Gardening of Soul: Resources of Perspectives

Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem and Ústí nad Labem House of Arts organise an international conference that will present various real or symbolic aspects of gardening (in the sense of care for the site and nature, general well-being, individual communities, specific individuals and sustainability) from the perspective of current curatorial strategies, contemporary artistic expressions and broader philosophical, social, geographical or environmental contexts.

The conference will held at UJEP‘s Multifunctional Centre on February 22 and 23, as one of the events within the project entitled Gardening of Soul: In Five Chapters funded by EEA and Norway Grants 2014–2021. This long-term project elaborated by the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem focuses on artistic and curatorial reflection on the phenomenon of gardens and gardening understood in a broader social, economic, environmental and cultural context. The project is gradually being built in collaboration with several local and international partners and its basic idea is to strengthen cooperation between artists, art institutions and local communities in the form of jointly realized artworks using various means of artistic research, collaboration and cultural activism. From this perspective, it is clear that although the ways and forms of artistic gardening naturally change in different social and climatic conditions, they always have enormous potential to foster belonging, mutual respect, communication and shared production, which are inextricably linked to the care of the surrounding natural environment and the joint purposeful action of a particular community. Aside the conference event itself, a group exhibition entitled Gardening of Soul resulting from the project is running in the Ústí nad Labem House of Arts till March 9 this year.

All information including programme of the conference can be found on the project’s website.

All information about the exhibition.

 

The project Gardening of Soul: In Five Chapters is funded by EEA and Norway Grants 2014 – 2021.