A journey in contemporary art
KIWI is about interactive and interdisciplinary actions involving image, movement and sound. It is organised as a series of workshops for children of various age and for adults. The workshops are run in English and Polish. However, KIWI can also speak French.
KIWI takes children for a trip throughout performance, animation, land art, as well as the new trends and movements in art. We also want to awaken children’s interest in the use of recycling in art. KIWI wants to explain the trendy notion of design, by stressing that everything around us has been designed. It takes a closer look at street art, to discuss its dual nature of art and vandalism. KIWI is a programme of educational, creative activities making children sensitive to the concepts and problems of modern art.
DESIGN
This workshop aims to teach the concept of design, i.e. to understand that everything around us has been designed. Every single object has its own history, the underlying idea and philosophy which makes it look a specific way. Children will be encouraged to express their personality by designing their own T‑shirt and a badge. They will thus become creators of their own image. The design workshop is about getting acquainted with Concept and Form and attempting to bring the two together so as to be able to clearly express one’s ideas.
ANIMATION
The workshop will start with the screening of a series of shorts (courts-metrages). A few words about the history of animation will follow. Children will create their own animated movie, using one of animating techniques. This workshop is first and foremost about having fun. It is an adventure in moving images and setting reality in motion with the power of imagination.
PERFORMANCE
The workshop is about familiarising children with the most influential performance artists and explaining such phenomena as performance, happening, Flash mob and intermedia art, in which all stimuli matter. We want to show how to make use of visual objects, movement, sound or even smell. Children will also try to express their thoughts or convey information through various means of expression, often combined.
We will encourage them to make their first performance or installation in which the means of expression is the subject rather than the object.
LAND ART
This notion refers to artistic activities involving natural open spaces, the natural environment. Such activities often interfere with the landscape, reshaping some of its elements. During the workshop children will use recycled materials to build sculptures to be integrated into the space of the garden belonging to the Urban Ecology Centre. This workshop is an encounter with nature. It is about catching the natural beauty of the world surrounding us. It also aims at broadening our perception of art, which we tend to see as restricted to art galleries and having a specific form. The main idea is that we can find materials for making art not only in a shop, but also at home or anywhere else around us.
STREET ART
This field of art is created in public space, in most cases illegally – “out in the street”. Whilst the term covers traditional graffiti, it is often used to distinguish artistic activity in urban settings from vandalism. A brief history of tags, as well as the concept of “street art” will be presented. Children will make cardboards, labels and stencils to express their own original ideas.
The street art workshop is above all an attempt to address the question of where the border lies between art and vandalism.