Oika Greece
Art, technology and ecology The Oika Greece project
Zagori and its National Parks
Zagori is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. It has an area of some 1,000 square kilometres and contains 46 villages known as Zagori villages. . Ioannina, the provincial capital, is at the southern point. The population of the area is about 3,700. Zagori is an area of great natural beauty, with striking geology and two National Parks, one including the river Aoos and the Vikos Gorge, the other around Valia Kalda, to the east of the imposing snow-capped Mt Tymphe.
ECOMUSEUM
EcoMuseum Zagori social enterprise, was founded in 2014 to provide a framework for the protection, management, and sustainable exploitation of the natural and cultural heritage of the rural territory of Zagori and Epirus region. Through the EcoMuseum’s projects, the public and visitors learn about various aspects of the local social life, the cultural and natural history of the region. At the same time, they are given the opportunity to embed in the spiritual, social, and economic evolution of the local population which is directly linked to the natural environment. EcoMuseum allies with Oika.com to promote its artist in residency program with on site and online activities.
REGENERATIONNETWORKING PEOPLE AND NATURE
Vicky Vergou, Annie Rapstoff and Ida Larsen during an Oika artists in residence program
Our residency program is the story of connecting with a remote place, in Zagori, at the junction between nature and culture, a journey for environmental and social healing, inspired by Oika.com, created by the environmental scientist Rich Blundell, and intends to regenerate the roots of the local community with the natural land through a collaborative art practice as germs for change.
ONLINE COURSE
In 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic Oika Greece started with online residencies, in the format of an online hands on course trajectory lead by Rich Blundell with 9 Greek artists, working together online during six weeks of co-learning and co-creating. In this online residency scientific concepts merged with artists’ lived-experience in nature to strengthen creativity and amplify cultural impact. By positioning contemporary, holistic, scientific understandings adjacent to creative engagement with the outside world, individualized creative practices are supported, enhanced, and empowered.
Participating artists from Greece were Christoforos Pavlakis, Gwenivig Cornon, Katerina Sporidou Kleoni Manousakis, Veronika Nogellova, Vicky Adamou, Vicky Vergou, Christiana Kazakou, Geeta Roopnarine and Ida Larsen, curated by Geert Vermeire.
VIRTUAL GALLERY
In 2022 this was followed by establishing a virtual gallery with NFTs of Oika artists from Greece and beyond, inaugurated at an exhibition in the Athens School of Fine Arts, during the Platforms project, with 10.000 visitors, curated by Geert Vermeire and Geeta Roopnarine.
OIKA EXPEDITION
2022 allowed as well to organize a first on site collaborative group residency with 3 artists, from Greece, the UK and Denmark, who worked for 8 days in Zagori, preceded, intersected and followed up by mentoring of Dr Rich Blundell following on a 2 month online trajectory. Ida Larsen, Annie Rapstoff and Vicky Vergou.
Annie Rapstoff
Oika artist current location: UK
Vicky Vergou
Oika artistcurrent location: Greece
Ida Larsen
Oika artistcurrent location: Greece
PROJECT COORDINATION
Geert Vermeire
Oika facilitatorcurrent location: Belgium
Panagiota Koutsoukou
Oika Greece coordinator current location: Loannina / Zagori (Greece)
RIch Blundell
scientist ecologist creator of Oika current location: Nantucket island (USA)
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