This text was to be inclued in the bulletin of the festival but was excluded for unknown reasons!

On the Art of Recycling

What art and recycling share is a process through which artwork/trash is produced: a commodity freed from its initial function turning into something different: a burnt object. The difference is that such precedure is done consciously in art. By accommodating a meaning, the object receives a new identity and justifies its preservation and commerce. Art of Recycling is probably not an exact term for this, for, here, garbage refers not to its initial use as a consumed product. The re-use does not happen in a physical form, rather a meaning is annexed to the object. A new destiny is formed for the object through a subjective change in the producer and the consumer. Probably Re-Commodification is a better term: we here confront a subjective change giving the object utility.

You can access the pdf version of the report here.

The proposal was written by Hossein Hosseini and carried out with the help of Shaghayegh Ghasemi.

The idea behind the festival was to make artworks out of recycled material and was done in two sections: by locals and invited artists. /a:t/BrE participated in the second section. Artworks consisted of sculptures, readymades, installations and performances.

The concept behind our project was to create a cardboard museums comprising of cardboard kiosks placed in different locations through the site. The kiosks provided room for viewers and had filters making new readings of the artworks presented outside possible attracting attention from artworks to themselves.

Kiosk No. 1:

It had three filters engaging with three artworks at the same time.

a) Chromatic filter: with the help of coloured glasses the colours of part of an installation was filtered.

b) Expansion of viewing angle: left eye aims at a sculpture while the right eye sees an artwork through a periscope from an unusual perspective. In other words, two artworks in different places are seen as one.

c) The third filter obstructs the view. Although it is aimed at an artwork it displays something different. On the end there is mirror with lines on it. On top, it is written, ‘We present your portrait as an artwork.’ Each filter has a instruction next to it explaining how it works.

Kiosk No. 2:

This kiosk was designed for the non-visual (musical) section of the festival. It contains a sound filter. A cardbaord in-let extends from both sides of the kiost. It is filled with bits of cardboard and has a lid on one end which opens and closes with the wind. The walls are isolated acoustically with egg cartons.

/a:t/BrE and Ejra-Gostaran-Moaser Performance Art Company participated from 18th to 20th Oct. in Qazvin Second Recycled Art Festival leaded by Hossein Hosseini and Shaghayegh Ghasemi. The idea of their construction was a cardboard museum framing the artworks of other participants.