STOYAN BARAKOV

Colony in Transit

25 inches x 12 inches x 36 inches 

Acrylic, Aluminum, and Plywood

  Colony in Transit is a conceptual sculptural 3D model of the Art Colony Village Chakali. Its clear acrylic walls are engraved and hinged with plastic hinges and screws, giving the impression that it may be unfolded, unpacked, modular, and moveable. The colony is represented as an object on the cart in an encapsulated volume, visible only through windows. It is displayed on an elongated plinth specifically built for the work. The work consists of 2 metal-cast morphed animals that recall the forms of the North American Buffalo and the Eastern European Bison, pulling on a wheeled cart. These ambiguous beasts surface throughout the storytelling, recalling the tales passed to me by my great-grandmother. The morphed animals pull a cart upon which the colony is transported and navigated through time and space, past and present.

Furthermore, there is a QR code positioned inside the box.  When being scanned with a mobile device, the viewer is transported inside the landscape of Village Chakali, which further plays with the colony being in a superposition. It recalls a structure with no permanent location, depicting transitional and ephemeral characteristics based on personal nostalgia through displacement.