The project Tasty Tales was a result of a successful collaboration between the 23rd Kastafsko kulturno leto (Kastav Cultural Summer) and Kombinat. Its goal was to enrich the Exhibition Week of the 23rd KKL (from the 30th of June to the 4th of July, 2014) with participatory artistic practices by getting both the local population and the visitors of Kastav involved in the realisation of the program, but also in the consummation of the content after the end of the exhibition program. Tasty Tales (30th of June – 31st of August, 2014) is a project conceived as an urban game inspired by the local Kastav stories and legends. The focus of the game were 10 locations within the old core of the city of Kastav that were made to functions contemporary educational and humorous reinterpretations of old legends and stories about the locality by the use of illustrations and texts. Tasty Tales in this context refers to the lost moments brought back by playing the game, resulting in the contruction of a network of alternative histories of Kastav. An individual, using the directions on a map, explores the city by walking from one location to the next – and while certain locations were easy to find, finding some required serious exploration and straying off the beaten path. Every location featured a story accompanied by an illustration and certain locations features objects that thematically belonged to them. These could be experienced whether one followed the map or merely stumbled upon them while strolling through Kastav. The illustrations were connected by the directions on the map, but also functioned outside the context, and could have been enjoyed separately.

The texts were stories fashioned to fit the theme of the location, which means they differed in form – some places have verses, other formal reports, some had further instructions, and some were classic stories. This kind of exhibition program, one that comes out into the streets, represents a type open art that everyone is invited to participate in, fostering creativity in play while innovative visual solutions offer educative and accessible reinterpretation of historical content. The program, in a significant way, answered the needs of the new generation (particularly in its visual and multimedia aspects), while remaining enjoyable to the rest of the audience. Throughout the duration of the project, but also after its completion, the city of Kastav became a center of the intervention art practices of the regional creative industry as well as the meeting place for discussion and exploration of various media used by the industry (photography, illustration, design, video and audio). This project enriched the Kastav tourist offer by presenting the local cultural heritage to the public hungry for authentic content. Alongside the central project – the game – numerous other activities were taking place, for instance Conversations about photography and (mid)night hanging out and tasting tales with ginger beer.

Press conference ///

Kastav set///

Ginger beer tasting, Malik’s light cap and Conversations about photography ///