Fotograf Zone – Magdaléna Kašparová

Story Time, 2021

In this confessional, deeply intimate video, the artist uses the aesthetics and style of a popular online vlogger, while recounting her teenage experience with an eating disorder. Over the short duration of the work a disturbing story unfolds about how Kašparová was being treated for anorexia in a hospital in Motol district, Prague. Emphasizing the fact that these kinds of mental and physical illnesses are not only marginalized but often not taken seriously, the YouTube-style vlogger aesthetics create a sense of fake optimism, masking the societal pressures and background (expectations of female appearance, social media influence, and other cultural forces) behind the problem.

While the artist is remembering and retelling her story – maybe for the first time in public –, she “illustrates” it or rather “highlights” it with photos and videos from her old cellphone (often referred to as dumbphones) from 2008. The eerie self-portraits transport us back to the time before smartphones or Instagram, not in a nostalgic sense, but rather as a reminder, that even before the rise of social media platforms, many people suffered from distorted self-image and body-image disturbance, causing serious issues like eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Through the old photos of Kašparová as well as videos documenting her friends and life in the hospital, beside the reminiscences of the mundane, we follow her treatment and the inhumane methods, hurtful labels imposed by the hospital staff. Even though the YouTube aesthetics of the present is in harsh contrast with the grainy, lo-fi mobile photos, the film also emphasizes reconciliation with your old self, with your body's history and how in that difficult moment it was still possible to find support and build new community among fellow teenagers living there.

EXHIBITION
FEVER STATE
October 4–12, 2025
Holešovice Market, Hall 13

Magdaléna Kašparová

graduated from the New Media Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Working with video, web projects, prints, and site-specific projections, she explores media archaeology, remediation, and retrospection. Her practice draws on her parallel work as a graphic and motion designer and is marked by an obsessive collecting of objects, images, and data. Through this lens, she examines the function of self-portraiture, the psychological aspects of collecting, and the ways personal narratives intertwine with broader cultural histories.

#49 Talk Together

This issue explores language – its forms, possibilities, and limits. We look at how we communicate in the digital space, how the language of artificial intelligence changes our notions of creativity, and how visual images can replace words. You will discover why language is never neutral and how it shapes identity, creates inequalities, and opens paths to liberation. The issue features a reflection by bell hooks, the artistic practice of Eszter Magyar, projects documenting the Roma community in Brno, and visual essays by Claudia Larcher and Tabor Robak. The magazine presents language as a tool of communication, power, and resistance and invites you to reflect on what it truly means to talk to one another today.