The Aesthetics of Empowerment and Bodies Beyond the Norm. A Meeting with Denisa Tomková

During the meeting with Denisa Tomková we will examine Nadia Markiewicz's artistic practice and the works presented in the "Misterioso" exhibition. In the first part of the event, the researcher will discuss the theory of empowering aesthetics developed in her recently published book "Empowering Aesthetics: Contemporary Art from Post‑Socialist Central Europe." Tomková will then invite the audience to a shared walk through the exhibition to talk about Nadia Markiewicz's works in the context of the book's key ideas. The presentation at MSN will focus on the sensitive situation and experiences of people whose bodies are treated as atypical in post‑socialist countries of Central Europe, especially in the context of heteronormativity and ableism dominant in the region. Nadia Markiewicz's artistic practice challenges these dominant narratives by making non‑normative bodies visible and by empowering and subjectifying them. The aesthetics of empowerment is a subtle form of resistance that can take the form of "showing oneself on one's own terms, with an unusual body, which in itself is a political, radical act" (Markiewicz, 2024). In this way, the aesthetics of empowerment is not limited to an artwork as a finished object exhibited in an institution, but encompasses Markiewicz's entire project, which intertwines with her life and everyday strategies undertaken to strengthen the position of the community of people with disabilities. Workshop space C (entrance via the cinema tower). The event will be conducted in English. Admission is free thanks to the cooperation with Audi Polska.

"Empowering Aesthetics" weaves together case studies from post‑socialist Central Europe to show how art can support groups discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or race. The book analyses, among others:
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Poland
- Slovakia

The aesthetics of empowerment used by the artists discussed involves not only intense and critical engagement, but also their deeply personal experiences. Each chapter details how social equality looks in specific political and geographic contexts. Drawing on contemporary philosophy and feminist, queer and decolonial art theory, the author points to a shift in the understanding of the artwork and aesthetic experience — now understood more as long‑term processes than immediate impressions — aiming to draw attention to the situation of particular communities. Tomková follows the tradition of conceptualising weak resistance (Majewska 2021), queer art of failure (Halberstam 2010) and the politics of vulnerability (Butler 2020). Moreover, drawing on feminist thinkers and theorists, the author also describes how material challenges and the social, economic and educational context influence the process of artistic production. She also emphasises that some artistic production is constantly excluded through the mechanism of aesthetic discrimination, in which certain forms of art are perceived as 'naive', 'ethnic', 'primitive', 'unschooled' or 'folk' (Baker 2011; Brooks 2015; Tlostanova 2017), and proposes a decolonial reading of these practices. In this context, the aesthetics of empowerment plays an important role in confronting the rise of nationalism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia in the region, while contributing to building an inclusive collective memory that empowers systematically marginalised individuals.

Denisa Tomková is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague. She obtained her PhD in Visual Culture from the University of Aberdeen (UK) in 2019. In 2023, together with Kvet Nguyen, she curated the first group exhibition of art by the Vietnamese diaspora in Slovakia, 'Nhớ: The Space Between One End and the Other', presented at Kunsthalle Bratislava. Between 2019 and 2021 she worked at the European Roma Institute for Art and Culture (ERIAC) in Berlin as a researcher, curator and project coordinator. Between 2015 and 2018 she was a member of the international research project 'Comparing WE’s. Cosmopolitanism. Emancipation. Postcoloniality' at the University of Lisbon. She is the editor of the anthology 'Wandering Concepts' (Kunsthalle Bratislava 2023) and the author of the monograph 'Empowering Aesthetics. Contemporary Art from Post‑Socialist Central Europe' (Bloomsbury Academic 2025).

During the meeting with Denisa Tomková, we will take a look at Nadia Markiewicz's artistic practice and the artworks presented at the 'Misterioso' exhibition. In the first part of the event, the researcher will talk about the theory of empowering aesthetics, which she develops in her recently published book 'Empowering Aesthetics: Contemporary Art from Post‑Socialist Central Europe'. Tomková will then invite the audience to take a walk through the exhibition together to discuss Nadia Markiewicz's works in the context of the key ideas contained in the publication. The presentation at MSN will focus on the sensitive situation and experiences of people whose bodies are treated as atypical in post‑socialist countries of Central Europe, especially in the context of heteronormativity and ableism dominant in the region. Nadia Markiewicz's artistic practice challenges these dominant narratives by making non‑normative bodies visible, empowering and subjectifying them. The aesthetics of empowerment is a subtle form of resistance that can take the form of 'showing oneself on one's own terms, with an unusual body, which in itself is a political, radical act' (Markiewicz, 2024). In this way, the aesthetics of empowerment is not limited to a work of art as a finished object exhibited in an institution, but encompasses Markiewicz's entire project, which is intertwined with her life and everyday strategies undertaken to empower the community of people with disabilities. Workshop space C (entrance via the cinema tower). The event will be conducted in English. Admission is free thanks to the cooperation with Audi Polska. 'Empowering Aesthetics' weaves together case studies from the post‑socialist Central European region to show how art can provide critical support to gender, sexual and racialized groups. The book includes case studies from:
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Poland
- Slovakia Empowering Aesthetics follows the lineage of conceptualization of weak resistance (Majewska 2021), queer art of failure (Halberstam 2010), and the politics of vulnerability (Butler 2020). Moreover, drawing on the thinking of feminist writers and theorists, the conceptualisation takes into account material demands and social, economic and educational opportunities in artistic production. The volume also highlights that the exclusion of particular artistic production is ever-present as a consequence of aesthetic discrimination in which some art is perceived as 'naive', 'ethnic', 'primitive', 'unschooled' or 'folkloric' (Baker 2011; Brooks 2015; Tlostanova 2017), and therefore offers a decolonial reading of these practices. This volume highlights that empowering aesthetics perform an important function in combating the rise of nationalism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia in the region, while contributing to building an inclusive collective memory that emancipates systematically marginalized individuals. Denisa Tomková is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague. She holds a PhD in Visual Culture from the University of Aberdeen, UK (2019). In 2023, Tomková (together with Kvet Nguyen) curated the first group exhibition of art of the Vietnamese diaspora in Slovakia, 'Nhớ: The Space Between One End and the Other', at Kunsthalle Bratislava. Between 2019 and 2021, Tomková worked for the European Roma Institute for Art and Culture (ERIAC) in Berlin as a researcher, curator, and project coordinator. Between 2015–2018, she was a member of the international research project 'Comparing WE’s. Cosmopolitanism. Emancipation. Postcoloniality' based at the University of Lisbon. She is the editor of the anthology 'Wandering Concepts' (Kunsthalle Bratislava 2023) and the author of the monograph 'Empowering Aesthetics. Contemporary Art from Post‑Socialist Central Europe' (Bloomsbury Academic 2025).