Invisible Ruby City

مدينة روبي المخفية

2023

A mural intervention as part of Kosovo MuralFest, in Ferizaj, Kosovo.

Done in June, 2023

Calvino’s Invisible City

Being invited to Ferizaj to address the topic of Utopia, it’s very easy to retreat to the ideal, a beautiful and magical scene far away from reality. But in some sense, I found more interest in placing this absurd like magic as a way to interact with reality. The mural is the conclusion of a story of the city, Ruby. An imaginary invisible city that resides in parallel with Ferizaj, inspired by other invisible cities that can be found in Italo Calvino’s book, ‘Invisible Cities’.

Ruby City

In Ruby you are greeted by an ancient Illyrian dragon that guards the city and also checks for your visa. As you go up its tree shaped map, you find fairies and witches inhabiting the city. This was created with Mural Fest artivists as we tried to come up with not only how such a city looks, but how would it function, who would live there, and how can we access it from Ferizaj? After imagining our city, we started to unearth it in Ferizaj by placing red dots that signified portals, houses, stores, and buildings of Ruby.

Kosovo

Eventually, the mural had the biggest red mark which allowed you to enter this imaginary city, a time where our world becomes flipped and we’re in a new place. Ironically enough, the landscape within the picture, while not being urban and might not signify much at first glance. Within those mountains lies an actual ancient castle that’s also unearthed and invisible to us. The mural then becomes a multi-layered accumulation of a deeply rooted and nostalgic past while symbolising part of our imaginary futures all being placed onto our resulted complex present.