Philippe Batka. Jyagarandy Space

10.05.2009 - 10.06.2009

Österreichisches Kulturforum Belgrad, Beograd / Srbija

About Jyagarandy Space

The idea for Jyagarandy Space came to me on my last visit to Belgrade around New Year 2009. In the line of work I was doing the concept of space with all its twists and variables was an important aspect. When walking the streets of Belgrade I was able to connect my ideas to what I was observing there: An unusually large amount of people wearing hoods cast over their heads - a logical instinct considering the weather. The air was chilly and the wind blowing heavily. This everyday impression of people wearing hooded sweaters and jackets evoked the idea that everyone is carrying one's own autonomous space with oneself - located between the shoulders, in place of the head.... The hood would not only shield from the weather, but also offer a kind of retreat without making the physical person disappear, leaving it visible to others. Unlike the cloak of invisibility, known to us from fairytales and myths, a common hood allows us to be in a floatation of ambivalence, being in two spaces at the time. My work at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade is floating between those two unequal places.

[Philippe Batka, 2009]