Cosa na výstavě v Kaunasu

Magic Carpets Landed

Kaunas

05. 11. 2021 – 23. 01. 2022

curated by Benedetta Carpi De Resmini

Exhibition realised by NGO Kaunas

Biennial on the occasion of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022

It Looks Like It Cannot Work Like This and Indeed It Mostly Doesn’t… but Somehow It Does, 2019

photograps, short stories

The Czech duo of artists Markéta Mráčková and Barbora Šimonová did their residence in Rustavi, Georgia, which was officialy founded in 1948 as a small industrial town of the former Soviet Union. After the regime collapsed, Rustavi fell into a deep economic crisis, and has recovered only in recent years thanks to the automotive market. Cultural activity in the place and surrounding areas, however, remains practically inexistent. The two artists often create fantasies they use to re-elaborate, with short, absurd and illustrated stories, the realities they find themselves in. What better place than an industrial city to reinvent the place and oneself?

During their residence, after thoroughly exploring and studying the industrial town, they turned their visual material and experiences into a collection of extravagant stories and commentary, which combine reality and fiction and present a new magical perspective on a city that is generally portrayed as grey and abandoned. The stories are based on the authors’ daily experiences, observations, descriptions, and unusual troubles.

In Magic Carpets Landed, are displayed posters with texts and photo collages from their stories.

Marina Pietrocola

Flag by cosa.cz and Viktor Vejvoda, 2021