After the final exhibition organised in Kaunas of the first cycle of ‘MagiC Carpets’, the journey of our flying carpets continues for another three years, ending in 2025.
As in past four years, the aim is to give more voice to the people involved, with the active participation of the communities in the projects organized with the artists in residence.
The projects become tools for shared actions with the public, which will interpret contemporary society, the idea of mutual understanding and shared responsibility, while expanding geographical and conceptual frontiers in different directions.
14 October 2023, Trullo Rome
Artists JULIA JENEWEIN – FILIPPO RINIOLO
10 July – 14 October 2023, Labaro, Spinaceto, Corviale and Tufello neighbourhoods
Artists JULIA JENEWEIN – FILIPPO RINIOLO
During the Festival Città Foresta – Le Cosmicomiche Festival, to foster exchange and collaboration between local artists and associations, the Magic Carpets platform activities were held. From July to October, in the public libraries which are part of the Biblioteche di Roma circuit, the Magic Carpets Italia project entitled Meet Game was carried out in Labaro, Spinaceto, Corviale and Tufello. The project was carried out by of visual artist Filippo Riniolo and theatre director Julia Jenewein (Austrian artist in residence for Openspace.Innsbruck).
Among the objectives of the residency project was the continuation of last year’s desire to make spaces into centres of aggregation, sociality, meeting and play through the analysis and exploration of our history and myths.
Filippo Riniolo and Julia Jenewein, together with the participants of the Cosmic Roles workshops, invented characters, stories and legends from classical mythology to give new life to contemporary myths.With children and young people, during the engraving and theatre workshops, the artists animated these imaginary deities through the creation of masks and performative actions, thus constructing the first act of the theatrical performance. By playing, acting and performing, the participants learnt new skills, integrating different disciplines, creating moments to learn to be together, get to know each other and share.
The final restitution of the Meet Game project was held on Saturday, Oct. 14, during the closing event of the Festival Città Foresta – Le Cosmicomiche, across the spaces of the Polisportiva Trullo and of common area the VIII Lotto. It was an afternoon full of performances, installations, music and more during which all those who took part in the previous workshops and meetings animated the Trullo neighborhood.
26 AUGUST – 08 OCTOBER 2022, Districts of Laurentino38 and Corviale
Artists MATTEO DE MARCO – SUNNY NWUME – BERTA TILMANTAITE
On the occasion of the first year of the second cycle of international projects of Magic Carpets the artists Matteo De Marco (local artist), the Dj Sunny Nwume aka Blackelektronika (Italy) and the photographer Berta Tilmantaitė (Lithuanian artist in residency for Kaunas Biennial) worked on the match of Art – Ecology – Nature themes to encourage a conscious reflection on the relationship between urban spaces and natural environment.
The aim of the project, entitled City Jungle, was to stimulate the desire to rediscover the green areas that frame the roman suburbs to be experienced as places capables of encouraging confrontation, dialogue and the sharing of emotions and experiences.
The project took place in the months of August, September and October in the roman districts of Laurentino38 and Corviale. The Final Event of October 8th was part of the Festival Città Foresta, the winning project of the “Estate Romana 2022” call, to increase the collaboration between artists and local associations. The workshops aimed to raise awareness among children, teens and adults on the issues of sustainability and environmental education.
The artists Sunny Nwume and Berta Tilmantaitė worked synergistically between the districts using two differents media, photo and audio, creating and unprecedented narrative of the suburbs. By recording and mixing of sounds, voices, noises and the juxtaposition of photographs, the artists managed to escape from the classic photojournalistic vision of the districts and give life to what remains still too hidden.
Kaunas Biennial (Kaunas / Lithuania) – Coordinating Entity and Leading Partner
Latitudo srl (Rome / Italy)
New Theatre Institute of Latvia (Riga / Latvia)
LAB 852 (Zagreb / Croatia)
META Cultural Foundation (Bucharest / Romania)
Jam Factory Art Center (Lviv/ Ukraine)
Ideias Emergentes (Porto / Portugal)
Novo Kulturno Naselje (Novi Sad / Serbia)
Openspace.Innsbruck (Innsbruck / Austria)
Trempo (Nantes / France)
Tbilisi Photo Festival (Tbilisi / Georgia)
Wroclaw Institute of Culture (Wroclaw / Poland)
Tartu 2024 (Tartu / Estonia)
OPENART (Örebro / Sweden)
Folkestone Fringe (Folkestone / UK)
Diyalog (Istanbul / Turkey)Partner
EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial (Limerick / Ireland)
ZKU / KUNSTrePUBLIC (Berlin / Germany)
Prague Biennale (Prague / Czech Republic)
Centre of Contemporary Art (Tbilisi / Georgia)
