Tilos Artist Residecy: The island that embraces sustainability
The successful Tilos Artist Residency program continues for the second consecutive year on the island of Tilos in the Dodecanese, Greece. For the 2023 edition of the program, Polygreen Culture & Art Initiative (PCAI) collaborates with the British Council in the framework of the Circular Cultures (Making Matters) program inviting British artists RESOLVE Collective. From October 23 to 31, the artist collective will be on the island to explore possible environmental solutions through the lens of artistic creativity and the means that art provides.
RESOLVE is an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology and art to address social challenges. They have delivered numerous projects, workshops, publications, and talks in the UK and across Europe, all of which look toward realizing just and equitable visions of change in our built environment.
The residency aims to explore how the principles of the circular economy can inspire creativity, collaboration and regenerative thinking in architecture, design crafts, materials and urban design. More specifically, during their residency, the artists will also have the opportunity to research further the circular economy program implemented on the island and discover more about its waste management and sorting system of the materials collected daily at the Tilos Centre for Circular Innovation. The collective, which will be represented in Tilos by Lauren-Loïs Duah, cross-disciplinary artist, writer and spatial-designer, and Melissa Haniff, co-director of the group, will also get in touch with the local community as well as the history, crafts and folklore traditions of the island. In collaboration with the Directorate of Primary Education of Dodecanese and the primary school of Tilos, the artists intend to create a community-based work of art that will be the outcome of their research, remaining on the island. A similar “footprint” was left by the first participants of the Tilos Artist Residency, Hypercomf and The New Raw, who created a series of artworks and design objects from recycled materials, a selection of which are currently on display in Tilos, at the Just Go Zero Tilos info point.
The Tilos Artist Residency is organized in the context of Polygreen’s collaboration with the Municipality of Tilos. Just Go Zero Tilos, an innovative environmental project, powered by Polygreen, was launched in 2022 on the island aiming to develop solutions that promote circular economy and sustainability, and made Tilos the first zero-waste island in Greece. The 2023 residency edition is supported by Onassis Stegi in the context of Circular Cultures (Making Matters).
