The Garden of Problems
(1/3 Thinking Through Film)
Curator: Sandra Baborovská
GHMP House at the Stone Bell,
Prague, Czech Republic
November 8, 2023 – February 18, 2024
The exhibition The Garden of Problems presented a compilation of episodes from Club of Opportunities, spanning an entire floor of the historic House at the Stone Bell. It was one of three independent chapters of the curatorial concept Thinking Through Film. The exhibition is a set of several video installations with performative elements, mixing an accomplished visual language with humour, contemporary leftist theory, and exploration of political strategies on social media, but also including comedy, absurdity, and playfulness.
We get to the bottom of multiple problems here – with celeriac ontology, black magic, humour, losing vision of the future and especially with taking root.
The exhibition The Garden of Problems presented a compilation of episodes from Club of Opportunities, spanning an entire floor of the historic House at the Stone Bell. It was one of three independent chapters of the curatorial concept Thinking Through Film. The exhibition is a set of several video installations with performative elements, mixing an accomplished visual language with humour, contemporary leftist theory, and exploration of political strategies on social media, but also including comedy, absurdity, and playfulness.
Author and director: Jakub Jansa
Collaborators: Kamil Nábělek, Kryštof Hlůže, Karolína Juříková, Oliver Torr, Dominik Dabrowski, Alice Krajčířová, Sebastian Kučkovský, Iryna Drahun, Matěj Martinec, Kryštof Hlůže, Eliška Pitráková, Nicolas Atcheson, Růst Cakes Performance: Jan Kostiha, Ester Geislerová., Kamil Nábělek,
Trin Alt Vajd, Mark.ta VuTru, Dexton Kotora, Katsuhiro Iwashita, Veronika Čechmánková., Jakub Samek, Zai Xu, Linda Vondrová., Rokhaya Gueye, Anita Lubadika, Adéla Sobotková., Mary Nguyen, Linh Nguyen, Agáta Hrnčířová.
1.
We follow the character of the Seer (Oracle), who no longer has a vision of the future and feels anxious. We witness the Seer touching all celeriacs and giving them tattoos with socially beneficial functions. The form of a confessional interview is complemented by emotional, music-tinged interludes, as the Seer tattoos the celeriacs with the names of various positively perceived occupations or rather functions or destinies. A deconstruction of storytelling in relation to expected role choices and expected scenarios is at the core of the work.
2.
The character of the Red Herring, a hybrid creature between a human and a celeriac, is introduced. And now he’s challenging his origin, i.e., revolting against the Seer. He discovers that mythology is mere narrative. By taking control of this narrative, he can steer it in a different direction. He leaves his safe place within the myth to enter the battlefield and fight on a political level. He finds his own individuality and becomes a dark-side influencer
3.
Red Herring works in an avocado bar, where he compares himself to elites—the avocados. He wants to become part of the higher vegesociety. In the process, he must undergo an insulting battle with his inner self. He doubts himself and experiences an identity crisis.
4.
We observe the celerist in yet another surprising situation - he gains status in the vegesociety and is invited into avocado circles. However, he cannot internally relate to this new social
class. At the same time, he has already made a break with the environment from which he emerged. He experiences an intense sense of rootlessness and can only be relieved by class and social coming out. He founds a movement for uprooted vegetables.
5.
In the position of the hot vegetable of the season, the celerist is invited to speak at the Flower Union’s gala event. The supernatural figure of the Seer, no longer able to predict the future, takes over the second part of the programme and activates the decorative flowers in an eco-sexual celebratory ritual. The Seer shows the plants that if they put their pistils and calyxes together, they can reach out to the public and change the course of things. So let’s hope that the ability to see into the future returns again.
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