Wandering Nighthouse : Batumi Backyard Stories | 2013

Batumi, Georgia

Curator Lydia Matthews writes of Batumi Backyard Stories : 

"These meandering truck rides, while seemingly playful, were meant to provoke thorny questions about what kinds of things can and cannot be easily perceived in the city. They sharpened participants' focus on the contrast between Batumi’s excessive use of light in areas of gentrification, and the dimmer neighborhoods that are off-the-beaten tourist track, where less "hip" daily life experiences can be recognized and appreciated. Wandering in a “nighthouse” also cultivated a new way of seeing a familiar environment with fresh eyes, through the altered lens of a contemporary artwork. In short, Buckholtz and van de Velde rose to Agamben’s challenge: through their art practice, they enabled people to gaze on their own time so as to perceive not its light but rather its darkness."