ULTRA-SUPER-NATURAL

The multimedia project entitled ULTRA-SUPER-NATURAL is an exhibition as an organism, composed of films, animations, photographs, drawings by BARBORA ŠLAPETOVÁ and sculptures by LUKÁŠ RITTSTEIN. The show includes accompanying books of the same name.

The exhibition is a result of a joint project by Czech artists Barbora Šlapetová and Lukáš Rittstein, who first travelled to Papua New Guinea in 1997 and, face to face with the collision of two different worlds, decided to record, in an artistic form, the life of some of the local people. Over the last twenty-five years, the pair returned to the same area of Papua over a dozen times to investigate the leap in time of prehistoric people into the 21st century. As artists, they intended to record both the visible and the invisible that shapes the community of some of the last ‘natural’ people on Earth.

The result is a unique exhibition composed of Barbora’s experimental films, animations, photographs and drawings and Lukáš’s sculptures providing a layered testimony on the wonder of the meeting of two worlds and the very essence of human existence.

As the artists formed relations with the locals, the Papuan chiefs shared their beliefs, stories and experiences and expressed a desire to meet the ‘greatest Czech chief’ as well as someone who, like their own tribal magicians, can fly to the ‘upper level of the world’. This led to the Papuans – known around the world for their cannibalistic practices and black magic – to many unexpected experiences such as collaborating with then-Czech President Václav Havel or receiving a call from the International Space Station. In return, the elite of the Yali Mek tribe then fulfilled an astronaut’s wish to learn their smoke-flying technique, which allows chosen individuals to travel to Heaven through smoke…

What could not be photographed and filmed was drawn and animated, depicting the inner world of the Papuans as they told it. Prepare to lose yourself in the elasticity of time, drawn into the melting pot of magic and art based on real encounters and observations.

Both artists will be present at the Private View to offer further insights.

Private View

Friday 3 November 2023, 6 – 7.30 pm
Free, all welcome, with complimentary drinks