In America it is a very common practice to affix plywood to doors or windows in order to protect one’s home or business from protests or weather events. The Worthless studio decided to collect all the plywood around and hold a competition between artists and designers.
The chosen works were installed in all 5 neighborhoods of the city, the project is titled “Plywood Protection”. An initiative to encourage artists to engage with their communities but also to reuse the materials and turn them into something that tells the story of the city.
“Tell a writer to create without a page. try making a movie without a camera. to take away our stages is to take away our art. i wanted to create work that would capture and reflect on how that affects artists.”
Tony Dibernardo decided to recreate a stage. During this year the closure of museums, theaters and not only has been felt, the artist in his small way wanted to give anyone the opportunity to perform outdoors, giving us back moments of normalcy.
Tanda Francis, gave birth to “Rockit black”, a small sculpture to undo the stigma of blackness. The African-American artist has chosen this important theme not by chance. In the year in which in America the protests of the Black lives matter movement and not only, have been very strong, her goal is to overcome all cultural barriers with her art.
Studio Behin also did not want to forget the turmoil of the last period, inspiring its installation to the latest events. From plywood they managed to create a huge large-scale megaphone. The work is located in a public square near courts and federal buildings and aims to elicit a reaction of hope and optimism.
KaN+mardok, on the other hand, cut out all the plywood available to recreate figures intent on protesting. Once cut out the figures were applied to collages in order to make the work more realistic. This work will be exhibited in a group exhibition organized by the Black Lives Matter movement.
The latest installation is by Michael Zelehoski, an artist who likes to reinterpret elements of the past and transform them into something current. His new installation entitled “Miguelito”, takes inspiration from the ancient Egyptian obelisks.
A unique initiative that has not only helped to recover a large amount of material that would have been thrown away, but above all because the artists have made the city even more special with their creations.
