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Eva Kleinová
Profile

In 1980–1984, she studied at the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Bratislava, majoring in arts and crafts, with a focus on hand weaving, lace-making, and embroidery. She completed her university education at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (1985–1990), majoring in theatre and radio art – stage design, with a specialization in costume design. In 1989, she completed a three-month study internship at the Moscow Academic Art Theatre, which considerably broadened her professional horizons in stage design. In 2009, she completed her doctoral study at the Department of Stage Design, at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. It was at the Academy where she also completed her teaching degree, which qualifies her to teach art classes at secondary schools.

While still a student at university, she demonstrated a unique sense of artistic stylization and the expressive symbolism in costume design. For her costume and set design for the student production of Pavel Kyrmezer’s A New Comedy About a Widow (directed by Pavol Mikulík, 1988), she won an award at the 15th annual Arezzo Theatre Festival in Italy, marking her first major success abroad.

Eva Kleinová also presented her work as a costume designer at other international events, namely, at the International Biennale Design Festival in Saint-Étienne, France, with her own fashion show (2000), as well as at a group exhibition – the Salon of Czech and Slovak Stage Design at the National Theatre in Brno – Reduta, organized by the Czech National Centre of the International Organization of Stage Designers, Theatre Architects, and Technicians (ČOSDAT) and the Slovak Theatre Institute (2018).

During her theatre career, she has collaborated with several Slovak and international theatres. These included, above all, the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra, Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre in Zvolen, Teatro Tatro, City Theatre Žilina, Aréna Theatre Bratislava, State Opera Banská Bystrica, State Theatre Košice, Karol Spišák’s Old Theatre, Jonáš Záborský Theatre, Slovak Chamber Theatre Martin, among others.

Her costume and set designs have been used in productions staged at such festivals as Visegrad Days (State Theatre Košice, 2016), Festival Dream Factory Ostrava (2016), Theatre of European Regions, Hradec Králové (2016), Touches and Connections (2016–2018), and Eurokontext.sk at the Slovak National Theatre (2017).

In terms of international cooperation, it is worth noting her participation in the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007), where she designed the costumes and set for the production Long, Broad, and Sharpeyes (directed by Branislav Matuščin, Ján Gregor Tajovský Theatre Zvolen).

In addition to her artistic work, Eva Kleinová has long been involved in teaching and professional activities. For thirteen years, she served as both a full-time and part-time teaching assistant in the Department of Visual Arts and Education at the Department of Music of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, where she focused on integrating visual arts and theatre education. She was the principal investigator of a project funded by the European Union’s Structural Funds – Education Through Theatre – and cooperated on the production of the musical The Dance of the Vampires (2011, Karol Spišák’s Old Theatre in Nitra and University of Constantine the Philosopher, Nitra) as part of the student licence VBW International GmbH (Vienna), for which she designed the set and costumes.

At present, she heads the Department of Advertising Art at the Private School of Applied Arts in Nitra, where she fosters creative approaches to graphic design, set design, and costume design. In addition to her teaching activities, she engages in freelance work in the field of costume design for theatre, film, and advertising, and conducts workshops for children and youth in collaboration with the Andrej Bagar Theatre in Nitra and the Centre for Leisure Activities in Nové Zámky.