Culinary Crossroads is an ongoing project by Lenka Holíková and Eryca Willinger. It brings together individuals who have arrived in Templin from diverse parts of the world for a series of culinary gatherings. Hosted in a communal kitchen provided by Stephanus Stiftung, these gatherings serve as spaces of hospitality, exchange, and collective creation. Participants share their stories of displacement, adaptation, and rebuilding home, using food as a means of communication and a way to reclaim identity. Lenka’s illustrations play a role in visualizing these shared experiences, with vibrant artworks that reflect both the recipes and the personal memories of the participants. The project will culminate in an illustrated multilingual publication, featuring recipes, autobiographical fragments, and handwritten notes, alongside Lenka’s illustrations. This publication will not only document the gatherings but also offer a replicable methodology for similar events in other communities.
Lenka Holíková was born in Cheb, a small border town in the former Czechoslovakia, just seven kilometers from Germany. While she was too young to witness communism and the Iron Curtain firsthand, her artistic practice delves deeply into themes of history, migration, and the enduring impact of political and social boundaries. Her work often reflects on the emotional weight of the border landscape she grew up in, transforming this into a broader exploration of displacement, conflict, and the search for belonging.
With a foundation in drawing, Lenka creates visual dialogues that navigate both historical and contemporary crises, rooted in meticulous research and her personal archive. Her education includes a degree and master's in Plastic Arts from Hradec Králové University, Czech Republic, as well as a Master’s in Educational Intervention from UPAEP, Puebla, Mexico.
She has exhibited her work internationally, with recent solo exhibitions including Longings at the Museum Graz, Austria (2024) and The Borders Burn at Zwitschermaschine Berlin, Germany (2024). Her group exhibitions include Über die Grenzen at Palacio Quintanar, Segovia, Spain (2024), and 1989 at MPAC, Oregon, USA (2021). Lenka is also a recipient of the Jumex Foundation Contemporary Art Sponsorship (2025) and has participated in notable residencies such as Dialog City and Kulturvermittlung Steiermark in Graz, Austria (2024).
https://www.lenkaholikova.com/
Photo: Ulises Matamoros Ascención
