NEWS
Art and climate took Portuguese to Iceland
Published on the 8th of February, 2017
Under the Bilateral Initiatives Program of the EEA Grants, linked to the Clima@EduMedia project, pupils and teachers from Portugal and Iceland, worked as a team in a creative strategy to raise awareness.
Let's imagine we enter a museum and see a box full of ice melting. At least, it calls our attention. Even if it is just for curiosity. We approach and see a room where one can come in and do something, play an active role. In the reality, the situation is similar - ice melts at the poles due to climate change and we can take measures to at least don’t turn it worst.
With this idea in mind, an investigator and a student of the Masters in Multimedia of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) were in Iceland between January 30th and February 5th to put into practice an artistic installation.
Together with the Icelandic students Curver Thoroddsen and Sigríður Liv Ellingsen and Professor Ásthildur Björg Jónsdóttir, who had already been in Portugal in December, they took to the Arts Museum, in Reykjavik the interactive installation "Counteract: Systems of Awareness”.
The contributions of the younger were the starting point. Before the exhibition, the team visited the International School of Reykjavik, where various activities were developed with 26 Icelandic and foreign children of the 6th grade.
In the form of text, poem, drawing or comic strip, the students left their message on climate change warning to the importance of the theme.
In the end, "we invited children to sow a plant in a container made with the card reused from a roll of toilet paper and paint the tree they thought would grow from that seed," says Raquel Correia.
Seeing, interacting and participating in a "zone of awareness"
From school to exhibition, visitors were able to see the drawings and messages left by the younger and add their own contribution in a room called "awareness zone".
"People could see the videos, children's drawings, plants and organic materials displayed, and make drawings themselves, write their ideas about what they had seen, or sow a plant they could take home " describes César Rodrigues.
The artistic installation was available in the museum on February 3rd and 4th and had large attendance. On the 4th, there was even a concert where a musical composition based on the sounds of the Arctic complemented the visual experience of the "mini-glacier".
To Raquel Correia, the evaluation could not be more positive, in an experience that she described as "enriching". "We were surprised by the result and the commitment of the children who expressed, in different ways, very creative ideas," she said.
On the other hand, César Rodrigues, a researcher with experience in the field of arts and design highlights how "people interacted with natural materials such as ice, plants and seeds that they could sow", rather than with the informative contents. The elements of nature served to awake interest in the subject. "We had a lot of people using the exhibition space to discuss with us the issues we were addressing," he says.
The purpose of this working group formed under the Bilateral Initiatives Program of the EEA Grants is to continue the project. The students promise to present soon a similar project in Portugal.
The program of this initiative is intended to strengthen bilateral relations between beneficiary and donor countries organizations.
See the photo album of the artistic installation
With this idea in mind, an investigator and a student of the Masters in Multimedia of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) were in Iceland between January 30th and February 5th to put into practice an artistic installation.
Together with the Icelandic students Curver Thoroddsen and Sigríður Liv Ellingsen and Professor Ásthildur Björg Jónsdóttir, who had already been in Portugal in December, they took to the Arts Museum, in Reykjavik the interactive installation "Counteract: Systems of Awareness”.
The contributions of the younger were the starting point. Before the exhibition, the team visited the International School of Reykjavik, where various activities were developed with 26 Icelandic and foreign children of the 6th grade.
In the form of text, poem, drawing or comic strip, the students left their message on climate change warning to the importance of the theme.
In the end, "we invited children to sow a plant in a container made with the card reused from a roll of toilet paper and paint the tree they thought would grow from that seed," says Raquel Correia.
Seeing, interacting and participating in a "zone of awareness"
From school to exhibition, visitors were able to see the drawings and messages left by the younger and add their own contribution in a room called "awareness zone".
"People could see the videos, children's drawings, plants and organic materials displayed, and make drawings themselves, write their ideas about what they had seen, or sow a plant they could take home " describes César Rodrigues.
The artistic installation was available in the museum on February 3rd and 4th and had large attendance. On the 4th, there was even a concert where a musical composition based on the sounds of the Arctic complemented the visual experience of the "mini-glacier".
To Raquel Correia, the evaluation could not be more positive, in an experience that she described as "enriching". "We were surprised by the result and the commitment of the children who expressed, in different ways, very creative ideas," she said.
On the other hand, César Rodrigues, a researcher with experience in the field of arts and design highlights how "people interacted with natural materials such as ice, plants and seeds that they could sow", rather than with the informative contents. The elements of nature served to awake interest in the subject. "We had a lot of people using the exhibition space to discuss with us the issues we were addressing," he says.
The purpose of this working group formed under the Bilateral Initiatives Program of the EEA Grants is to continue the project. The students promise to present soon a similar project in Portugal.
The program of this initiative is intended to strengthen bilateral relations between beneficiary and donor countries organizations.
See the photo album of the artistic installation
By: Renata Silva