Garaža Kamba

“Yesterday was our owner’s birthday. Twenty sixth. When I say ‘ours’, I’m referring to Buga, who adores Ipa and me the most, her four-legged meowths. Her phone was buzzing, lots of guests came over, and the table displayed *two* – yes, two – visibly delicious cakes that, unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to taste, as they would have spelled doom for our feline stomachs. But we weren’t forgotten – grandpa Vojko ensured we too got our treats!
One of the final birthday guests was Buga’s roommate, Filip. Later that evening they shared a bottle of champagne, and Filip brought over some kind of canvas. What is it? – I thought – And why was our owner calling us over? Ipa was already sniffing at it curiously, while I, the hunter that I was, carefully approached the unknown object. Once I came closer, I knew it wasn’t unknown. Those were framed photos of Viktor, Viki-cham, our feline friend who left us over a year ago. I inspected my old pal, and instead of sorrow in my eyes, there was… no, my entire body was enveloped in some unknown warm feeling. I recalled all the times we chased those plastic mice around, our naps, our baths and my
unfinished meals that Viki loved to finish. The same night, while Filip and Buga were drinking their champagne, I sat in Filip’s lap and began purring loudly. I was purring for a while, rubbing my nose on his hands and chest. I wanted to give this human being an inkling of how happy he made me; reminding me of the one I loved the most. It was one of the best days of my life! 
And Viktor – I know with certainty that he is somewhere else, happy and healthy, chasing his light.”
• Petar Kranželić, known as Pero, tomcat, 6 years

Do you ever wonder – what is my dog/cat/plant thinking about? What are they feeling? This exact question is the starting point of Ivana Filip’s artistic-research process, animalartist who deals with the interrelationships between people and other living beings. The answer to the prior, and other questions that popped up in the meantime, author attempts to answer in a series of interesting projects, and the roots of which have also spread into the space of Garaža Kamba. In her experimental work, through individual encounters the artist challenges her guest-cocreator to gain a deeper perception of their own relation with The Other, nonhuman and along deeper analysis of gathered materials (text, sound and video) she creates visual works. 
Through her work, Ivana Filip invites us to break the artificially-made division between nature and humans in which we often fall in by confronting and dividing natural and built (of our) cosmos.
• Buga Kranželić, human, 26 years

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