www.treelinks.eu is the latest initiative by environmental artist Stephen Whitehead, as part of his on-going, pan-European art project-‘Wo ist Meine Zeltbahn?’ (WZb?)/ ‘Where is my Shelter?’. The project ends its tour this year at the London Thames Festival , September 11-12th 2010
The idea was developed whilst working with Christchurch Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent as part of a WZb? Intervention where young students used military surplus quarter shelters as the base canvas for their nature/camouflage art works. The work has recently made up an element of ‘The House of Fairytales’ which has toured festivals throughout summer 2010, and will culminate in an interactive display at the London Thames Festival on September 11 and 12th.
Camouflage, a way to see nature a way to be nature—Stephen Whitehead
As an environmental art project, ‘Wo ist meine Zeltbahn?’ aims to create an intuitive attachment to the environment through the mimicry of natural colour and shape, (i.e. the technology of camouflage/art of the camofleur). This practise to be undertaken by re-using and reappropriating the zeltbahn* as environmental artists’ canvas.
The result:
• Work that blends the wearer in its mimetic environment.
• Work that when displayed, acts as a metaphor for the shelter we receive by working with nature, and is a signifier for our concern and relationship with the natural world.
• Shows the potential for co-operation, and an assimilation of European history/identity as a shared experience.
Participation in www.treelinks.eu is open to anyone and generates a kind of ‘Green Diplomacy’ between those involved and raises awareness of the ‘European Greenbelt’ (www.europeangreenbelt.org).
For more information about the event
Check Thames Festival website