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The century since the discovery of the Venus of Věstonice provides an opportunity to reflect on the significance of this prehistoric sculpture and its legacy for the present. The Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (FDU UWB) has prepared a year-long project Venus Today for this anniversary, which includes several exhibitions and an international symposium on April 9 and 10. We spoke with the project's curator, Daniela Kramerová, about what this professional meeting will offer and how contemporary art students have dealt with the topic of Venus.

The Venus Today symposium connects experts from the fields of archaeology, philosophy, theory and history of art and semiotics. What does this interdisciplinary dialogue bring to contemporary research and interpretation of the Venus symbol?

During the preparation of the symposium and interviews with artists and scientists, I was pleased to discover that the Venus of Věstonice itself continues to attract and inspire authors. Thanks to the fact that there are no written commentaries on it, its meaning and purpose are always a mystery, and therefore it is still possible to come up with new interpretations and be inspired by other facets corresponding to the current intellectual context. The interdisciplinary nature of the symposium will bring together personalities who create and research in their fields – archaeology, philosophy, theory and history of ancient or contemporary art and semiotics. It is difficult to predict before the start of the symposium, but let us hope that this interdisciplinary and intergenerational conversation will bring new ideas and mutual broadening of horizons, not only regarding the Věstonice Venus itself.

The Venus motif also appears in the work of Ladislav Sutnar. Will this aspect of his work be given a special space at the symposium?

We certainly couldn't do without it. Among the scientists from our faculty, Zlata Gersdorfová, a leading Sutnar researcher and curator of the Museum of Decorative Arts, will be following the changes in Sutnar's portrayal of women in the European and American contexts and will show how the emancipation of women in the twentieth century was reflected in Sutnar's work.

Part of the year-long Venus Today project are exhibitions of student works. What was the assignment and can a common idea be traced in the student works, or is the concept of the topic different? Would you like to draw attention to any specifics or specific works?

The assignment was intentionally formulated loosely, I opened up a range of possibilities for the students: from responses to a specific prehistoric work, to monitoring the depiction of a woman – Venus throughout the history of art, to the most contemporary and personal approaches. I was curious whether the topic of Venus was still relevant for students. I was surprised by the interest and variability. The authors (who are the majority at the faculty) and their colleagues, primarily through the motif of Venus, considered the contemporary image and role of women, questioned their friends and artificial intelligence, touched on norms and taboos in the area of ​​body image, gender and sexuality. Some authors conducted research on the role of women in a Muslim environment, the phenomenon of virginity, diseases affecting women and their impacts on the required perfect image of women.

Who is the Venus Today symposium intended for? What contributions are you looking forward to?

We would like to invite not only the teachers and students of the Sutnar Faculty, many of whom participated in the project, but also a wider circle of art lovers from far and wide, not only from Pilsen. And since we will also deal with the topic of Venus and contemporary women from the perspective of philosophy and sociology, we are targeting not only an artistic audience.

It is very difficult to single out individual speakers, but new interesting hypotheses regarding the meaning of the prehistoric figurine are promised, for example, by the contribution of the main archaeological authority in the field, Professor Jiří Svoboda. The contribution of Professor Jan Bažant, author of the monumental publication Divine Nude, will touch on the similarities and limitations of the Western approach to sexuality. The founder of Czech feminist art history, Professor Martina Pachmanová, will address subversive depictions of the female body and images of Venus as targets of feminist political criticism. Not innate but appropriated and parodied femininity in a queer context is the theme of the text by the young semiotician Matěj Hřib. And I am also curious whether we will find similarities or differences in the concept of femininity in the contributions of the Polish and Slovak authors.

The Venus motif in art history is multilayered and rich in interpretation. How did you approach curating the Venus Today project?

I deliberately choose multifaceted to ambivalent themes in my projects - applying a variety of approaches allows me to create an entertaining and sculptural exhibition. The variety of approaches and technologies represented also suits the internal diversity of FDU's studios, bringing together free-form art and design. Thus, alongside a large collection of graphic works from several studios, we encounter Venus in painting, photography and sculpture. Not only aesthetic, but also thought-provoking concepts were created in the ceramics, jewellery and furniture studios. With hundreds of entries, one of the main challenges was the selection of exhibits. Fortunately, the Venus Today project will open several exhibitions in Prague and Pilsen, allowing me to show dozens of newly created works to the public. After the first swallow - an exhibition of graphic works with the theme of Venus in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic last December - the first exhibition of this year will open in April at the Nová síň Gallery in Prague, followed by other versions in Prague and Pilsen, including an exhibition at the Ladislav Sutnar Gallery. We are also negotiating a foreign location.

The international scientific symposium Venus Today will take place at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art  of University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Multilab Hall) on 9 and 10 April. The symposium is open to interested professionals, the general public and students.  Those interested in participating are kindly asked to register in the form no later than 4 April. The complete Venus Today programme, including all exhibitions, can be found on the website.

The Venus Today project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Statutory City of Pilsen.