A settlement upon presumption (ladder)
2020
Engraved aluminium, recuperated gallery possession in agreement with Geoff Newton c/o Neon Parc, stainless steel bolts
194 x 92 x 51cm
A settlement upon presumption (drum sander kit)
2020
Engraved aluminium, recuperated gallery possession in agreement with Geoff Newton c/o Neon Parc, stainless steel bolts
31 x 28.5 x 7.5cm
A settlement upon presumption (door)
2020
Engraved aluminium, recuperated gallery possession in agreement with Hayden Stewart c/o Haydens, stainless steel bolts
198 x 68 x 10cm
A settlement upon presumption (schnapps distiller)
2021
Engraved aluminium, recuperated gallery possession in agreement with A-I-R Munich c/o Dr Martin Rohmer, stainless steel chain
53.5 x 23 x 23cm
A settlement upon presumption (drinking vessel)
2021
Engraved plastic, recuperated gallery possession in agreement with Kunstverein München c/o Maurin Dietrich and Gloria Hasnay, stainless steel chain
13 x 8 x 8cm
A settlement upon presumption (2020–) is an ongoing work that navigates the transfer of property in various ways. Starting from the fictional character of Isabelle Kubíková—a combination of my first name and my mother's maiden name—it relies on the permanent application of plaques commemorating her (non)existence to possessions belonging to the site of exhibition. Drawing on marital property rights from Czechoslovakia, which were surprisingly collective (due to the Communist influence), the work sets the artist and the gallery in a relation of mutuality, whereby an agreement surrounding a transfer of ownership over the donated property must be arrived at together first. Through doing so, the work playfully inverts the historical denial of female ownership (both in name and in the material sense) as a way to incrementally build up a body of assets for Isabelle Kubíková herself. The objects will pile up over time, eventually serving as plot points in an auto-fiction novella about Isabelle Kubíková. In this sense, it is a writing project that manifests through sculpture.
Parts of this work were exhibited in 1991, a group exhibition curated by Geoff Newton held across Neon Parc, Melbourne, and Haydens, Melbourne, running from 7 February – 7 March, 2020. Additional parts were also exhibited at Villa Waldberta, Munich, as part of Offene Ateliers Starnberg, running from July 31 – August 1, 2021, where I was a writer-in-residence on invitation from Kunstverein München.
