Hindu Kush Notebook – The Forbidden Land is an art project by Austrian artist Bianca Tschaikner, based on a research trip to the Hindu Kush in spring 2022. on this journey, the artist, together with two colleagues, researched Dappa, the secret, defiant poetry of the women of the tribes living in the Hindu Kush, finding herself in an area haunted by conflict, war, brutal patriarchy, and the Taliban.

The poems that the women shared with the travellers deal with love, war, death, and oppression. they offer them a way to express oppressed and forbidden feelings, and the poems are raw and earthy, with some of them expressing deep sadness, while others are humorous and outright naughty. sadly, many are lost because they are not written down – most of the poets are illiterate.

Hindu Kush Notebook – The Forbidden Land comprises a series of porcelain maps, portraits, and fragments of poetry and quotes drawn from the artist’s travel notebook. these paper-thin porcelain plates, with drawings scratched onto them or painted with a special underglaze technique, recall the pages of the artist’s travel notebook. they are an exploration of geographical and emotional landscapes, retracing a journey to a forbidden, hidden land full of magic and terror, a (women’s) land that is not allowed to exist, but, of course, yet exists. 

At the same time, the porcelain plates, with some of them torn and bent in the fire (fired at 1250°), recall shards of painted pottery, hinting at the fragmentation and fragility of the world the women inhabit.

Their materiality is a reference to the intertwinement of Dappa poetry and pottery: one of the few places where women can meet amongst themselves is the Gudar, the well, where they, carrying painted clay vessels on their heads, go everyday to fetch water, but also, almost equally important, to exchange and improvise their poems, far away from the sight of men. 

Exhibition Dates: May 29, 2026 – June 28, 2026

Exhibition Venue: B1 Ceramics hallway

Opening: May 29th at 2:00 pm