Re-Sister, 2026
Immersive spatial installation: Textile, sound composition, wood, red light
Variable dimensions
Y Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
"Why do we allow things to go unsaid? Why do we permit the reproduction of patterns and mechanisms that serve a single purpose: maintaining “order” in the household, though this time not merely within the mythologised domestic sphere, but within society itself and, consequently, within a social order that prescribes patriarchy? Through policymaking, social norms, and a persistent attachment to nostalgia and traditionalism, we sustain these rules and patterns of behaviour. Ana Kotar Škarjak had already begun addressing these questions in In Formation (2026), where the text of the performance Dear Sister appears bound and inaccessible to reading. Symbolically internalised. Re-Sister, on the other hand, unties and exposes these patterns so that they do not remain, as in Outsider, implicitly encoded within the current social order. It reveals them so that we may discuss them, reflect upon them, and recognise them, both in popular media, in public life, and around the lunch table at home.
The artist occupies the gallery space in its entirety, wrapping it in red and filling it with phrases she herself has encountered, phrases that serve to programme women for life within a patriarchal society. The space represents internalised thoughts and behavioural patterns imposed upon women by society. It embodies situated knowledge that, through symbolic annihilation, remains beyond the reach of common understanding. The seemingly empty space is an artwork not intended for straightforward reading; rather, it reflects a society that systematically obscures its own structures through intergenerationally learned patterns and traditional values, presenting itself as precariously balanced.
Kotar Škarjak informs her artistic practice through her own experience as both a woman and an immigrant in Berlin, a position that places her within a framework of dual systemic oppression. Like the mother in Outsider, she encounters systematic sexism, and the preparation of beef soup results in a sense of alienation in her foster country. She remains trapped within a space that demands compliance both with the traditionalism of a foreign environment and with patriarchal social structures. She finds herself within a matrix of domination that only intensifies her experience as a woman. The exhibition therefore asks: What happens when a woman speaks out? Does the system begin to fracture once we recognise it? How is a woman meant to live in a world where there is no room for the fullness of her being?"
— Jernej Čuček Gerbec, exhibition text, Re-Sister, 2026