Resources at hand
Art and nature in Ur mara Museum
Ur mara museum is a unique and experimental space where art and nature merge together naturally.
Its name comes from the expression in Basque Ur (water) and from the continuous caressing movement of this element "mara mara", something that advances slowly. it is a place that is specially appropriate to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city life.
The space, next to the town of Alkiza, covers 11 hectares of woodland, basically oak, beech, ash, fern, where there is a great diversity of activities, totally free. As the promoter, Koldobika Jauregi, indicates culture must be a good that is accessible to all people.
Exhibitions, creative workshops, corporate art ...are carried out with one common goal: to promote the preservation of the environment, its sustainable transformation and the management of the territory, as well as promoting intellectual and creative activity and critical thought.
Prepare data sheets of birds in Alkiza and link them to old refrains, build scarecrows with the aim of protecting the crop form birds, learn to make cider starting by collecting apples, make hangings with recycled clothes, kaleidoscopes, etc. are only some examples of all the activities that can be done in Ur mara.
When coming to visit this new space you should leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind and emerge yourself in nature.
Ur mara Museum
Address: Garmendi-Azpi Baserria, Azaldegi 9. 20494 ALKIZA
Tel.: 943 694 210 - urmara.alkiza@gmail.com
www.urmara.com
Videos
The harmony of the rubbish dump
'Landfill harmonic - The harmony of the rubbish dump' is a documentary directed by the North American Graham Townsley who, in just twelve minutes, narrates the story of the Orchestra of Recycled Instruments of Cateura, one of the largest landfills in Paraguay. Since 2006 not only does it accumulate rubbish but it furnishes a group of needy young people and children with waste materials which they use to make musical instruments, enabling them to study music and give concerts. Founded by Favio Chaves, environmental engineer and amateur musician, the orchestra has changed the life of many families and has grown, reaching international notoriety and touring the stages of different countries in the world.
The video, uploaded on Youtube, has had more than 400,000 visits and in just over a week the orchestra received more than 19,000 electronic messages, one even from the Symphonic Orchestra of London inviting them to come and visit, as well as from people who want to donate instruments.
Sustainable energy through verse
This 3-minute video shows the work of students participating in the sixth encounters on sustainable energy organised by Tolosako Ingurumen Zentroa. It shows how any artistic expression, in this case bertsolarismo (spontaneous verse) can serve as a suitable means to tackle themes related to the conservation of the environment. This initiative represents a point of encounter and reflection among students in schools in different towns in Tolosaldea in which each group presents the task undertaken.
"Sense and sustainability": Ephemeral art, on Laga beach
Video from Basque Television on the presentation of "Sense and sustainability": Ephemeral art, on Laga beach (Urdaibai). Framed within the initiative ''2012 Euskadi, Year of Cultures for Peace and Liberty', the aim of this project is to make art accessible and close to all people and promote culture as a need.
Laga beach was the scenario of the first pieces of 'Sense and sustainability'. The work of ephemeral art corresponds to the prestigious Swiss artist Gunilla Kinberg and consisted of numerous stars drawn on the sand.
The artists who worked on the project had previously studied the physical and social environment of Urdaibai to produce a community of experiences to promote dialogue through the re-encounter of the individual with his more human nature.
THE PAPER SUTFF. ARTE Y SOSTENIBILIDAD
Expo RETHINK - Contemporary Art and Climate Change
Books
"Recicla tu cocina"
180 kilos per person per year. This is the quantity of foodstuff that we throw away before eating it. With all the food that is wasted it would be possible to feed, several times, the thousand million people who go hungry in the world.
Commencing with these words, the recipe book contains various original and imaginative dishes prepared with leftovers to encourage, primarily, responsible consumption. It highlights the importance of commencing recycling in the kitchen at the moment when it comes to shopping for products. Several tips precede various recipes that will help us to reuse those remains of food that we usually throw away. Potato croquettes Rioja style, recycling roast lamb, American cream, vegetable risotto or fruit pudding are some of the ideas you can find in this recipe book, available in Spanish and Basque.
Recetas para aprovechar y que te aproveche
Here you have another recipe book based on kitchen leftovers, also in Spanish and Basque, in this case prepared by the School of Catering and Tourism of Artxanda.
TEACHING MATERIAL
Your waste holds a lot of life, recycle it
The Environmental Resources Centre of Navarra, CRANA, offers education centres numerous teaching materials to tackle different points of view regarding the culture of sustainability. On this occasion we present a touring exhibition aimed at Primary and Secondary Education students with which it is hoped to raise awareness, involve and implicate citizens in waste prevention and recycling. Available in Spanish and Basque, the sample consists of nine explanatory panels and a central piece giving information on the kinds of waste, their origin and the benefits of adequate management. Likewise, it is divided into four large theme areas to facilitate comprehension: trees, different waste generated in the city, containers for recycling and a large puzzle.
other interesting things
Industry as a sustainability factor in Contemporary Art. Luis Badosa Conill
Article by Luis Badosa Conill in Fabrikart, an interdisciplinary annual publication which brings together ideas, concepts and iconography of industrial, mechanistic, technological and spatial fields in relation to Plastic Arts. Fabrikart aims to publicise the research works of well-known personalities as well as the most recent publications, events and news that contribute to the recognition and appreciation of technological and industrial culture in present day society.
The article by Badosa Conill reveals that industry has had a negative image in terms of being assumed as a place of exploitation and of dire sanitation conditions and environmental contamination. New values are gradually being rediscovered that contribute to uplifting industry. Contemporary art itself is now at a time when industry aligns with it to facilitate creative work fundamentally on the basis of its ample spaces, new materials, adequate systems of mass production, competitive markets in a world sphere and new technologies with which to experiment.
Websites
Arte Sostenible
"Arte Sostenible" (Sustainable Art) is a non-profit association created in 2008 by a group of professionals in the field of art and culture, conscious of the environmental and social degradation of our environment. Convinced that art, understood in a context of sustainability, may contribute to achieving better communication among people and having the potential of transforming everyday life, they work in various projects with artists committed to sustainable development and on proposals which attempt to provoke cultural reflection on the meaning of nature and its relation with human beings.
In their website you can find all the projects in which they participate, training courses, workshops, etc.
Cultura21
Cultura21 was founded in 2005 in Germany by Davide Brocchi. It is a platform which serves as a base for cultural promotion and evolution of societies and styles of life, with the aim of contributing to sustainability through a close relation between social justice, peace, democracy, self-determination and ecology. Its aim is to contribute to a more sustainable society by means of art, education and communication. In addition, it seeks the promotion of cultural diversity by working with different cultures whose influence differs from the dominant American culture. It also offers opportunities for artists to create social, artistic sculpture and imaginary spaces or to develop socio-artistic interventions.
At the present time the network has members in Germany, Chile, Denmark, the United States of America, France, England, Italy, Mexico and South Africa who exchange inspiring information and ideas, and jointly organise activities.