Artcycling - Newsletter 8 - en

NEWSLETTER We are here again after the summer break, full of energy and creativity. In this newsletter you will get an idea about our efforts disseminating the articling project, trying to get as much people as possible to have a greater impact. We love talking about Artcycling because we really love what we do.

Welcome to ARTCYCLING!

DISSEMINATING THE ARTCYCLING PROJECT On 21st June 2017, the team of Artcyclers in INTRAS organized an open day in the day center for people with mental illness in Toro (Zamora-Spain). It was a party for the team before the summer break and they wanted to share it with the whole town. We took this opportunity to explain to the neighbors the work done by INTRAS and thus keep on fighting against the stigma attached to this kind of pathologies.

The event was really informal, a big party to celebrate the summer, the art and the creativity.

The artistic creations made by the Artcyclers so far (recycled-fabrics carpets, ceramics, vertical gardens, sofa covers made of jeans, etc.) were showed to the general public and explained by the own artists: what they wanted to express, how do they did it, which materials did they use, etc.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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We have to say that there are not many artistic activities in the town of Toro, much less about recycled art or any other transgressive artistic movements as this is, so we are proud to be in charge of changing the minds of our neighbors.

Moreover, we opened a shop in the center of the town where we sell some of the Artcycling creations, as for instance the ceramics and the recycled carpets. This has revealed as an effective way to reach people that normally are not interested in arts, so we think that it is a good way to disseminate the Artcycling project.

In the spring of 2017 the ArtCyclers from Pécs, Hungary had two exhibitions with their creations. One of them was held in Pécs, in a cafe called Szabadkikötő, they showed the triaxial weaving technique they learned during the Atcycling project with an art installation and photos.

The other Showroom was installed in the Fortress of Komárom during the Mediawave Festival and the ArtCyclers were able to show their own personal creations.

This festival is also called “Togetherness”, because it wishes to build a community instead of only having visitors. Mediawave is a unique addition to Hungarian Festivals, because it gives interactive programs, active cooperation possibilities and sustainability.

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Angéla Thiesz and Retextil Foundation has participated with workshops and installations in years now on the “Tartóshullám Togetherness” (the way the organizers call the festival). This year Angéla, the artdirector of the ArtCycling project, next to her own artistic ideas, applied with the exhibition of the ArtCyclers too.

The exhibition consisted of 48 creations from the 15 ArtCyclers with carpets, wall-art, bags, mandalas, sculptures and jewelleries. The colorful exhibition fit perfectly into the varied cultural, film, music and artistic program of the festival.

The visitors of the festival could interact with parts of the exhibition, children played with the tiny chair that would fit into a baby’s room, youngsters started to use the carpets, the lamps brought nice light between the cold walls of the fortress. The feedback was really positive, the ArtCyclers can now continue the creation of new works with fresh energies.

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The ArtCyclers were really happy and excited about the possibility to show their work to so many people. They said it was a wonderful feeling that they could have shared their own ideas and processes, it was a great experience and a huge opening to them. It brought fresh energies and new ideas to the group. They prepared the pieces and gave titles to each others creations together and this preparation brought the whole group closer to each other. For some of them, the Showroom gave not just the feeling of openness but also the feeling of wanting to learn even more and getting better at what they are doing. The chance to open up to the public and the fact that they exhibited next to professional artists gave them fresh motivation to continue the work they began.

The group now has the idea to create something bigger together again, to put their knowledge and ideas together in one big piece. They wish to figure out something eye-catching, probably to go on the streets of Pécs and invite the audience to cocreate an artwork together. They want to reach more and more people and show them the power of art and the message of sustainability in their own, personal, creative - and let me tell you - in a magical way.

In Copenhagen, the Artcycling group connected to Cultura21 are working on preparing two exhibitions/ showroom/events. As the events have not taken place at the time of writing but are in the making, we can give you only a preliminary idea of what they will be like.

The first one is being prepared as an open process over summer and the months to come, and will culminate at a pre-Christmas “market event” in early December. In this process, the artcyclers are developing more than just their own works, as the concept is to ‘exhibit’ workshops, where citizens of the neighbourhood can take part in fast-producing artcycling work. This way, we hope to help people make gifts for Christmas that use less resources than the average Christmas gift, while producing joy and community all the same. For this work, we will be assisted by Casper Cordes, community and ecology sound artist, and one of the driving forces in community/recycling projects in Vesterbro, Copenhagen. The preparation workshops will take place in October and November, and the market in early December.

The second one, planned for January 2018, will be put together by combining some of the creations from the x-mas market event with works by the Artcyclers themselves, of which we have given a couple of ideas in newsletter 7. We include for inspiration a picture of the work in progress by Dorte Bundesen, whose work takes a BIG approach to artcycling. Dorte’s idea is to combine materials that are clean and even healthy such as seaweed, with materials that have been through production and use, like recycled plastic. Together they form works like the one on the picture (work in progress) and will be part of the showroom exhibition in January.

We will come back in December!

For further information, please contact us via e-mail: lmd@intras.es You can find us on Facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/Artcycling-1072951626083052/

www.artcycling.org

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.