Edition 4

The original combination of art and ecology through the construction of rotating sculptures covered with waste materials and vegetation demonstrates the maturity and attentiveness of the creative and social design team. The concept of elevating recycled materials to the status of artistic material and using them to create original spatial objects, displayed in a public place, was considered by the Jury of the “Wena” Grant Programme to be innovative, and going beyond the school curriculum.

 

The message of the concept and the response to the leitmotif of the “The Art of Repairing the World” Competition is a concern for the resources of our planet, expressed using recycled materials in art. The creation of large spatial volumes based on organic and biomorphic forms implies a cyclical change in the shells of the sculptures, e.g. from aluminium to biological.

 

According to the educational and artistic concept, the project team aimed to build three large-scale rotating sculptures, to be covered with vegetation combined with waste materials. The concept was changed after the technology trials. Two rotating outdoor sculptures covered with aluminium and recycled materials were created, without any biomorphic function. The works are displayed in front of the school entrance. The third rotating sculpture, full of plants and diverse vegetation, remained a creative experiment.

  

 

Promotional board for the project

 

Two rotating sculptures

 

Main school entrance

 

 

At the first stage of the project, recycled aluminium tins were obtained.

 

 

The students cut the tins into necessary forms, following the bending pattern of aluminium sheets to create the design chosen. This sole workshop-based stage proved quite labour-intensive. It was also the only stage in which students were involved, as they prepared a massive quantity of covering elements for the sculptures. Ultimately, several thousand pieces of waste materials and plastics were recycled. Then, the steel necessary to construct the sculptures was purchased. School conservators assembled the work under the supervision of the attending teacher, without the involvement of the students.

 

Although the core of the team was composed of eight 3rd graders, students from other grades were also involved due to the labour intensity the task. Moreover, a group of students was given the task to source the aluminium tins.

 

 

Cutting the tins

 

 

Ewald Kornek – project coordinator, vice-principal of the high school, sculpture teacher.