MAGLEV

“Nostalgia is not merely an expression of local longing, but of the result of a new understanding of time and space that made the division into ‘local’ and ‘universal’ possible” Svetlana Boym

“ Some experiences liberate us from time constrains. They elevate our bodies to a state of inconsistency, a plane where time passes at a different speed and weight becomes more relative. Sometimes we levitate, sometimes we fall, but these experiences can open windows in our perceptions through which we can cherish shattered fragments of memory for what they are. ‘Maglev’ is an assemblage of fleeting impressions of vanishing time: memories, faces, phases, stations and delays.

Encounters, situations and events always affect the way we perceive the environments that surround us. We adapt new methods to make sense of novel emotions and arousals and when confronted with unknown dynamics or systems, we adopt “change” to recalibrate our comfort. This liminal experiences can go as far as to dilate our perceptions of time and space. Think about how time passes faster in good company or how short life seems when thinking about the past, but also try to imagine how time slows down in a car accident, a free fall or during a beautiful sunset.

Try to remember a sunny day with a clear sky. Try to remember the sun getting bigger and bigger the closer it got to the horizon. Imagine seeing this from the inside of a train, how fast the train seems when you focus on the nearby houses racing by so fast that your eyes could not see anything else than their vague shape. Imagine how while the optics at the end of your sight begin to rip the sun apart, you experience a warmth reminding you that time has passed through you.

The sun is gone, you are in a transport that cuts time in half and quarters; collapsing different timezones and latitudes into the human bodies it absorbs and vomits from station to station. It is in moments like this where and when time become physical. What remains are artefacts and memories.

It is difficult to reconstruct the experiences that made us that who we are and brought us to where we are at this time and place, but leaping from fragments to fragments with a love for details over symbols could be a fair start. “

Anna Slama and Marek Delong have been an author duo since 2015. Delong graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology (Video Studio). Slama received her degree from the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Their artistic practice focuses on installation, in which they embed their sculptures, objects, videos or paintings. The subject of the duo's long-standing interest is emotional tension and a return to the sensitivity and honesty of artworks. They create a space for therapy and distance from the anxiety of the current generation, under pressure to lose a positive vision of the future and hope. Their approach escapes from logic and calculation and it uses fantastical elements, sensuality and magic to give space to vulnerability, intuition and an unprejudiced knowledge of the world. Delong and Slama regularly exhibit on the Czech and international gallery scene. They have presented their work at the Community Gallery in Paris, ISSMAG Gallery in Moscow, and the Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA in Prague.