Creative Workshop: The strange life of materials

*The 04/09 workshop will take place at the NLG Kids Lab.

The outdoor installation Return to Sender by the African art collective NEST, currently on display at the SNFCC, prompts the organization of a creative workshop series for children, under the title The strange life of materials. 

Addressing the issues raised by Return to Sender, the workshop examines the wanton generation of waste and the issue of managing it. In discourse with the concerns of the NEST art collective, the workshop aims at raising environmental awareness by bringing children into contact with the strange life of materials. 

Armed with their imagination, children are invited to build structures and dioramas that depict imaginary and strange places, consisting of materials that we discard in large quantities on a daily basis.

Each session of the series will start with examining the unique nature of each material, to then explore the particularities and production process of each. Children will experiment with various techniques, discovering the aesthetics of the improvised; in addition to individual works, they will also participate in group activities. 

Workshop #1: Plastic 
We will see the significant environmental impact of a material with a variety of daily applications.

Workshop #2: Paper
We will approach the production process for one of the most widely used and essential materials.

Workshop #3: Textile 
We will trace the journey from weaving and use to the disposal of textiles.

In the context of the workshop, we invite children to bring along household materials that are discarded on a daily basis and correspond to the sessions of the workshop, in order to contribute to the process of lending and exchanging such materials

Design - Implementation: Konstantinos Kotsis, visual artist, ARTWORKS Fellow
Workshop Support: Anastasia Mikrou, visual artist

Saturday 29/04,11.00-13.00

Sunday 14/05, 12.00-14.00

Sunday 04/06, 11.00-13.00

Saturday 01/07, 18.30-20.30 

Monday 04/09, 18.00-20.00

Mediterranean Garden 
For children aged 7 to 10 
Up to 20 participants 
Free admission, on a first-come first served basis