Eva Kot'átková's contribution for the Czechoslovak Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 The heart of a giraffe in captivity is twelve kilos lighter is presented at the National Gallery Prague. Lenka the giraffe was captured in Kenya in 1954 and transported to Prague Zoo to become the very first Czechoslovak giraffe. She survived only two years in captivity, after which her body was donated to the National Museum in Prague. The installation brings multiple recollections of Lenka’s life to explore the violence of captivity but also possibilities for healing and recovery. Chapters of Lenka’s journey are staged inside of the exhibition’s gigantic tunnel, modelled on the neck of the animal in the extreme vulnerability of sleep. They are interpreted by children, educators, and older people, who have worked with Eva Koťátková on a series of workshops at schools and community centres around the Czech Republic, using transformative educational methodologies of the collective Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures.
