picture © Rhea Krčmářová
Rhea Krčmářová
Rhea Krčmářová [Krtsch-mar-scho-wa in DE / Krch-mar-sho-va in EN]
is an author and transmedia text artist.
Born in Prague in 1975, she emigrated to Austria with her family in 1981.
She is a graduate of the Institute for Language Art at the University of Applied Arts.
Rhea writes novels, short stories, plays, libretti, essays, and poetry (which can also be found at @rhea_krcmarova) and experiments with transmedia art: video, embroidery, book art, and performance. Numerous publications in anthologies and literary journals (including Kolik, Lichtungen, Podium, California Quarterly).
Rhea has received various prizes and grants, including: the Wartholz Literature Prize (Lower Austria), 2nd prize in the Edition Exil competition, a literature project grant from the Federal Office for the Arts (BKA), the LiterarMechana anniversary grant, a working grant from the City of Vienna, the City of Vienna’s book prize for the short story collections *Bohemia is the Ocean* and *Tagebruch Instant*, and a finalist in the Floriana competition.
Publications (in German):
2026 Aus Wolle oder aus nichts, transmedia volume of poetry, Klever
2024 Tagebruch, Instant, poetry collection, Limbus Lyrik
2023 MONSTROSA, novel, Kremayr & Scheriau
2023 InTrance Danubien, play, Goldstück Edition, as part of the Drama Labs at WIENER WORTSTAETTEN
2018 Böhmen ist der Ozean, short stories collection, Kremayr & Scheriau
2014 Venus in echt, novel, edition a
DE: Was passiert mit einem Wort, einem Text, wenn sie vom Papier in ein anderes Medium wechseln? Wenn sie sich mit Klängen verweben, wenn sie Nadeln entspringen? Wenn sie vom reinen Lesetext zur Grundlage einer Performance werden oder den Ausgangspunkt eines Videos bilden?
Ändert sich ihre Bedeutung, erweitern sich Textebenen, erobern sie neue Ausdrucksformen? Was macht Texte aus, die entstanden sind, um in mehreren Dimensionen zu existieren?
EN: What happens to a word, to a text, when it moves from paper to another medium? When it intertwines with sounds, when it springs from needles? When it transforms from a mere text to be read into the basis of a performance or forms the starting point for a video?
Does their meaning change, do layers of text expand, do they take on new forms of expression? What defines texts that have been created to exist in multiple dimensions?
– Rhea Krčmářová
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Words are the raw material of the writer and text artist Rhea Krčmářová. A graduate in the art of language, she experiments with language and its impact in and through various media. In addition to literary performances, she explores the intersection between text and textiles, uses her sewing machine as a typewriter, and is developing an entirely new type of book consisting solely of threads. Her literary works range from poetry and prose to plays and essays. She is an Instagram poet. In her work, Rhea Krčmářová explores themes of mythology and physicality, alienation, and explicitly focuses on underrepresented female perspectives.
