Shaping the Void: The Architectural Ceramics and Somatic Practice of Veronika Janovec

Main Facts: The Intersection of Space, Body, and Clay

In the bustling creative expanse of Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, Slovak-born sculptor Veronika Janovec lives and works within a space that blurs the boundary between domestic habitation and a living gallery. Her apartment serves as a testing ground for her primordial, tactile ceramic works—pieces that have rapidly amassed a devoted following across the European contemporary art scene. Represented by Berlin’s Maj Van Der Linden and Cologne’s Sgr A, Janovec creates sculptures that exist in a delicate, charged equilibrium: they oscillate between the fragile and the steadfast, expansion and decay, the remembered and the imagined.

Trained as an architect and an ardent, dedicated weightlifter, Janovec treats corporeality as the foundational baseline of her creative output. "My brain is in my hands and in my body," she remarks, smiling. Working primarily with clay, she employs the same disciplined cadence of repetition found in her weightlifting routines to probe deep metaphysical concerns, including time, nature, and a rigorous philosophical definition of beauty. Her works defy immediate categorization, often provoking viewers to mistake their expertly glazed surfaces for ancient wood, weathered metal, or organic bone.

Chronology: From Architectural Beginnings to Studio Mastery

Janovec’s trajectory into the realm of sculpture was neither linear nor traditional, forged instead through a series of formative geographic shifts and cross-disciplinary studies.

• The Architectural Foundation: Janovec’s journey began at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, an experience she describes as a pivotal turning point. It was within the rigorous confines of architectural training that her spatial sensibilities took root. "My first sculptures were architectural models," she recalls. An elective course connecting students with local makers sparked her first direct engagement with ceramics—initially experimenting with fennel leaves dipped in layers of ceramic slip.
• The Detour of Destiny: Relocating to Berlin with the intention of pursuing further studies at the Universität der Künste, Janovec missed a crucial application deadline. Rather than a setback, she views the missed opportunity as fate: "Because then I had to come up with a plan."
• Latin American Influences: That plan pulled her toward South and Central America. Captivated by Brazilian modernism, she eventually landed in Mexico City, where she collaborated with the interdisciplinary design practice Tezontle Studio, founded by Lucas Cantú and Carlos H. Matos. The studio’s ethos—treating sculpture as an architectural translation of beauty—left a lasting mark on her artistic philosophy.
• Establishment in Berlin: Returning to the German capital, Janovec spent her first two years in her Lichtenberg studio in an era of wide-ranging experimentation, ultimately stripping away extraneous elements to discover her distinct material language. Today, her practice is anchored by systematic studio methods, kiln firings, and a dedicated exhibition schedule across European galleries.

Supporting Data & Artistic Methodology: The Physics of Form

Janovec’s process is deeply informed by her dual background in architecture and physical training. Her methodology unfolds in a methodical sequence: modeling the structural base, carving the primary form, refining surfaces and textures, firing, and glazing. Finally, she transports the finished pieces from her Lichtenberg studio back to her Kreuzberg home to observe them in spatial context—evaluating their proportions, light interaction, and hanging angles.

The "Mother Form" and the Archive of Edges

Central to Janovec’s output is what she calls her "mother form"—an emblematic shape that serves as the signature baseline of her practice.

• Creation through Physics: The mother form is created by forcefully beating clay against a stable surface, allowing gravity and G-force to dictate its aerodynamic, streamlined silhouette.
• Multi-layered Associations: The resulting shape simultaneously evokes a seed, a floral bud, a petal, and a primitive tool. It is neither literal nor obscure; it is designed to invite projection.
• The Study of An Edge: Janovec defines her ongoing research as an "archive of edges." Utilizing simple interventions—such as pulling a metal wire through a slab of clay to create paper-thin planes—she creates iterations of forms that highlight subtle mathematical and visual variations. As she notes, "A lot of creative work is in that fire where you repeat and edit yourself."

The Vocabulary of Containment

While Janovec avoids the traditional term "vase" due to the historical feminization and domestication associated with the medium, she remains deeply drawn to the concept of the vessel.

• The Cavity as Inner Life: Most of her sculptures incorporate a deliberate aperture or cavity, symbolizing an inner life. "We are vessels, we are containers, we contain stories," she observes.
• Sculptural Reveal: Drawing inspiration from the late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue, Janovec positions the hidden interior space of her Winged series—works featuring concertinaed, flight-poised forms—as a metaphor for the untouched, uninjured core within every human being. The internal cavity remains obscured until the viewer draws close.

Official Responses and Theoretical Inquiries: The Redefinition of Beauty

In an art world where "beauty" is frequently treated as a critical taboo, Janovec confronts the concept head-on, seeking to elevate it from surface-level aesthetics to a profound philosophical inquiry.

"For me to encounter beauty daily is non-negotiable," Janovec states. "Sculpture until this point has been me paying attention to what I find beautiful, borrowing it and translating it. I want to do something beautiful because I believe beauty is healing. I think beauty is essential in knowing who we are."

Rather than dictating a singular narrative to the viewer, Janovec relies on reduction and abstraction. By stripping her modules down to their essential, symbolic cores, she cedes interpretive authority to the audience.

"If someone tells me, ‘this reminds me of this,’ and another person says, ‘it reminds me of that,’ that is exactly what I want to achieve," she explains. "Whatever you project onto it, that is what I describe as you meeting beauty, if it speaks to you."

Implications: Destruction, Growth, and the Art of Weightlifting

To fully grasp Janovec’s artistic philosophy, one must return to the foundational essay cited at the onset of her creative worldview: American postmodern novelist Kathy Acker’s 1993 meditation Against Ordinary Language: The Language of the Body. Acker examines bodybuilding not merely as a physical pursuit, but as a meditative discipline rooted in breath, counting, and calculated failure.

Janovec draws a direct parallel between this physical process and her work with clay:

"You have to rupture your muscles so they can heal. That’s a beautiful concept. I like broken things, things with a lot of fractures and cracks. You don’t know if they are healing or falling apart. These are the cycles of life; cycles of bloom."

The Poetics of Iteration

Ultimately, Janovec’s practice bridges the gap between intellectual rigor and visceral, bodily experience. Whether through the calculated weight of a barbell in the gym or the tactile resistance of clay in the studio, her work argues that true artistic evolution requires repetition that leads to change. By embracing ambiguity, celebrating structural fractures, and demanding intimate physical engagement from her viewers, Veronika Janovec positions contemporary ceramic sculpture as an active dialogue between architecture, somatic endurance, and the enduring human search for meaning.