As part of the project “Promoting the Principles of Sustainable Development in Public Spaces of Boka Kotorska”, Expeditio has invited Isabella Matoš, the artist from Herceg Novi to design a “sculpture” that will be exhibited in some of the public spaces in Herceg Novi. The idea of the activity is to encourage the citizens to think and learn about the principles of sustainable development, which include the protection of the environment, taking care of greenery, renewable energy sources use, local community involvement, etc.
According to the artist, the sculpture named “Tristan” represents a tree, or, metaphorically, the whole nature, both living and non-living things. In short, it represents our planet Earth and the attitude we take towards it. A tree, as a form, concept and living thing has been chosen because this form of life is being destroyed by men daily. Among other crimes committed by men against the Pachamama – our Mother Earth, the cutting of trees is the most obvious, as is the reduction in concentration of, for our life indispensable, oxygen. This art intervention in space is conceived as a reminder of the ancient multivalent relationship between Man and Nature, of the possibility to attain self-sustainability and the necessity to shift to using secondary energy sources. The art installation itself, as a freestanding sculpture in space, freed from all non-human materials, will be modeled from old newspapers through recycling processes. The technique applied in its modeling is papier-mâché, supported on a wire mesh structure.
The final phase of the sculpture is a decorative painting work, which will be done together with the children who attended summer workshops organized by the francophone organization “Avenir” from Herceg Novi. During these workshops, led by the artist herself, the children learned how to decorate objects made by papier-mâché technique. The painted parts of the installations will have all the elements of a tree and water, while the structure itself will have branches with leaves movable in the wind, reminding the viewers of wind turbines. The tree will have solar photocells installed, pointing out to the use of solar energy in electricity production. As such, the tree should be stable, resistant to weather changes and able to stand under the open sky.
- There is a common thread between people and trees! Let us recall it and intensify it, says Izabela Matoš, the artist and sculpture author.
The sculpture should be installed in one of the public spaces in Herceg Novi at the end of October 2012. Currently we are discussing possible locations for the sculpture with the Municipality of Herceg Novi.
