Exhibition MEMORY of Liběna Rochová in the Ethnographic Institute of the Moravian Museum in Brno (16 October – 31 December 2012)
Hana Dvořáková
The impressive collection of renowned Czech designer Liběna Rochová comprises two parts that were designed between 2009 and 2011. Having been commissioned for the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai and presented at the Czech Fashion Week, part one presents how the traditional folk clothes from the Moravia territory might be combined with the contemporary clothes. Part two was prepared for Designblok 2011. Despite the time span between the two and different clients, both parts borrow from a single source, namely traditional clothes of the Moravian countryside. The author is fond of tradition and is able to connect it with design of the 3rd millennium. Her abstraction in MEMORY I is translated as a play with shapes and colours. MEMORY II presents her departure from being showy toward abstraction, with the colours and form reduced to the essence. The consistent use of white or earthy colours emphasizes the stern impression of the collection. For ethnographers, the work of L. Rochová is a source of new approaches and the physical evidence that the traditional folk culture can be inspirational even in the 3rd millennium.