Salvator Mundi / Utopian Garden

1.56 min, video performance, digital collage, poetry

Salvator Mundi: The video is a reaction to the idea of utopia as a salvation of the world. The globe-like construction (mundus) was a characteristic part of the socialist playgrounds for children. The performance takes place on a typical Slovak post-socialist settlement and symbolizes (my) childhood crucified on socialist utopian ideas. Political education of children was an important part of the system. Despite the fall of socialism in 1989, the consequences of totalitarian socialist establishment can be seen till today - not only in ruined monuments and densely populated blocks of flats, but mainly in a society that is suspicious, low tolerant, inelastic.

Utopian Garden: The work reflects the search for utopia from the position of absolutist power. The ground plan of the French garden and the playground in the Slovak socialist housing estate are diametrically different ways of searching for utopian perfection in different geographical and historical contexts. The combination of divergent elements creates a new visuality, which, although attractive at first glance, contains the danger of unfreedom and violence against nature and society.