Magic Carpets is a four-year (2017-2021) residency project for artists, involving 13 European partners. Co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of European Union, of which the Kaunas Biennial is the leader, the concept of the project was elaborated by Latitudo – Art Projects who has involved qwatz – contemporary art platform as a consultant for the development of residences for foreign artists in Italy.

The name of the project refers to the fables of Arabian Nights and to the idea of ​​the flying carpet, a ‘fantastic’ device for easily traveling around the world. The creativity and imagination of Scheherazade, used in telling stories to intrigue and involve her husband, here become a convincing metaphor for the power of art to transform difference and distance into intercultural dialogue, aimed at enrichment and mutual understanding, to respect and even to love.

One of the objectives of Magic Carpets is to make emerging artists travel throughout Europe, inviting them to deal with different social realities. It is an awareness-raising project that aims to create a sense of belonging regardless of one’s origins, starting from the classification processes proper to the logic of the great classics of our childhood.