|
|
AHN NEWS: May 2004
This month's news is dedicated to RIVERS. We interview Shai Zakai about her eco-art project Concrete Creek and her founding of the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art. We review the book River of Words: Images and Poetry in Praise of Water. And we feature a link to SPARC, an organization reclaiming the Los Angeles River through mural painting.
|
|
|
|
AHN INTERVIEW:
Shai Zakai, eco-artist and founder of the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art
"For me, an eco-artist is comparable to a doctor practicing alternative medicine, who would never offer you a painkiller, but would examine the body as a whole." - Shai Zakai
Shai Zakai
|
AHN: How and when did you become involved in creating eco-art?
Zakai: In 1990 I built a mobile photography studio, and traveled through Israel to meet, discuss and photograph women in Israel. I believe it was my first (unconsciously done) eco-art project. In 1994 I moved to my new studio in a forest area, and became a green activist, establishing some ecological grassroots activity in the area. A few years later, my art life and my green activism life merged and I established the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art.
AHN: Please explain the difference between eco-art and environmental art?
Zakai: My colleagues have been debating definitions for eco-art for the lasts six years now. In short, I think some people relate to environmental art as being from the seventies where sometimes, for art's sake, artists caused damage or hurt the environment (see for instance Asphalt Rundown, 1969 or Glue Pour, 1970 by Robert Smithson). Or you relate to environmental art today as an umbrella term to include all art in nature, and then eco-art is a main branch. An eco-artist will investigate and react to an ecological/environmental issue as a starting point to his/her artwork. Also, some eco-artists create low impact art, that deals more with the process than with an object-product at the end of the process such as a sculpture. Eco-artists regularly work with ecologists, in interdisciplinary teams, and in reclamation projects, and many of them have environmental or ecological knowledge. Environmental art does not necessarily deal with those issues.
|
Concrete Creek by Shai Zakai
 |
AHN: Please tell me about one of your eco-art projects.
Zakai: The most well known is Concrete Creek 1999-2002 in Israel, designed to reclaim and purify a seasonal stream (Etziona Stream, Emek HaíEla) while simultaneously raising social awareness by making those working in the vicinity of the stream take part in the process of creation. The reclamation plan was conceived in collaboration with scientists and with the owner of the adjacent concrete factory. Cracks and holes were created in the concrete surface that block the stream-bed, allowing infiltration of rainwater into the ground, enriching underground water and weakening the concrete. Water-storing dents were created for birds. An inward process, infiltration into the ground, and an outward process, accumulation, take place at the same time. As time goes by the concrete surface will gradually break. It will be washed down the stream and transform into yet another rock.
After three years of working with the quarry and concrete factory employees, some of the works were installed, including a concrete table embedded with collected debris and a three-mile avenue of concrete flags flanking the stream, designating it Israel's first eco-tourist site. A set of actions and performances was launched, culminating in the stream's reclamation. The creative process was central in raising environmental awareness and increasing water flow through the language of art.
AHN: What inspired the founding of the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art?
Zakai: The success of the 1st International Art & Ecology Conference I initiated in 1999. The awareness of environmental problems in my area and in Israel. The indifference of artists in Israel to the state of environmental life and quality. And the understanding of a need to cultivate an interdisciplinary approach towards environmental issues.
|
|
|
AHN: How many artists are involved in the Forum?
Zakai: In the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art there are about 40 members, and we have about a 100 more as passive partners. But every event or exhibition we do is exposed to thousands of people in Israel and abroad. The eco-art movement in Israel is slowly growing and what is amazing is that the knowledge of its existence has spread so far. We have just started the first eco-art course in Israel, and there is a waiting list for the second one.
Concrete Creek Eco-art Project
 |
AHN: What kinds of projects are other Israeli eco-artists doing?
Zakai: Uri De-Beer has been working on building garbage gardens for the last five years. Avital Geva is working on the greenhouse education project of ecological cycles between fish, water and vegetation. Maya Shafir is working in phosphate mining reclamation. Lihi Talmor is investigating borders in many layers. Miki Brada is starting a new project in my course on re-use of air-conditioner water. Yael Froylich is dedicated to developing water-saving plants while creating ecological gardens. Udi Shafrir is now in a process of planning an ecological garden in an Arab school in Jerusalem. Ran Morin created an archeological garden in Jerusalem. And there are many more.
AHN: What is the Forum's focus right now?
Zakai: Creating the 1st international eco-art biennale in Israel in 2005, and contributing and influencing environmental policy in Israel, due to the latest government's decision to adopt a sustainable development policy.
|
AHN: How is the Forum's work impacted by the current violence in the Middle East? Does the Forum address the violence in their eco-art projects in any way?
Zakai: The Israeli Forum for Ecological Art is not a union. Artists are independent and able to react to anything they choose. There are works being created that deal with political issues, and there are works that escape from the situation into a fantasy world, and there are works that are suppressed by the situation. We live in a disturbed area in every meaning. I think we cannot address everything. We each need to decide whether our activism through art will be manifested directly, politically, environmentally, spiritually, locally, globally, etc. Violence unfortunately has become part of our everyday life and we address it every second of our lives not just in our art.
Concrete Creek years
after its installation
 |
AHN: What excites you most about the Forum at this time?
Zakai: The spirit of volunteers. Few, but wonderful people.
AHN: How does the Forum sustain its good work - creatively and financially?
Zakai: By hope, by being "crazy" on the missions we have put upon ourselves, by endless optimism in these hard times in Israel, and by uncompromised belief that eco-art is the right track.
Financially, the hard thing is that since there are no art funds in Israel, we try to find financial support for our forum among environmental funds, but they usually see art as an unnecessary discipline for environmental problem-solving and prefer to donate to the classical nature organizations. We definitely need help. I have worked on a volunteer basis for the last six years, working around the clock to do it all. All of us are working in several places to survive. It is a mission.
AHN: What do you feel is the role of art in today's society?
Zakai: To serve like a stream in society.
AHN: What advice do you have for others wishing to use the arts as a catalyst for positive change in the world?
Zakai:
1. To do it.
2. To believe (without doubts) in the individual's power to make a change.
3. To love.
For more information about Shai Zakai and the Israeli Forum for Ecological Art, please contact her at shai-stu@inter.net.il. Or write to Israeli Forum for Ecological Art, Lion, P.O.B 93, Code-99835, Israel. Or click here to visit her artist page at the greenmuseum.org
|
|
|
FEATURED BOOK
River of Words: Images and Poetry in Praise of Water
Edited by Pamela Michael with introductory essays by Robert Hass and Thacher Hurd
 River of Words began in 1995 as a poetry and art contest for children on the theme of watersheds. Its founders Bob Hass and Pamela Michael hoped "that focusing students' attention on their homegrounds would give them an informed understanding of place that would help them grow into engaged citizens." Today tens of thousands of children participate each year. The contest has inspired art exhibitions, creek clean-ups, poetry readings, award ceremonies, and celebrations. As Pamela Michael says in the introduction to this book, "Can there be any doubt that education is the key to sustainable living, tolerance, and cross-cultural understanding?"
The book itself is a treasure, featuring the colorful artwork and touching poems of the River of Words contest winners -- children aged 5 to 19 from all over the world. It is a testament to the innate creativity of children and the power of their voices.
Published in 2003 by Heyday, this softcover book has 77 pages of poems and colorful pictures and sells for $12.95. Click here to order through Amazon.com.
|
|
An Excerpt from River of Words: Images and Poetry in Praise of Water
I Am a River
 I am liquid glass sparkling
pure and innocent,
I am the great ear of the world,
I hear the hurt, anguish, love and hate
I spy on romantic couples,
eavesdrop on father-son conversations
I hear murders being plotted,
see drugs being sold
I witness the slaughter of unarmed creatures
people ask me for advice, wishing,
hoping I have answers
I have heard a million things and am still astonished
by what people have the gall to think of
or worse,
even do.
-Natalie Lasavanich, age 14, Thailand
(picture at right is "Watch, But Don't Touch" by Aya Rothwell, age 16, Atlanta, GA)
|
|
|
|
FEATURED LINK
SPARC - Social Public Art Resource Center
www.sparcmurals.org
 Founded in 1976, SPARC espouses public art as an organizing tool for addressing social issues, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and promoting civic dialogue. Over the last 25 years, they have created murals in almost every ethnic community in Los Angeles. One of their most impressive projects was the creation of the longest mural in the world along miles and miles of the Los Angeles River, encased in concrete by urban planners. This project catalyzed youth from diverse backgrounds in LA to paint the history of the area, beautifying this concrete watershed while building community. Learn more about it at www.sparcmurals.org.
|
|
 |
READERS RESPOND
Please send your thoughts and feedback on this month's news page to ahn@artheals.org. We would love to hear from you.
|
|
SIGN UP FOR THE ARTS AND HEALING NETWORK E-MAILING LIST
Become part of our e-mailing list and receive a monthly email with information about what's new at artheals.org. To join the e-mailing list, simply send an email to artheals- subscribe@topica.com or go to www.topica.com/lists/artheals/
|
|
AHN NEWS ARCHIVE
Missed a newsletter? Read past issues in the AHN News Archive.
^top |
|
