The first International Biennale of Environmental Art (6+) took place at Nizhny Novgorod. It will operate until November 20. A large project is presented on some city locations, where more than 150 contemporary artists from Russia, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Italy, China, Korea, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Philippines, France, Japan and other countries are collected. On May 30, IA's reporter, in N city, managed to communicate with two participants in Ecobiennal and its main project, Leather Leather of the Earth (6+). As part of the live conversation, they talked about their works created exclusively for the project, and also shared awareness about environmental issues in art and creative process.
Youngcura from South Korea presented his two works. One is at Arsenal, and the other is in the market early. The main theme is the ocean and its problems, the purity of water and its ecosystem, because Korea is surrounded by water, carries and carries a lot of rubbish by him and TIDS. And the artist observed a polluted environment throughout his life, which motivated him to declare environmental issues with the help of artistic means. In addition, he is also a volunteer and indifferent to clean the dirt coast.
I try to make people pay more attention to this issue. And they think about how to solve it. Usually we see garbage in a negative light. It seems to be something dirty, dangerous. But if you think so, it's our modern times. In my works, I want to affect the perception of a normal person and his vision about trash, change the ideas of everyone and make them think that we can live differently, the artist says.
Youngcura, as he said, did not fight like that. He wants to tell people clearly that it is not necessary to buy similar things many times. Instead, it is better to think about what can be done with the things that one person has, let a second life of another person.
The work placed in the market early is called “floating”. And these are some small plastic shapes located on a long catwalk. This name is a certain game of Word and Symbiosis, Yangcura said. It combines two words: plastic and lava.
From the side, small sculptures look like a normal stone. But if you look closely, you can see that they are made from many different types of garbage, including fishing networks and equipment, polyester. In addition, the juicy is developed from each number. First, the viewer looked and thought: “How beautiful it is.” However, he later realized that this was a normal garbage. In the end, people did not consider something beautiful. But if you do the work from it, put in the right place and in certain light, then it has become art. I want to give trash a new reading that it may not only be something terrible and not attractive, but also very beautiful, the artist has described the concept of his work.
Olanrevju Tedzhuoso from Nigeria in his works also focused on environmental care. According to him, the problem of garbage in his homeland is huge. And even the government can no longer do anything to it. Garbage is lying everywhere – plastic bottles, containers, bags, paper, etc. and simply cannot solve problems in the near future.
As a patriot of my country, I want to contribute to the decision, to make at least one something. And I decided that I would use garbage in my works, within public. I don't handle it, but I give it a new meaning. Therefore, I will try to attract public attention and, perhaps, will become part of its solution, Tedzhuoso said.
Olanrevju Tedzhuoso called his work Wild Wild Fire. And it lies on the wall in the hall, on the left of the central space of the soap market. The works are created from many different squares, in the total mass is a large and single picture. The artist used documents brought from the street, or found it in his studio.
I pay attention to the fire in California. This has become a great disaster for the population. After I discovered this, I remember that my family lived there, and I was afraid of them. I decided to raise this issue. To do this, I went there to feel what the locals could feel. I think what does a fire mean to us? Destroying buildings, fragments, burnt trees. In my settings, I only used a burnt tree, the artist emphasized.
The second most important meaning that Tedzhuoso put into the job is the relationship between the fires and the amount of garbage that people produce and throw.
The fire is caused by climate change. And the change in the climate, in turn, is linked to the amount of garbage, emitting greenhouse gases. Therefore, I used wood and waste and tied them. Among the objects and things, you may notice sandals, shale and fabric – this is what everyone else, leaving their home in a hurry and horror, the artist said.
In the framework of the ecological biennale, Nizhny Novgorod and the city's guests can also visit exhibitions on other important places: in the military/planet (0+), in Nghe | Russian art – Ong area (6+), in the seminar* – Digital Digital hope (6+). The program also includes two street events: Air Air, within the framework of the eight murals that will be created on ecological, and Field Field – artist Dania Pirogov will develop towers with nest for different birds of the Nizhny Novgorod region.