ArtMill is a center for creative sustainability located in the southwest of Czech Republic.
The organization is focused on promoting the creation of Art that encourages social change.
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I am proud to showcase our team's dedication to sustainability and regenerative practices through our two most significant projects to date. Our Table and Territory initiative boldly challenged traditional notions of urban design and community building, placing a premium on regenerative practices and the creation of vibrant, sustainable spaces that promote well-being and harmony with the environment.
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Additionally, our study abroad program with the University of California serves as a testament to our team's unwavering commitment to fostering cross-cultural understanding and promoting sustainable practices through experiential learning opportunities. Through these initiatives, we have harnessed the power of art and design to create positive change, inspiring individuals and communities to thrive in harmony with the natural world.
TABLE AND TERRITORY
La Table et le Territoire” - an unprecedented program of European cooperation from the
Laboratory of Sustainable Culture. The Laboratory of Sustainable Culture is a collective exploration program of the major issues of sustainability and adaptation to climate change of contemporary societies through arts, humanities and citizen participation, initiated in 2015 by the association COAL Art and sustainable development and the LADYSS-CNRS in collaboration with about twenty artists, scientists and citizen initiatives.
My Role
As Co-Curator and Designer for the international exhibition (Creative Europe project) at ArtMill Center for Sustainable Creativity in rural SW Bohemia. My role included creating design web content, invitations, and social media images for the event. Videos and images had to be high quality for publication and distribution. As
co-curator, I helped select, promote, produce, ship, install, and document the exhibition of artists for Table et Territoire, our farm-to-table project and exhibit.
Furthermore, during the weekend of the festival, I assisted with online media content, live streams, and media documentation of the pan-european event.
Invitation
For the invitation, I drew upon my passion for sustainable food practices to create a striking photo collage that envisions the transformative potential of decentralized food transportation within small communities. By showcasing this alternative approach, I aimed to challenge conventional assumptions about our current food systems and spark a dialogue about more regenerative approaches that promote health, equity, and environmental stewardship.
Exhibition
Czech Republic was under lockdown restrictions due to Covid-19 at the time this exhibition was scheduled to occur.
Our team quickly pivoted our focus and created a virtual gallery experience for people to view while safely at home.
Since the end of the Soviet state in Czechoslovakia, small, local markets began to disappear across the country as globalized, corporate super markets moved in. The major cities like Prague reinstated Farmer’s Markets following a pan-European trend to more sustainable/local food consumption. These markets had not yet come to the rural regions of the country as much. We worked with our local towns of Horaždovice, Sušice, and Nalžovské Horý to begin this project. It included performative and visual artworks and crafts as well as food.
Interviews with local farmers were conducted by artists, who documented their stories from the Bolshevik past until today’s challenges with the agricultural laws in the EU. These stories and impressions were exhibited at ArtMill’s Barn Gallery in late August, 2020.
An Exhibition/Performance/Workshop was held by invited Czech and foreign artists responding to the theme of Sustainable Farming and Territory.
A Farm-to-Table meal was spread across the hill at ArtMill, overlooking the lake, an outdoor banquet created and directed by artists for the local public and government officials from Prague and the EU, as well as our other Creative Europe Table et Territoire partners, to demonstrate the feasibility, social and economic benefits of locally produced food in a beautiful space and encourage local farmers to remain steadfast in their commitment to Organic farming .
Study Abroad Program
In this immersive studio art class, students created site-responsive sculptures, drawings, performances, and installations that explored art in a global context. Using the rich history and culture of Central Europe as a site and locale, the class traveled to contemporary art museums, cultural, and historical sites in Prague and Berlin for one week. They then created responsive artworks on-site at ArtMill’s Center for Sustainability, in the Bohemian countryside, Czech Republic for two weeks. Studio assignments, lectures, conceptual, fabrication practices, and critique were led by UCSC Professor Dee Hibbert-Jones; artist and writer Barbara Benish, Director of ArtMill, as well as visiting faculty and professional artists from the Czech Republic.
The students created original artworks that explored the complex relationship between object-making, place-making, aesthetics, and cultural identity in a global context through four themed projects with a strong emphasis on art and sustainability. Working with found objects on-site, performance, photography, and new media, students created site-responsive work. There was a final exhibition on-site that was open to the public.
As an employee of Artmill, I was proud to be part of a team dedicated to creating a study abroad program focused on regenerative practices in art.
Our goal was to provide students with inspiring and productive spaces for their creativity to thrive. We carefully curated tools and areas to enable them to turn their ideas into reality and expand on their vision. Our team was committed to helping students develop their artistic skills and foster their passion for sustainability through art.
