The point of departure of the exhibition “Lies and Layers: Esther Stocker and Jan Šerých” was an attempt to question the human predisposition to interpret perceived reality through an existing body of knowledge. The rational component of the human mind—its need for classification and, most importantly, its inability to avoid using its pre-existing systems of categorization when encountering new situations—frequently leads to reductive and superficial understandings of reality. Czech artist Šerých and his Italian-born, Vienna-based counterpart Stocker reject the idea of reality as a