AHiddenPlace goes delicious - contributing to the actions of ADeliciousPlace in Nicosia

With this action we virtually interconnected the story of AHiddenPlace place in Ljubljana and the story of ADeliciousPlace taking place at the Pame Kaimakli festival in Nicosia. The latter created the inter-spatial, virtual connections through the thematic placemaking happenings, revolving around the role of some essential human values – foods, engagement, sense of place and sense of nature, commitment and sharing.

ADeliciousPlace events in Ljubljana addressed the issue of the neglected spaces, hidden behind the fences, overgrown with invasive plants and greenery. This is also the story of AhiddenPlace in Bežigrad. For a few moments we transformed this undefined space into a place for people, exploring the potentials and benefits of the plants, learning about their origin, their possible use and their impact to the local surroundings.

Throughout the transformations of the construction pit and the preparation of the community dinner setting, we revealed the role of the foreign elements in the domestic culture. The symbolic meaning is dual – it represents the inevitable and ubiquitous amalgamation of the “local” and “external” in one place – the collision that always happens on the various levels and which always brings certain conflicts, but also numerous benefits for all all of the sides.  

By baking the burek – the “imported” but well accepted dish brought by migrants from Bosnia – we demonstrated the advantages of the cultures’ collision. And by preparing this collective dinner setting, with the ingredients and elements taken from the wild invasive plants, we symbolically revealed the possibilities that we have in our hands – ignoring the place, ignoring the “intruder”; occupying the place and supplanting all the “external”, or else, making steps towards the synergies and joint collective strengths.

We believe that one place should not be one story, rather should assemble a set of narrations brought by people that share and inhabit it!

The happening in Ljubljana had been filmed and packed in a short documentary video, which then presented at the Pame Kaimakli festival in Nicosia.