Heriot (from the Old English *heregeat*, “war gear”) was a feudal death duty: upon a vassal’s death, the lord claimed his armor, his best horse, or his clothing.

Hájek and Hanousek hand-weave chain mail from copper, brass, and steel wire and hang it on a tall wooden rack as if it were surrendered equipment. But they are not empty. Colorfully braided lungs and hearts are visible through their translucent chests, and decorative cords with tassels flow from the sleeves. They are something between armor, clothing, and an anatomical model: gear that can be taken off and turned in, yet retains something of the body within it.

This slow, obsessive work—which the duo themselves describe as “a transition from spiritual woodiness to spiritual metallicity”—takes on a literal form here: wood bears, metal breathes. The exhibition is complemented by drawings—abstract, as if weighed down by gravity—depicting two figures lying on a bed.

Jakub Hájek and František Hanousek (*1994) form an artistic duo, who studied at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and subsequently in the Intermedia Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where Hanousek graduated in 2021 and Hájek in 2023. In their work, they focus on intermedia installations, objects, and exhibition architecture.

They held a solo exhibition in 2026 together with Jiří Skála (Five Peaks of Luxury, curated by Vít Novák and Anežka Chalupová, Hunt Kastner, Prague), at Prague’s MeetFactory / Kostka Gallery (Honour Glands, 2025), at the Winterberg Gallery in Vimperk (2025), at Future Suburban Contemporary in Copenhagen (2022), at the Holešovice Mine (Carnival of the Rabble: Blurred Fates, 2021), and at the C. Rockefeller Center for Contemporary Arts in Dresden (Migraine Acuity, 2020).

They have exhibited in group shows such as Early Spring – Garden of Small Gestures at the Empire Greenhouse of Prague Castle (curated by Vít Novák, 2026), History Will Not Save Us at Display in Prague (curated by Eva Skopalová, 2025), and To The Bottom Of The Goblet at AQB in Budapest (2024). They also work as exhibition designers and were nominated for the Startpoint Award in 2021.

text: jen kratochvil