From the 22nd to 27th of May, Nature Addicts! Fund hosted its fifth traveling academy in the city of Eleusis, in the Attica region West of Athens, in partnership with Eleusis 2021 European Capital of Culture..
Curated by Stéphane Verlet-Bottéro, this academy gathered nineteen students and young practitioners from visuals arts, photography, architecture, led by tutors Elena Mazzi (IT), Nikos Navridis (GR), Samuil Stoyanov (BG), Nezaket Tekin (TR). Taking the city of Eleusis as a point of departure for investigation and reflection, the programme of workshops, discussions and site visits explored issues of resilience and urban sustainability. Facing the crisis of modernity, how can art transform the city into a space of imagination, poetry, and attention to life in all its forms?
The goal was to solidly anchor culture within the city through friendly interaction and shared experiences with the local residents. This was achieved by introducing local cultural and ecological operators such as Asia Minor Association, Eleusis Archaeological Authority, Ecoeleusis, Permaculture Greece, Municipal Gardens etc. to the Academy’s participants through a bike tour, a common dinner together with the local residents of Synikismos neighbourhoud, an open air screening of the documentary “Mourning Rock” in Synikismos and an installation based on permaculture that was left to be maintained by the local community.
Nature Addicts! Fund was founded in 2011 by Bertrand Jacoberger with the objective of supporting artists and arts organizations concerned with environmental and sustainability issues. The mobile academies hosted by NA Fund aim to bring together emerging artists and researchers from all forms of expression to debate, learn from each other and allow new creative impetus to emerge. The traveling format serves as a source of inspiration as each country, each artistic community has its own unique outlook on the world, influenced by its geographic, political, economic and social situation.
The artistic vision for the Eleusis 2021 European Capital of Culture programme, entitled ‘Transition to Euphoria’, addresses the contribution of art to building a sustainable future. It attempts to answer the question: “What would a city be like if art and culture were at the heart of both its social and economic development?” Over the next five years, Nature Addicts! Fund will support the city’s project, from research and elaboration phases to the artistic programming in 2021.
Participants: Doğukan Çakar, Görkem Gökbulut, Anna Housiada, Mehmet Kadir Arici, Onur Köksal, Maria Lympoura, Andreas Papamichael, Paola Pasquaretta, Nadia Pugliese, Fabio Roncato, Radoil Serafimov, Chiara Sgaramella Silvia Rossi, Dimitar Solakov, Samuil Stoyanov, Konstantin Zlatarov
Contributors to the programme: Nicholas Anastasopoulos, Astarti Athanasiadou,, Alexandros Mistritotis, Kalliopi Papaggeli, Elena Symeonidou
