The project purpose is to make contemporary art accessible through realisation of art and design works in public space, thematically defined international exhibitions and international interdisciplinary conference.

Placed within the international art context, the project GARDENING OF SOUL: IN FIVE CHAPTERS focuses on establishing connectivity between current artistic expression and the various social activities that have begun to emerge from the desire to cultivate and nurture one’s surroundings, which can be symbolically described as a tendency manifesting itself through various forms of collective gardening. The garden – and the work associated with developing and maintaining it – are without a doubt metaphorically linked to the determination of an individual to enhance and share a specific space and, at the same time, use this space to ensure both material and existential needs.

Although the phenomenon of gardening does naturally change in different communities and under different climatic conditions, it always has enormous potential to generate the cooperation, communication, and shared production that is vitally linked with the surrounding natural environment and the common purposeful activity of a specific community. Through the realisation of 17 artworks installed in public space, the project will bring together participating art institutions and invited artists from ten countries on four continents with community representatives from these countries. It will provide them with the opportunity to work together in an effort to construct symbolic places growing out of a dialogue between various forms of artistic projects and the act of improving forgotten or otherwise neglected locations. These may include localities scarred by economic exploitation, dilapidated post-industrial areas or socially excluded communities, but they could also be diverse spaces where there is a rich interaction between specific social groups and community activism.

The selection of artists will stem from the locations in which the artistic institutions participating in the project operate, thus strengthening the emphasis placed on working with a specific place and a specific community.


News

Preparation of Exhibition Gardening of Soul: Introduction

We prepare a first exhibition called GARDENING OF SOUL: INTRODUCTION that is a part of this project. The opening will take place at the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts on Wednesday December 7th 2022 at 6 pm. The exhibition is focuses on the issue of artistic reflection on the phenomenon of garden and gardening understood in a broader social, economic, environmental and cultural context.

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Exploring the space at the Volunteer Center club

In the first half of September, a meeting took place at the headquarters of the Volunteer Center. The director Lenka Vonka Černá then showed artist Jiří Černický and the project team part of the city Ústí nad Labem. She showed other possibilities for creating artwork in public space. Jiří Černický is now concentrating on developing ideas for the creation of the artwork.

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