SET OF 6 ARTWORKS IN PUBLIC SPACE

The first activity involves 6 artworks in public space in the Ústí Region focused on the phenomenon of gardening and realized in cooperation with local artists and communities and in collaboration with local community and educational organizations. The artworks in the Ústí Region will relate to aspects specific to the social and cultural situation in the former Sudetenland, which is defined as a structurally disadvantaged region with defective processes: economic stagnation, a burdened environment, and social and cultural exclusion. The 6 artworks in public space will be created on the basis of collaboration between invited Czech artists and the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně, local communities, and community and educational organizations. The target groups will depend on the focus of the cooperating organizations.

The selection of collaborating institutions reflects the portfolio of target groups comprising art school students, university students and academicians, residents of socially excluded locations (mostly Roma), clients of low-threshold clubs, clients and staff of non-profit organizations active in Ústí nad Labem, and clients with various forms of dementia, their family members, and their carers. All of the artworks share a common target group: the residents of the localities where they are realized.

The University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně, People in Need, the Velké Březno Home and the Elementary School of Art Most will collaborate in the creation of 1 artwork each, and the Volunteer Center will be involved in the creation of 2 artworks. A structured method of mutual collaboration will be used to formulate the thematic focus of the artworks and their production. Specific target groups and localities will be defined based on discussions between the applicant and the collaborating organizations, and then an artist will be selected based on their ability to prepare an art project for the given context. The artists will use artistic research and either participatory or site-specific intervention strategies to define the concept for the work, and then realize the artwork in public space in cooperation with the applicant, the collaborating institutions and the local community. The artworks will respond to the overall project theme – the issue of gardening from the symbolic perspective – and the needs of the local community and selected locality. Both the individual artworks and the entire part of the project realized in the Ústí Region will contribute to improving the quality of life, developing specific communities, and defining strategies for integration and developing the local residents’ sense of belonging and identity. The artworks will be used by the participating organizations to expand community programmes.

SET OF 11 ARTWORKS REALIZED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

This output consists of 11 artworks focused on the phenomenon of gardening partly realized in collaboration with the Skaftfell Centre for Visual Art in East Iceland (3 artworks - 1 realized by local artist and 2 realized by Czech artists invited on residencies) and partly with artists from abroad (8 artworks), which were invited to residencies at Ústí nad Labem House of Arts. The combination of artworks created by artists from 10 countries on 4 continents makes it possible to track the gardening theme in various geographic, social and cultural contexts, and to realize artworks responding to local specifics while drawing attention to the global impact of environmental processes with which gardening is naturally linked.

The artworks prepared by foreign artists (except of Iceland) will be realized with organizational support by 8 partnering institutions (the Dowd Gallery – SUNY Cortland, the Kharkiv Municipal Gallery, Kunst Meran Merano Arte, the Museum of Fine Arts Split, PRECEDEE Hong Kong, the Rotor Centre for Contemporary Art in Graz, Schafhof – European Centre for Art Upper Bavaria in Freising, and The Trinity Session Johannesburg). These institutions were asked by applicant to help with the selection and communication with artists from their countries. Each participating foreign artist (except of artist from Iceland) will prepare and realize 1 artwork focused on topics related to theme of gardening and using strategies of participation with communities and site-specific interventions. This approach will facilitate the use of long-term artistic research and cooperation between the individual artists and local target groups during the realization of the artworks. The global themes of caring for the community and one’s own surroundings, permanent sustainable development, environmental and climate responsibility, and social engagement will be viewed from different perspectives within the context of the project in order to highlight both the comprehensive nature and the necessary and natural diversity associated with the advancement of human existence within the social milieu of the Late Anthropocene. The foreign artists from 9 countries of 4 continents participating on the project will be invited to one month residency to the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts during their work on realization of the artistic projects. These residencies will guarantee the circulation of the individual concepts and ideas defined over the course of the entire project. The artworks created by invited foreign artists will be finally presented on planned final international group exhibitions at the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts (together with the artworks realised by Czech artists) and contextualized on planned international conference in Ústí nad Labem.