Waste Art - 14 art projects choosen

PRESS RELEASE
December 20th, 2018

14 art projects will raise awareness towards waste problems in Latvia and Estonia

14 art projects selected for the Artistic creative Reuse Campaign “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind”. They will be included in the travelling exhibition which will travel through Latvia and South of Estonia in two-years period.

The artistic creative Reuse Campaign “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind”, aimed at general public, will use the capacity of contemporary art and the diversity of artistic practices to increase public awareness toward waste produced by human activities. The focus of the campaign will be the traveling art exhibition “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind”, containing of 14 artworks developed by artists from Estonia, Latvia and abroad. The exhibition will showcase artists’ interpretation of the waste problem to increase public awareness of consumer material waste issues and resource efficiency.

On behalf of the WasteArt project and our affiliated partners, we are pleased to announce the following projects: Mikael Hansen (DK) “Take a look at yourself”, Annechien Meier and Gert- Jan Gerlach (NL) “Microclimates Take Over”, Justin Tyler Tate (US) “CubeFarm”, Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet Sola (EE/ ES) “PlasticLand”, Jacob Kirkegaard (DK) “Testimonium”, Marta Moorats (EE) “Monomarine”, Timo Toots (EE) “Elektrosauna”, kiwa (EE) “0”, Ansis Starks (LV) “secondsecond”, André Avelãs (NL) “Trash Vodka”, Elena Redaelli (NO) “Paper walls”, Johanna “Hanuka” Lohren and Gatis Kreicbergs (LV) “Raising Monsters”, Ieva Krumina (LV) “The Field of Desires” and Geraldine Juárez (SE) “Broken Promises”.

Through an international open call, a total of 138 project proposals were received from all corners of the globe by the November 15th deadline. An international jury of the following curators and experts reviewed the submissions and selected 14 projects: representative of Rucka Residency Center Līna Bērziņa (LV), Zero Waste expert Santa Krastina (LV), art historian Kaspars Vanags (LV), curator Indrek Grigor (EE), Zero Waste practitioner Maryliis Teinfeldt (EE), activist and organiser John W. Fail (US/ FI), curator Paavo Kroon (EE) and artist- organiser John Grzinich (US/ EE). The jury selection process focused on the criteria set forth in the guidelines of the open call and the perceived capacity of the artists based on their work history as well as projects that rely on a diverse range of media to communicate the campaign message, from photography, installation and sculpture, to sound, fashion and VR. The selected projects will be developed in production residencies at MoKS (http://moks.ee) in Estonia and Rucka (http://rucka.lv/) in Latvia, the outcome of which will be shown in the traveling exhibition “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind”. The exhibition is being scheduled for public locations across six locations in Latvia and Estonia, with the opening of each location marked by a communication event.

This campaign is one component of the larger WasteArt project that involves six partners from Estonia and Latvia, who have joined forces to increase awareness and work on changing people’s habits toward more environmentally friendly behavior concerning the waste reduction, re-use, and recycling. IES (Institute for Environmental Solutions), MoKS (artist residency centre), Tipu Nature School, ZAAO (Waste management company), Vidzeme planning region, Võru and Põlva municipalities are working together throughout 2018-2021. WasteArt will use the capacity of contemporary art and the diversity of artistic practices to increase public awareness of the vast amounts of waste produced by human daily activities Artistic creative Reuse Campaign “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind” ; as well as through the introduction of Waste Audit approach the WasteArt project will promote the Waste 3R in kindergartens and schools.

“Reuse of Waste through Arts and Crafts” (WasteArt) No. Est-Lat65, is funded by ERDF, INTERREG V-A Estonia – Latvia Cross-Border Programme and co-funded by project partners. This article reflects the views of the author. The managing authority of the programme is not liable for how this information may be used.

Additional Information:
Guna Dātava (IES) guna.datava@videsinstituts.lv
Evelyn and John Grzinich (MoKS) moks@moks.ee