Untangling a Garden
PAST EVENTS
28. Sep. 2023
Cukrarna28. 9.–1. 10. 2023CukrarnaUntangling a Garden combines the imaginations of two parks: one of the first exotic parks in Slovenia, Rafutski Park, and the imaginary park of the Alexandrian women in Alexandria. Both emerged in the first half of the 20th century during a period of intense migration and exchange.
The installation merges sound recordings of Rafutski Park prior to its renovation with a list of exotic and invasive species and criteria defining their uniqueness. This sonic garden is populated with newspaper headlines and quotations addressing attempts to prevent women’s migration to Egypt, as well as fragments of poetry linking the imagination of the Alexandrian women with the Slovenian myth of Lepa Vida.
The work establishes an imaginary garden where plants become co-narrators and the garden itself materializes overgrown narratives and erased histories.
Blaž Gutman (MGML)
Untangling a Garden combines the imaginations of two parks: one of the first exotic parks in Slovenia, Rafutski Park, and the imaginary park of the Alexandrian women in Alexandria. Both emerged in the first half of the 20th century during a period of intense migration and exchange.
The installation merges sound recordings of Rafutski Park prior to its renovation with a list of exotic and invasive species and criteria defining their uniqueness. This sonic garden is populated with newspaper headlines and quotations addressing attempts to prevent women’s migration to Egypt, as well as fragments of poetry linking the imagination of the Alexandrian women with the Slovenian myth of Lepa Vida.
The work establishes an imaginary garden where plants become co-narrators and the garden itself materializes overgrown narratives and erased histories.
Visual artist, researcher and writer whose interdisciplinary practice combines research with drawing, performance, video and sound. Her work focuses on uncovering overlooked historical narratives and developing performative forms that open new perspectives on the present. She is a co-founder of the Museum of Transitory Art – MoTA and a member of the Nonument Group.
Artist: Neja Tomšič
Photo: Blaž Gutman (MGML)
Special thanks: The garden bed was provided by the Abandoned Plants Sanctuary.