Of what is, that it is pg what is not, that it is not 2

Created for documenta 13 in 2012, the two monumental tapestries Of what is, that it is; of what is not, that it is not 1 and 2 mix geographic indications and historical references. In the first part, Goshka Macuga depicts a crowd of Afghans and Westerners standing before the ruins of Darul Aman Palace, a Western style building in Kabul. In contrast, the second tapestry portrays a group of activists and personalities from the art world—including the artist herself—meeting in the gardens of the Orangerie in Kassel, an example of eighteenth century royal European architecture. 

These two historical settings were both partially destroyed in the twentieth century as the result of international conflicts. By exhibiting each of the works in the opposite country of what they depict, this Polish artist fostered the meeting of two societies with different cultural values, while emphasising their shared past through a historically laden medium.