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, through 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.
On the occasion of the first year of the second cycle of international projects of Magic Carpets, a platform co-financed by Creative Europe, the artists in residency 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 the public of children, teens and adults on the issues of sustainability and environmental education and on the values of living in the city.
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. Through the 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 brought external what in reality always 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)
