Edita Štrajtová↓

About the work

Wake Up Slowly, Butterfly

Every day he seemed to fumble his feet, searching for solid ground beneath it, while only stepping into emptiness. In a strict line of structures, a judge stands above him on each side, assessing whether he is what he should be. As if everything important to experience was happening outside of him. As if he was defined by a mere endless relating to what had been here before, and was thus losing what was to come. He wanted to break free from the captivity of the past, and so he immersed himself in his own memories. A world without traditions seems to be running out of time. Made up of inner feelings, both past and present, yet it perhaps captures something generic. It is not clear in it what is a subject and what is an object; what is illusionary and what is real. Maybe what has never been is more real than what is.

The Wake up Slowly, Butterfly project arose from a long-term collaboration between Edita Štrajtová and Barbora Volfová and builds on the subjects of their previous joint work. The artists’ installation creates an imaginary exterior in the interior, imaginary gardens that require close contact from viewers. Our intense perception of the space and merging with it can make us ask where we are. The individual objects in the installation stem from sharing of the identities of the two artists and the fictional appearance, and are inspired by personal experiences with external influences. The influences and the unknown, forcing us to hold fast to established systems, no matter how infallible they may seem. In this way we neglect our own intuition and experience, stimulated by personal stories, perceptions, and curiosity. The result is a layer of fake memories, which brings us the illusion of a new reality, based on the need to escape from the fragmented, chaotic, and synthetic.