As soon as you hear the word “Urbanistan,” your imagination is whisked off into the traffic mayhem of Calcutta; the tawdriness of the neon-sex nightlife in Bangkok; the unbelievablely structured—yet simultaneously frenzied—Tokyo; the suffocating and dusty streets of the (hardly) living body of decaying Cairo; the roundabout of the hedonistic and aggressive Rio, the unstoppable, narcissistic Manhattan. In short, the global supermarket of turbo consumerism.

However, Matjaž Krivic’s “Urbanistan” is a miraculous anti-thesis to all this. It is a story from the other side—a story of the quiet loudness on the margins of total existential, religious, economic and geopolitical chaos. A story that speaks of the indestructible spirit and the eternal search of inspiration that enables survival.

It is a story of individuals and social groups who, putting aside the racket and general urban angst, keep searching for the core of existence in a different space and a different time. It is a story of survival through play, prayer, tradition, rituals, travels, socialising and especially, a special light, that the author of the exhibition sees and records so well.

Urbanistan is a space that allows you to take a breather from the city. Any city.

—Matjaz Krivic


Editors’ Note: Matjaz Krivic’s work is now showing (and for sale!) at Le Salon De La Quiatrieme Image, a photo fair being held in the heart of Paris’ Marais district from October 27 through November 1, 2015.