Jana Kohlmannová

Catching up to Nowhere questions the perception of development in Slovakia by offering an alternative approach to the normative, western-centric one. The thesis engages with authors who discuss the post-1989 development of Eastern European countries, especially notions that frame these countries as behind, or in need of catching up. This theoretical background, followed by a proposition that Slovakia is fundamentally a rural country and should develop within these bounds, forms the argument that the country is stuck in a hybrid state: not yet Western capitalist not communally agrarian anymore. The theory is anchored by an installation that revolves around the “krošňa”, a traditional wooden backpack used by porters in the Slovak Tatra mountains. It is a manifestation of the hybrid state the country finds itself in, representing a traditional practice that is still enacted and lived every day within an ever-changing modern landscape.