After arrival

First of all let me introduce myself; my name is Markéta Stará and I’m a curator based in Prague, Czech Republic, currently in residency at Casa Massacio with one Slovak and two Czech artists – Tomáš Džadoň, Petra Herotová and Eva Jiřička. Before briefly introducing our residency project, I would like to thank the entire Casa Massacio „team“ for their worm welcome and generous help during our first two days at San Giovani Valdorno.

Our initial project for the residency at Casa Massacio, titled Re-inventing architecture dealt with potential abandoned sites within the area of the town and its suburbs. Our plan was to select and engage with this location and propose a new function for the site, based on the wishes and needs of the local community. Although we haven’t given up on our position of artists as „social workers“ and movers of established social modes of behaviour, finally we have decided to rather direct our attention unswervingly to the local community, rather than aiming for a project that would most likely result in a “utopian dream” with possibly no ramifications, from which the local community could benefit. We believe that our different point of view; the understanding and perception of the local through the eyes of someone coming from outside may disclose and point to factors invisible for the indigenous. Our aim is to focus on the seemingly marginal and within the broader social, political and historical context position these observations under further scrutiny. Although our interest is directed to the very basic elements of the everyday our aim is to make use of the historical sense for the communal and bring back the need for inter-social exchange. For this reason it is very likely that the local community will hopefully feel our presence not only at the occasion of the white night but also possibly through a series of performance in the public domain, that will hopefully take place throughout our stay and will simultaneously enable us to familiarize ourselves and directly engage with the local community.

Through this blog we will keep you updated on our activities and research every other day, depending on the amount of research, observations and progress. If you are interested in our project or feel the need to participate, do come and talk to us! We are very interested in your feelings about the local community or any other information that may help us in familiarizing ourselves with the town, its areas and most importantly its people.

Markéta