existence. The exhibition is a conversation between three approaches – painting, installation, and sculpture – and invites the viewer to reflect on the boundaries of the visible, the material, or merely the intuited. The exhibition project explores the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, stability and transformation, physical and spiritual space. It broadens perspectives on potential dual relationships in the broadly understood field of architecture and space, including residues; personal identities in relation to emotional experiences of the contemporary globalized world, human corporeality, and transience. The artists’ works use symbolic forms to illuminate residual “cracks.”
František Kowolowski, Curator
This exhibition is part of the project With Roots in Trenčín, which brings important topics to the city, reflected through contemporary visual art.
Exhibiting Artists
Sabina Knetlová is a sculptor working with concrete, which she combines with other materials (rubber hoses, prefabricates). Her work balances between figuration and abstraction, and her sculptures are characterized by meditative calm and spatial connectedness. She draws inspiration from archaic sculpture (Egypt, Gothic), while also reflecting the industrial world. Her works thematize the tension between sculptural gesture and industrial material, highlighting the contrast between organic and artificial. The use of concrete emphasizes the rawness of the material, but its combination with organic forms gives the sculptures internal dynamism.
Libor Novotný merges natural and cultural elements, focusing on intervention in public space and gallery exhibitions. His work challenges the boundary between nature and civilization, recontextualizing organic materials (mushrooms, wood) and infusing them with geometry or irony. His practice oscillates between playfulness and conceptual critique, emphasizing the limitations of human perception and proposing alternative ways of seeing. He often works with installation and site-specific art, prompting the viewer to reconsider space and its functions.
Tereza Samková focuses on space as a metaphor for human existence. Her works stem from personal experiences, dreams, and specific realities, touching on existential questions. She works with spatial illusion, often reframing pictorial space with architectural elements to create layered visual narratives. A typical feature of her work is the tension between dreamlike elusiveness and rational geometry. A key aspect of her creation is the interplay between rationality and intuition. She merges geometric construction with a fluid atmosphere, allowing the viewer to interpret the observed space individually.
Visit Us
When: May 9 – July 11, 2025 (open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM)
Where: FOR MAAT Gallery, Železničná 3, Trenčín
Boundaries of the Seen is an activity of the project With Roots in Trenčín, which is part of Trenčín 2026. Trenčín 2026 is financially supported by the City of Trenčín, the Trenčín Self-Governing Region, and the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. The European Union is a partner.
Photos and videos will be taken at the event and may be published later.
