Kateřina Šedá: Národní sbírka zlozvyků

A discussion with Kateřina Šeda, author of the encyclopedia of Czech vices.

Habits are something that accompany each of us through life. They distinguish us from others, define and characterize our personality and, paradoxically, unite us. We wish to inherit and pass on the best qualities, but the older we get, the clearer it becomes how many unintended similarities our parents left in us - just as we will one day leave them in our children.

The National Collection of Bad Habits was created as a long-term artistic and research project mapping the everyday behaviour of Czech society, and is available online and in book form. Both the website www.sbirkazlozvyku.cz and the publication itself focus on small, often overlooked vices that take place in private and public spaces, which together create an accurate, if not always flattering, picture of the national mentality.

Kateřina Šedá works with vices not only as humorous details, but also as a significant social phenomenon. She shows that repeated small acts of behaviour can be indicative of values, relationships, ways of communication and how people perceive themselves and their surroundings. The National Collection of Bad Habits thus functions as a distinctive archive of the present, standing at the intersection of art, social probe and collective statement.

Kateřina Šedá (*1977) is a Czech artist whose work lies between conceptual art, social experiment and participatory projects. She has long been concerned with everyday life, interpersonal relationships and the ways in which people share space and time. He often involves the general public in his projects and works with real social situations. Her works have been realized in the Czech Republic and abroad and have won numerous international awards. Kateřina Šedá represented the Czech Republic at the Venice Biennale and her projects are part of important gallery and public collections. Her work emphasizes process, communication and the long-term impact of the artwork.

www.sbirkazlozvyku.cz
www.katerinaseda.cz

The event takes place within the Textconnexion 2026 project with the financial support of the Statutory City of Pardubice and the Pardubice Region.