How to Reach the Sky

‘How to reach the sky’, a monumental multimedia project created by Barbora Šlapetová and Lukáš Rittstein, is being hosted in the former Gandini swimming pool on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, to coincide with the 2026 Art Biennale, from 18 April to 12 July 2026. Through a large-scale installation of sculptures, animations, paintings, films, photographs and happenings, the two Czech artists recount the extraordinary and somewhat magical story of the encounter between two worlds: a crew of astronauts and a community of the Yali Mek people of West Papua. Two distant worlds: one on earth and one in the sky, one immersed in hyper-technology and the other drawing strength from its ancestral knowledge. Yet united by a single experience: flying. The ‘How to Reach the Sky’ project stems from the encounter between the Yali Mek communities of Papua and NASA astronauts, invited to share their experience of ‘space travel’, in parallel with the spiritual vision of local shamans. From this experience emerges the work of Barbora Šlapetová and Lukáš Rittstein, who have been collaborating with Papuan communities for almost thirty years, documenting their cultures and transformations. The project artistically translates an imagination still untouched by globalisation, offering an authentic glimpse into traditions now at risk of disappearing.