bio pigments atelier
Basic information
Project Title
bio pigments atelier
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
The contemporary art world finds itself in a strange situation nowadays. On one hand, contemporary art stands for the new; on the other, it’s become an old and saturated place. Galleries aren’t investing in the sustainable creation of art or motivating the artists to push in this direction. My project bio pigments atelier aims to change this paradigm. Bio pigments atelier is a project that revolves around creating your own paints and a collection of paintings with micro-algae pigments.
Geographical Scope
National
Project Region
Belgium
Urban or rural issues
Mainly urban
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
With bio pigments atelier I am trying to achieve a change of perspective to a wider audience through art. My paintings are made through one hundred percent regenerative ways of creation. They are made up of micro-algae pigments and two distinct techniques, I am in the process of researching other techniques for creating paintings as well. The purpose of the project was to create sustainable and conscious contemporary art contrary to what is being made and shown in contemporary galleries now. I believe that the art world shouldn't be excluded from making things in relation to the problems that the planet faces, everyone should be playing their part in helping the change towards a healthier environment and climate. That is why I want to create art that is regenerative and talk about this issue. The target group at first will be people who are involved in art so gallerists, and visitors 'direct approach' and then through social media as well. The first contacts will then introduce it to a wider audience; that way, I hope to spark the change. It will start locally because I do not have the resources and contacts to work on this internationally, this is the perk of introducing sustainable creation of art to your local environment and your environment can become renowned for that. which in turn will boost the opportunities for other young creatives. Galleries are not only for art anymore they have become a place where people with wealth meet and create contacts, art is a way for people to establish themselves in a certain environment. I find this a pity because art should be a way of talking to these people of wealth and trying to convince them about the problems we face. Art does have the power to move people emotionally, if people of a certain important standing can be influenced toward change in a positive way for the planet then in turn they will definitely have an impact on others as well.
Key objectives for sustainability
I think the key objective for my project is creating paintings that are regenerative and that are ecologically responsible. The regenerative creation is something that compromises different aspects these being organic materials that can be regenerated, local sourcing of materials, and then no processing of materials to create the paintings. I did a lot of research on how to achieve this and succeeded in making my paintings regenerative, all the materials I use are from an organic base, the materials are sourced in Europe and Belgium and my paintings do not require any industrial processing you can perfectly make everything yourself with simple household tools. These aspects reduce the CO2 footprint of my paintings significantly compared to conventional paintings when using acrylics or oil paints. Both techniques require industrial processing nowadays and come with a big toxic waste residue. They aren't sourced locally and aren't from organic sources. I made a LCA study on my materials and it shows that my paintings pollute a lot less. It is included in the research paper attached.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The key objective here was to create art with micro-algae. Making it aesthetically pleasing is quite hard, learning how to work with eco-responsible materials and in responsible ways doesn't match with aesthetically nice looking things because of the many factors that you have to consider. There are a lot of rules and complications that make it really hard to create things that you want. I think this is one of the strong points in my project, I succeded in making nice paintings through regenerative practice and making them so that people like them. The proof for me was that I organized an exhibition that got nice comments and people were quite impressed with the work, luckily People liked the paintings and decided to buy them as well. This for me was a sign that they were aesthetically pleasing even if I didn't really want them to look the way they came out. This comes to show that if more artists were doing things with sustainable materials we could catch the attention of a lot of people. In terms of getting them to invest in a more sustainable world.
Key objectives for inclusion
In terms of inclusion, the key objectives would be sourcing everything locally, no harm to the surroundings, learning the people how the work comes to be and motivating them to work with their hands and more sustainably, and it would be easy to give workshops on how to create things yourself. getting people in touch with new things is very important it is what makes people drive towards a goal or motivate them to start to do new things. I think art has the potential to move people to do great things and by getting them involved in the sustainable creation of art they can surely be motivated in making their own surroundings better.
How Citizens benefit
Citizens will surely benefit from this project. As the project reaches a larger scope a lot of people will be exposed to it. Galleries in term invite wealthier people to visit and people with a certain establishment, if these people start to make different choices their choices evidently will benefit a lot of citizens. This would be more of an indirect way that citizens benefit. More direct would be that they get involved with the project by visiting expositions learning about sustainable materials and opening up a world that hasn't really been shown to them. Art can have a very social character it has proven in the past and over time to be a catalyst of change and something that can move people to change. Society has to change and through art and citizens interacting with it, we can.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
When it comes to contemporary art there are a few ways in which art is made namely acrylic, oil paint, sculpture(wood, metals, stone), video, and photography. All of the current methods use finite sources and polluting materials. I use regenerative materials, making my art practice a renegrative way of creating pieces. Sourcing in EU countries also reduces the shoving of invisible problems onto third-world countries, these are acting as buffers for all of our production and toxic waste that is produced by making the products we use. In the old days, artists would make their own paints as well and regions would be distinguishable just by the way artists made their paints so in a way each region had its 'vernacular art'. This is a principle I strongly believe in and implement as something innovative. The innovative character of the project is translated by trying to do it differently than any other artist would do it, it is trying the hard way and pushing it. Trying to make people understand this innovative character is also a mission, I believe it is an integral part of innovation, people have to change their mindset and when confronted with innovation most will back off but with time they will learn to appreciate it.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
My project implements a lot of different fields namely: science, art, and design as the main ones. Science is an important part of my project because all of the techniques I develop are developed through research into scientific matter and a lot of chemistry. A lot of trial and error is part of the development of these techniques so it's not simply art as in painting and painting the research for a technique lasts quite a while and makes the main chunk of time consumption. design is also a field that is important because I need to think logically about how to approach the problems I face it is a lot of problem-solving which requires a state of mind you would use when working in design. History is very important because I look back quite a bit to see how things were done in times when we had fewer means of working on an industrial scale and I find a lot of answers there which is very fascinating.Art is the main field because I make art and zit is what com ines all the different fields and influences.
Methodology used
The first step was to get the idea which quickly came to me, I had the idea before starting the master and really wanted to work on this. After that, the question was how I can create a sus- tainable painting, so the research to find a suitable material began. Once I found the material, I started working out different techniques that I could use a making a selection of the ones that would work, to prevent excessive experimen- tation. I started experimenting and doing tests with the pigments until I was satisfied with the looks and feel and if the pigments reacted well by using these techniques.
I’d say the biggest “methodology” in my work is working spontaneously and that’s how I come on answers very often. Whenever I try to plan things too much, I just end up not following the planning and doing stuff in random order. Off course when I have to, I follow a methodology where I put deadlines for example when I have to write, because this is less spontaneous work than being in the studio and experimenting and following your instinct.
The main workflow I handled was first to research how they used to do it since we as humans tend to look for new things and new ways to create, but we used to work in balance with nature so I can find a lot of answers in the past. After this, I synthesized the techniques and tried them out with the pigments. Very quickly I realized there wasn’t a lot that would work out of the techniques so I kept to two or three to try to make these work the best as possible. In the end, I kept two techniques for the final pieces and tried to take them as far as possible with the time I had. Now the focus is on finding and reaching out to people and creating new techniques using the methodology I use. There are a lot of different things I want to test out and create.
I’d say the biggest “methodology” in my work is working spontaneously and that’s how I come on answers very often. Whenever I try to plan things too much, I just end up not following the planning and doing stuff in random order. Off course when I have to, I follow a methodology where I put deadlines for example when I have to write, because this is less spontaneous work than being in the studio and experimenting and following your instinct.
The main workflow I handled was first to research how they used to do it since we as humans tend to look for new things and new ways to create, but we used to work in balance with nature so I can find a lot of answers in the past. After this, I synthesized the techniques and tried them out with the pigments. Very quickly I realized there wasn’t a lot that would work out of the techniques so I kept to two or three to try to make these work the best as possible. In the end, I kept two techniques for the final pieces and tried to take them as far as possible with the time I had. Now the focus is on finding and reaching out to people and creating new techniques using the methodology I use. There are a lot of different things I want to test out and create.
How stakeholders are engaged
The climate is the main stakeholder in my project because I want to create art that doesn't harm it but can be created in harmony with it. Academics are stakeholders because my project involved quite a bit of research into other people's research and learning about techniques and more scientific sides of the project. Translating their findings into my own artistic language. The other stakeholders would be the producers and suppliers of materials whom I work with, I try to find people who are honest and believe in their mission. The micro-algae pigments are sourced through a German company that only works with producers of micro-algae in the EU mainly the Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy. they are very important because the production of micro-algae is very important in the shift to a green economy since they can be used in many different fields. The canvases I use are linen from Belgium the company's name is B&T Textilia they are an old familial company in Belgium trying to keep the textile industry that has been present for centuries alive here in Belgium through for example creating linen fabrics that are so emblematic of the Belgian weaving. My beeswax is sourced locally from Belgium as well. The only chemical compound that I have is turpentine which is also derived from organic matter namely pine resin is sourced mainly from Spain. I pay great attention to trying to source everything from Europe and not going out of these boundaries because I believe that we should try to reduce this worldwide traffic and supply chain that is polluting, the most possible.
Global challenges
Art connects people worldwide and by creating a hub here in Antwerp it makes it possible to bring attention to us through the new ways of making art. Europe has always been one of the most important players in the art world and still is because of the rich history we have. As we invented a lot of new things I think it is time for Europe to step up again and once again be a cradle of culture in this new emergence in sustainable ways of creating art. Local production will greatly benefit from this and a chain of new projects and ideas will be born thanks to a new wave of creatives that are to flourish. New materials and ways of production can be encouraged. I think design has already started this new wave of possibilities but art has to follow as well.
Learning transferred to other parties
A big part of the project is transferable or can be replicated, especially when discussing the methodology and techniques. The techniques form the base of my practice, this means that I can introduce others to them learning them in the ways of sustainable art creation. The methodology of working in the way I do is something that can be applied in a lot of different fields. My philosophy of making things yourself relies on the sources that are accessible to you and putting together a lot of different aspects of knowledge be it science, crafts, or design practices. The transferability of my project to someone else's ideologies is what makes the movement of sustainable art that strong the more we are to create the quicker we will come to solutions and be able to create even more varied works and provide solutions where scientists and more theoretical thinkers wouldn't be looking. That is the power of these kind of projects we can already see this in the design fields a large niche of designers exist now and they all influence each other in a positive way to make even more works and develop even better techniques that in turn can be turned in commercial ways of producing things.
Keywords
Regenerative
Organic
perspective changer
art
micro-algae
