RECYCLE ART: OUR 'DAM CARPET' PROJECT REPAINTED TO SERVE AS GIANT BANNER FOR BLACK LIVES MATTER DEMO AT THE NELSON MANDELA PARK IN AMSTERDAM
RECYCLE ART
OUR 'DAM CARPET' PROJECT REPAINTED TO SERVE AS GIANT BANNER FOR BLACK LIVES MATTER DEMO AT THE NELSON MANDELA PARK IN AMSTERDAM
Originally a season’s greetings, a friendly statement for an inclusive city. Handmade by old and new Amsterdammers between Christmas and New Year’s, and celebrated on Dam Square. Less than three months later the city, the country, the world closed down. Fast forward another three months: once again we gathered at Dam Square. Peaceful, but in protest. At the black lives matter protest in the Nelson Mandelapark, the carpet received an extra layer in many senses. Truly a magic carpet.
Originally a season’s greetings, a friendly statement for an inclusive city. Handmade by old and new Amsterdammers between Christmas and New Year’s, and celebrated on Dam Square. Less than three months later the city, the country, the world closed down. Fast forward another three months: once again we gathered at Dam Square. Peaceful, but in protest. At the black lives matter protest in the Nelson Mandelapark, the carpet received an extra layer in many senses. Truly a magic carpet.
HELP THE COMMUNITY OF VILA CRUZEIRO CREATE THE WORLDS' MOST AMAZING MOSAIC!
LET'S CREATE THE WORLDS' MOST AMAZING MOSAIC TOGETHER!
CHECK OUT THE STORY IN THIS VIDEO:
SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?
To recreate the whole painting Rio Cruzeiro in Mosaic! Stone by stone, to ensure the amazing design by master tattooist Rob Admiraal will survive – and look better than ever.
A group of women from the community teamed up with the amazing Cosmonautos Mosaicos to become skilled experts in the art of Mosaic. One part at a time, they trace the lines of the old painting on paper, which they take to the Favela Mosaico Workshop – right on the same street in Vila Cruzeiro – where they lay the tiles to recreate the artwork by Master Tattooist Rob Admiraal.
Together with guys from the Favela Painting crew they bring the tiled pieces back out on the street, position them, glue everything to the concrete and finally add grout to fixate the artwork for ever.
At the same time, a crew of local masons, are adding stucco and tiles to the surrounding buildings, to create an artwork that involves the entire street.
Ultimately, Rua Santa Helena – the very same street where in 2005 the idea for the Favela Painting project was born – will become one of the most wondrous places in the world. A dedication to collaboration, creativity and togetherness. What was once said by the painters, more than ten years ago: ‘one day i will show my grandson what we did when he was young’ will finally become true.
Money raised for this project is used solely for the project itself. No overhead, no costs, every penny goes to Rio. The whole team is local, which means from the communbity itself, including team leaders and project managers. They are supported by United Painting through social media, picture, facetime etcetera. Some technical guidance and quality control is done by the Cosmonautos Mosaicos, who are Rio-based.
WE ARE HERE: HOW A HUNDRED TOTE BAGS HELP GIVE A FACE TO THE UNSEEN
WE ARE HERE
HOW A HUNDRED TOTE BAGS HELP GIVE A FACE TO THE UNSEEN
Over the last few months, we’ve spent more time at our studio and started working on our own merchandise line of one-off customised and hand-painted United Painting gear. More of this at our shop! This experimenting with tote bags and left-over paint and stencils taught us a lot about customising all kind of products.
The book ‘De Goede Immigrant’ is the dutch version of the American book ‘The Good Immigrant’, which is a collection of essays by first and second-generation immigrants, exploring what it’s like to be othered in a divided American society. We felt that these bags should also have a story and should represent what the book stands for. Therefore we choose to work together with the Mandela Kids, to tell their story and to have them earn something by making these tote bags.
So when the ladies from the Dipsaus podcast asked us whether we knew someone that could help them make over a 100 tote bags with an image of the book cover on it, we decided to help them out with our newly learned expertise and our friends over at ‘We Are Here’. Instead of having all the bags silkscreened at a silkscreen studio, we suggested to paint the bags by hand together with the Mandela Kids. The Mandela Kids are undocumented youngsters that are closely connected with ‘We Are Here’ and currently have their shelter at the ‘Ceuvel’ in the north of Amsterdam.
interview
GET TOGETHER AND PAINT! STUDENTS AND NEWCOMERS CREATED TWO STUNNING CARPETS TOGETHER AT A UNITED PAINTING ACADEMY WORKSHOP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LAW IN FLORENCE
GET TOGETHER AND PAINT!
STUDENTS AND NEWCOMERS CREATED TWO STUNNING CARPETS TOGETHER AT AN UNITED PAINTING ACADEMY WORKSHOP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LAW IN FLORENCE
In November 2019 United Painting was invited to the University of Florence to perform a creative intervention. With approximately 60.000 students, the University of Florence is one of the oldest and biggest universities in Italy, a quite conservative institution in a traditional city with a right wing leaning political climate. The request was to create an art project that would stimulate the student’s perception of society outside the safety of the university walls.
This creative intervention consisted of the co-creation of a colorful carpet at the piazza surrounding the university buildings. In collaboration with Il Cenacolo, a local organization focusing on guiding newcomers, we found a group of youngsters who were eager to participate. On the first day, all participants received instructions including the message that everyone involved was not just supposed to execute, but also co-create.
On the second day, the participants had built enough confidence to actively involve passersby; to answer their questions and to invite them to take part and to pass on their newly acquired knowledge. Once finished, the welcome carpet had somehow turned into a magical carpet, attracting all kinds of users: playing children, people engaging in conversations with strangers. It became a pop up communal space, an example of instant placemaking.
By working with predesigned stencils and patterns, the shared ownership of the project was placed firmly in the hands of all who took part. After a brief introduction, participants were able to make their own decisions during the creative process, a conscious effort towards inclusivity and true co-creation; the outcome being an artwork with substantial visual and social impact.
Dr. Paola Pannia (post-doc research Fellow, consultant to UNHCR and NGO ‘Defense for Children’ and lawyer):
‘As researchers, we often struggle to communicate the outcome of our studies to a broader audience, in a straightforward and efficient way. Working with United Painting meant for us reaching this crucial goal. They managed to involve students, academics and random people passing by the university campus in a spectacular art performance which saw also the participation of young refugees as co-protagonists. The result was a spontaneous, genuine and creative exercise of cooperation, I would say a wonderful art craft in itself’.
FAVELA PLASTER PROJECT - HOW PIGMENT AND TILES REPLACES PAINT TO ENSURE MORE DURABILITY
FAVELA PAINTING
FAVELA PLASTER PROJECT - HOW PIGMENT AND TILES REPLACES PAINT TO ENSURE MORE DURABILITY
Rua Santa Helena is a street in Vila Cruzeiro, one of the many favelas in Rio de Janeiro. In 2008 Favela Painting completed a giant painting of Koi carp swimming upstream on this street and named the project Rio (‘river’) Cruzeiro. The design was made together with Amsterdam based tattoo-artist Rob Admiraal. After almost a decade since its realisation, time has taken its toll on the painting. Due to sunlight, rainfall and playing children who use the steep hillsides to play slide, in some parts the paint has almost completely faded.
It became obvious that the artwork needed some serious restoration. To repaint it however – would only recreate the same problem in the future. Together with the community, it was decided to use a more sustainable solution and recreate the entire painting as a gigantic mosaic. Favela Painting teamed up with a local organisation, Cosmonauta Mosaicos, who are specialised in urban interventions with mosaics. A crew of local women have been trained in the technique of mosaics and have started the immense task of recreating the faded artwork.
The brick houses alongside the artwork on Rua Santa Helena are also receiving a transformation. Starting from the street level entrance of Rua Santa Helena reaching all the way to the top of the hill. A combination of pigmented lime stucco and contrasting tiles creates a sustainable, long lasting layer.The playful design follows the existing architecture while creating an enveloping effect, visually connecting all the houses together. The owners pick the colours for their own property.
For this extensive task, we assembled a crew of local masons. We found a Brazilian architect who specializes in restoration, preparing and applying lime stucco, to instruct them. The crew delivers high quality craftsmanship with a keen eye for detail. Neighbourhood youth, contracted as apprentices, were trained by the more experienced crewmembers. Other locals were trained in general production to organize and run the project in a flexible and autonomous fashion. Close contact with the Favela Painting HQ in the Netherlands is kept for designs and logistics. Furthermore, one of the neighbours cooks lunch for the whole crew every day they work.
Ironically, Favela Painting is not using paint for the Santa Helena Project. For this specific assignment, we came to the realisation that we had to start using more sustainable materials. In cooperation with local experts and architects we developed a new workflow, using pigmented lime stucco and tiles. These materials are common and locally available. Not only will the new exteriors of the houses last much longer, the homes themselves were improved beforehand. Defective walls were repaired and messy electricity lines were cleaned up.
Producing lime is much cleaner than regular cement and most of the CO2 released during the manufacturing process of lime is re-absorbed during the lifetime of the lime stucco. It is therefore close to carbon neutral. It is permeable, flexible and workable. Ideal for Rio de Janeiro’s weather conditions.
SANTA HELENA IS AN ONGOING PROJECT AND FAVELA PAINTING IS CONTINUOUSLY LOOKING FOR PARTNERSHIPS AND FUNDING TO COMPLETE THE ENTIRE MOSAIC AND THE SURROUNDING HOUSES.