Mgr. Anna VARTECKÁ, Ph.D. works as an art theorist, exhibition curator, and since 2001, as a university lecturer at the Department of History and Theory of Arts at the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Her research focuses on the theory and history of photography, graphic design, gender art, as well as on issues and criticism of contemporary visual art and its intersections with other theoretical disciplines such as gender studies and sociology.
As a curator, she has collaborated on numerous national and international projects. In addition to reflecting on often overlooked and solitary works of post-war generations of Czech and Slovak art, her curatorial practice also addresses current topics related to the (re)constructive components of personal and collective memory, the controversial aspects of profound societal transformations in recent history, and gendered perspectives on both contemporary and post-war artistic production.
In connection with these exhibition activities, she publishes scholarly texts in domestic and international journals, catalogues, and monographs. Among these, the following can be mentioned, for example:
VALOCH, J.; VARTECKÁ, A.: Blažej Baláž 1975-2003. Pedagogická fakulta Trnavskej Univerzity; Na východ od raja, Trnava, 2003, 132 pp; ISBN 80-89074-22-7.
FREMLOVÁ, V.; PETIŠKOVÁ, T.; VARTECKÁ, A: Grey Gold. České a slovenské umělkyně 65+. FUD UJEP, Ústí nad Labem; Dům umění města Brna, příspěvková organizace, 2014, 248 pp; ISBN 978-80-7009-163-0, ISBN 978-80-7414-699-2.
FREMLOVÁ, V.; PETIŠKOVÁ, T.; VARTECKÁ, A.: Grey Gold: At My Fingertips, Schwerin: Kunstverein für Mecklenburg und Vorpommern in Schwerin; Brno: Dům umění města Brna, příspěvková organizace; FUD UJEP v Ústí nad Labem, 2018, 144 pp; ISBN 978-3-00-061400-2; 978-80-7009-190-6; 978-80-7561-151-2.
MACHOVÁ, L.; PETIŠKOVÁ, T.; VARTECKÁ, A.: Tektonika paměti. Pohyby osobních vzpomínek v českém a slovenském mladém umění. Dům umění města Brna, příspěvková organizace, Brno; FUD UJEP, Ústí nad Labem, 2015, 168 pp; ISBN 978-80-7414-988-7.
VARTECKÁ, A.: Družstevní práce Publishing House: A Prototype of Active, Life-Shaping Design. In: Le Grand Magasin. Künstlerische Untersuchungen zum Genossenschaftsmodell. Artistic Research into the Cooperative Model. Neu-Ulm: AG Spak Bücher, 2010, pp 156-167, ISBN 978-3-940865-05-2.
VARTECKÁ, A.: Fotograf anglickej záhrady. In: KLIMEŠOVÁ, M.(ed.): Oheň do papíru nezabalíš. Svatopluk Klimeš. Arbor Vitae, Praha; FUD UJEP Ústí nad Labem, 2017, pp 53-94, ISBN: 978-80-7561-072-0; 978-80-88256-00-7.
VARTECKÁ, A.: Interpretace fotografií jako logické pokračování výtvarné tvorby Dalibora Chatrného. In: POMAJZLOVÁ, A. (ed.): Prostory Dalibora Chatrného. Sborník textů k dílu autora. Spolek přátel Domu umění města Brna; Seminář dějin umění Filozofické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity, 2017, pp 57-70, ISBN: 978-80-270-3278-5.
A key project within Anna Vartecká’s artistic research focus was the exhibition Grey Gold: Czech and Slovak Women Artists 65+ (2014), which she co-curated with V. Fremlová and T. Petišková. The project explores the complex relationship between age, creativity, and gender, and reflects on the later works of still-active women artists over the age of 65.
It represents a continuation of research into the very first fully emancipated generation of women artists who entered the Czechoslovak art scene after World War II and during the 1960s.
As part of this research, Anna Vartecká engaged more deeply with the exceptional, often solitary work of certain artists — for example, the Slovak photographer Milota Havránková, for whom she later developed the concept for a series of retrospective exhibitions.
This series of exhibitions within the thematic framework was carried out in collaboration with significant domestic and international institutions:
Grey Gold. České a slovenské umělkyně 65+. Dům umění města Brna, 30.4. – 3.8. 2014.
MILOTA. Retrospektivní výstava Miloty Havránkové. Dům U Kamenného zvonu, Galerie hlavního města Prahy, 2.10. 2015 – 17.1. 2016.
Grey Gold. At My Fingertips. Kunstverein für Mecklenburg & Vorpommern Schwerin, 9.12. 2017 – 23.2. 2018.
Milota Havránková. Výber z tvorby 1964-2014. Galéria Slovenskej výtvarnej únie – Umelka, 6.11. – 26.11. 2014.
Torzo/ Milota Havránková. Východoslovenská galéria Košice, 31.10.-2.2. 2020.
Among Anna Vartecká’s long-term activities is the founding, organization, and production of the EXIT Prize Biennial, the first nationwide competition for students of art universities in the Czech and Slovak Republics, which has been organized by the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University (UJEP) since 2003.