random t room
different locations
2020 - present
an ongoing nomadic project started in 2018 against the backdrop of rave culture, in collaboration with the artist dasha mamba. essentially, it is a pop-up cafe, executed over a hundred times, with its menu structured around tea and coffee and designed as a way to connect with oneself and thoughtfully relive the rave experience—concentrated, exalted, and perhaps even aggressive.
tea and coffee act as conduits into a particular state of care and help adjust the focus of the guest’s attention. beyond the interaction with taste, the artist also uses aromas, sounds, textures, and visuals to create the tea-and-coffee room as a space that engages all the senses and immerses the viewer more deeply in the moment. the room is a fluid space—more of a feeling than an environment. it fits into the context of a particular place and event, absorbs it, and comes to an end together with it, only to reveal itself next time in another guise at another event.
together with a cup of tea or coffee, the artist offers a complex experience through which one first connects with oneself and then adjusts one’s focus to the surrounding reality.
1. t room, venice, 2025
“t room” was held at the opening of an exhibition in venice by invitation of the curators, as a way to shift habitual gallery dynamics and involve visitors in a shared experience of exhibition time. the tea ceremony functioned as a form of participation, transforming visitors from observers into participants in the unfolding moment.
situated alongside video works and meditative music, the tea gathering, rooted in uzbek tradition, shaped a multi-layered sensory experience. steam, aroma, taste, utensils, and shared gestures redirected attention toward embodied presence, allowing the exhibition to be experienced not only visually, but also through sound, smell, taste, and time.
2. elidium festival, portugal, 2025
during elidium festival, “t room” emerged in the forest as a pop-up coffee camp, appearing twice during the festival day. without signs or formal boundaries, it gathered on a round wooden platform, where fabric, objects, and utensils formed a place for pause and recovery within the active rhythm of the festival.
the duration of “t room” was defined by the length of a set of five cassette tapes, selected specifically for that day. coffee was brewed as a pour-over while the tapes were playing, and guests were invited to slow down, sit, look at the forest, and engage with objects created for tactile experience—until the final cassette ended and “t room” completed its work.
3. echo creation twilight ceremony, waking life festival, 2024
during waking life festival, “t room” emerged beneath an installation created in collaboration with the echo of creation team, in the twilight moment just after sunset—a time of transition when light and color shift every second, and semi-transparent fabrics catch these changes, constantly altering the sense of form and presence.
a brief moment of warmth and presence was shared over freshly roasted coffee, brewed as a pour-over, before each guest departed into their own nocturnal ceremony of the festival.