20 Apr 2009

Green Island. Portable Gardens - a project by aMAZElab

GREEN ISLAND. PORTABLE GARDENS

A project by: aMAZElab, Milan
Artistic Direction: Claudia Zanfi

In collaboration with: Green and Urban Decor Section, Milan Municipality; Cultural Department Province of Milan; Museo Alessi; Centostazioni; Austrian Forum, Milan; Lab Arti Bovisa; Giardino degli Aromi + Geboing + VerdiSegni, Milan; 'Green Archive' by Lois & Franziska Weinberger, Wien.

1) FUORI SALONE:
22nd April 2009: cultural events at 'Fuori Salone', Milano

As part of Fuori Salone (21-27 Aprile 2009), aMAZElab proposes the 7th edition of the event GREEN ISLAND, dedicated to urban green, territory and sustainability.

The edition '09 is dedicated to the artists Lois & Franziska Weinberger (Wien Austria). It is the first public art project in Milano conceived by the two artists, who participated at Catherine David's Documenta X, also protagonists of the Austrian Pavilion in the next Venice Biennial.

The project includes two moments: a selection of plants and seeds from their ARCHIVE OF MEMORY dedicated to arboreal essences in danger of dying out and mainly coming from Eastern Europe. The project will be presented in Milano Isola Area, an area undergoing huge transformations and still lacking a public garden.

The people of the area will be involved in the realization of a Green Archive by local workshops developed in collaboration with eco-associations, agronomists and gardeners such as: 'Giardino degli Aromi', 'Geboing' and 'Verdisegni'.

The participative aspect of the 'traditional' gesture of seeding and its symbolic meaning of representing the 'cultural biodiversities' existing in the Milanese area, became the symbol of multiplicity of identities.

On this occasion the development of the project in the Isola Area will be: large billboards on the Via Pepe railway wall; exhibition of 'portable gardens'; opening and valorisation of artisans' laboratories, architecture and design studies; music from the local accordion school; a selection of the main Weinbergers' works, in particolar the 'outdoor' projects and projects in the public space: Empty Garden, Portable Gardens, Abandoned Gardens and so on.

2) PUBLIC DESIGN FESTIVAL
ESTERNI in via Savona, 23rd-24th April

Green Island. Portable Gardens is one of the project invited by the collective group ESTERNI at the 'Public Design Festival' in via Savona free parking arenas. A reflection about public space and its use; daily workshops on the concept of urban green (www.esterni.org)

3) InContemporanea '09 . The Art Network.
TRIENNALE DI MILANO, 8-9-10 May

The project PORTABLE GARDENS will be presented as part of Contemporary Art Festival InContemporanea '09 at Triennale Museum in Milano, with a remarkable exhibition of 'Portable Gardens'; the new work 'Making Faces' realized for the occasion by Lois Weinberger; and for the first time in Italy the screening of the video 'Datura Stramonium'. (www.incontemporanea.it)


Weinberger CV: Internationally renowned, Lois & Franziska Weinberger have played a key role in the new debate about the relationship between art and nature since the 1990s. Having committed for a long time to the sensitization and development of projects about green and sustainability, they are now putting together from Eastern Europe an archive of over 600 arboreal essences in danger of dying out. At the heart of Lois and Franziska Weinberger's work lies the idea of a garden as a 'temporary perfect territory' in borderline areas. They concentrate their attention on biodiversity and interaction amongst the enchaining forces of cultural growth and nature. In their images, texts, objects, slides, video installations and site-specific works, the Weinbergers create a universe which is incidental and poetical at the same time. Exhibitions and projects of theirs take place in the most important museums and institutions in the world.