Garaža Kamba

The exhibition showcases the work and research of the multidisciplinary and international team of ISKRA collective, which started their journey together in 2022. Since then, they have been working, presenting, exploring, and exhibiting together. In the ‘Reflexions of the River’, the first collaborative cycle of ISKRA collective is presented, which took place in Pokupsko, a small village not far from Zagreb. The common theme of the cycle was the Kupa river, which serves as the dominant and identifying factor of the region and element of the landscape. The river shaped Pokupsko, and the region of Pokuplje significantly – historically, it influenced urban development, positioning and zoning of the built areas in the environment, the development of agriculture and cattle breeding in the area, and shaped the way people deal with the river’s regime. Coming to Pokuplje, we cannot help ourselves but ask, how do people live with the river? What happens, when the river floods its basin? How did people’s lives adapt to flood seasons? How do they, whether they’re locals or weekend house owners, perceive changes to nature, climate, and ecology, over the years? What can they expect in the future, and what can we do? Through a series of visits, and throughout a longer period, ISKRA collective witnessed the changes of the river, its shifts, environmental impacts, and the influence it had on us as a collective. The region of Pokuplje, similarly to many rural areas of Croatia, suffers from a negative trend of unfavorable demographic structures, which can, undoubtedly, hurt the enormous repository of knowledge, traditions, and future growth, which endangers the very existence of certain elements of heritage and natural features. Therefore, it’s extremely important to look at challenges in an interdisciplinary way, emphasizing cultural sustainability, as a methodology in approach and constructive criticism, with the goal of tackling rural topics.

Gallery