False Friends
Language shapes our world, influences our thoughts, and reflects our societies. In the context of the Balkans, a region marked by shared histories and divergent narratives, language can both include and exclude. Through the concept of “false friends”, words that appear similar but differ in meaning, this exhibition explores how identity, politics, and cultural memory echo in the language we use, and vice versa. These deceptively familiar terms become symbols of regional complexities, miscommunications and broader cultural and historical tensions.
Drawing on the work of Lakoff and Johnson in Metaphors We Live By, the exhibition investigates how metaphor and language frame our understanding of the world. Whether through political discourse, everyday speech, or inherited idioms, language acts as a mechanism of power. Artists reflect on how linguistic metaphors are internalized, how meanings shift across borders, and how language can be reclaimed to challenge fixed narratives. In doing so, the exhibition invites reflection on how we speak about identity, and how words–both shared and misunderstood– shape our place within a contested past and a shifting present.
FALSE FRIENDS
October 4–12, 2025
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Opening Event · October 6, 2025 · 7:00 p.m.
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Artists · Jaka Teršek, Saša Tatić, Sara Perović, Eva Bevec
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Curators · Hana Čeferin, Lara Mejač, Ajda Ana Kocutar / ETC. Magazine
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Venue · Petrohradská Kolektiv, Jedna Dva Tři Gallery
Petrohradská 13, 101 00 Prague–Vršovice
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Opening Hours · 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
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