do those needs affect his or her environment?

Transcription

1 AN EXHIBITION ON HUMAN NATURE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCTION The central theme of the exhibition: What does a human being need in order to be happy, and how do those needs affect his or her environment? By means of answering this question, ten rooms have been thematically designed, following in the footsteps of the Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef s philosophy. The names of the rooms are: Knowledge, Survival, Choice, Creation, Identity, Relaxation, Security, Love, Dream, participation. The exhibition is based on cardboard walls and pedestals. With the help of the local conditions and mobile elements, the space is divided into 10+1 main areas. The various rooms offer the visitor pictures, texts, installations and games. Creators: Cellux Art Group (Fruzsina Élő, Zita Kismarty-Lechner, Panni Pais), Hungarian Green Roots (Edit Jagodics) Chief organiser: ÖKO-Pack Non-profit Ltd. Partners: National Council for Sustainable Development, Climate-KIC, Folprint Green printing Mediapartners: Greenfo.hu, National Geographic, Recity, Ecolounge, Central European University

2 LEAD-IN First step / caption: (on an elegant, wooden frame mirror) In this picture you can see a human being (Homo sapiens). Second step / caption: The human being, whom you could just see, belongs to an ever increasing family. installation: population counter (human poppulation from September 2014) HUMAN population from 2009 Currently there are so many of us. It is projected to reach 8 billion by ( caption: The human s home is the Earth. However, not only we belong here, but all other creatures as well. As humans keep increasing, there is a steady loss of living plant and animal species. Third step / installation: A large cylinder, whose inner walls depict a colourful panorama (nature, plants, animals and humans). Here the visitors can look through the walls at several places. The openings bear the dimensions of a face, thus the person peering through becomes a part of the whole scene, symbolically integrating with the community. caption: What are the needs of a human being, and what effects does this bring to its environment?

3 Knowledge I UNDERSTAND THE WORLD In order to stay alive, people need to be able to understand their surroundings. This way, we are better able to act in a conducive manner to the characteristics of nature, and we are better able to cooperate with other people. In the past, a person s life was bound by his or her physical surroundings, today activities that take place in very distant countries can have an immediate effect on each other: we live in a globalised world. Let s look around and get to know it better! installation: 5 globes The world globes provide the following information: division of world population, shrinking of forests, spread of the automobile, division of money, increase of waste. Colourful depictions on the wall describe the processes that take place on the globes. Here we can also see three large pictures relating the most important challenges of our time (overpopulation, over-consumption and wastefulness) as well as a presentation of climate change. installation: Ecological footprint shoes Our ecological footprint equals the area at which our consumption (food, energy, transport modes, items of use) can be supplied and their waste can be absorbed.

4 SURVIVAL I QUENCH MY THIRST AND MY HUNGER We need fresh drinking water and nourishment in order to stay alive. Our ancestors hunted and gathered. Later on everyone tended to their own food needs, then they bartered and finally they paid with money. Today we shop in a gigantic food market that spans the globe, thus we often don t even know what we are eating. installation: Who eats what? 14 pictures depicting a family along with their weekly supply of food is given, each from a different country. These family portraits paint an extraordinary panorama of nutritional habits. From starvation to wastefulness, many different social and cultural aspects can be seen in these. installation: Food miles A set table, on which we find the components of an average breakfast: a roll, cheese, cold cuts, coffee, orange juice... Next to each food item, we indicated how many kilometers they travelled to reach the table. This table with a checkered tablecloth also has plates on it, and something unusual for plates: pocket calculators. With the help of these we can calculate the distances... As the transport modes produce immeasurable quantities of pollution, it is better to choose local, seasonal foods. Above the tables, placed in speech bubbles are numerous thoughts for consideration, regarding the environmental and social aspects that come into focus when selecting food: packaging paper, large-scale producers, meat consumption, fair trade. installation: Water is life A colourful picture collage represents the diversity of water to underscore water s importance. There is a ballon full of water to be lifted up by visitors with these words written on it: In certain parts of Africa, women and children have to carry home as much as 20 litres of water from the closest source. The trip is often longer than five hours.

5 CHOICE I MAKE DECISIONS FREELY I am free, thus I can choose without external pressure. Freedom is opportunity on the one hand, yet it is responsibility at the same time. As I practise my own freedom, I do not have the right to limit that of the others. installation: Where would you go on an excursion? A pretty forest scene with a stream is visible in two pictures. One of them still shows garbage all over the place, while the other one has been cleaned up. We brought the actual garbage items into the exhibition. How do you like them? The collected garbage can be inspected here: from plastic bottles to used gym shoes. Find the displayed objects in the picture! installation: So do you have a choice? Seven picture pairs display real and conflicting life situations. The visitor may chose which of the two versions he or she prefers. The picture pairs promote environmentally conscious and ethical lifestyles, for example cycling instead of driving, or shopping at the local market instead of the shopping centre.

6 CREATION I CARRY OUT MY IDEA If we design something, bring it about, build it, we use our creativity. We create something new, beautiful, useful, or perhaps destructive. Every individual object has its own story. Do you ever think about the thing that you are using, where it comes from, or who created it? installation: Anna s room Here we can find a real interior of a room - the elements of a young girl s room. The different elements can be touched, can be tried out, you can look for the details that make them interesting. The whole room bears a homogenous, pastel blue colour, so that from such a uniform background we can detect the original colours and materials of some these articles. We can read information about each item in a speech bubble attached to the object. The object s background, material, provenance and creators are presented here. installation: My objects - drawing book What is your most unnecessary stuff?, Subject, what you hardly can spare, etc. - visitors can draw the answers.

7 IDENTITY I BELONG TO SOMEWHERE AND I AM MYSELF Know thyself! That was the most famous bit of advice given by Socrates. To get to know ourselves is our most difficult task, especially if we are following those things that fashion dictates. In those cases we appear to be that which we buy or that which we wear. Are we only the thing that the mirror shows us? installation: Jasmine s letter On the wall a sweatshop scene is visible. Attached to the picture, but jutting out, we see a sewing machine in three dimensions, where pants are currently being sewn. From the pocket of the pants the letter of 16 yearold Jasmine is peeking out, a character out of the China Blue documentary film. She spends every day sewing jeans under quite bad conditions. One day she smuggles a letter out through the pockets of a pair of pants, written to its future owner. installation: Jeans in the shop window On the glass of the shop window we can read where the profits made from the fashionable jeans go, and we learn that its creator made only 1%. In a corner of the shop window asign calling for Boycott is displayed, calling for the rejection of unethical companies. installation: Self-knowledge game Our identities are defined by various things and one of the traits of our current age is that often identities are coupled only with external qualities. We inspire to go beyond the surface, therefore the room also contains a self-knowledge game. A card must be drawn. On the card you can read an exciting question related to self-discovery.

8 RELAXATION I AM AT EASE A traditional people might commonly spend 3 hours a day collecting food, with the rest of their time spent on games and social life. In our modern societies, the daily grind can take nearly all of a person s time. What do we have time for? installation: One whole day There are empty clock faces fastened to the wall, which can be drawn on. How do you spend a day? Show us! If you divide the circle into slices, you can feel the proportions. Describe or draw all the things that you do in a 24-hour period! The clock face task is a good tool for reflecting on our values and way of life. installation: Concentration point Try to stop time! We invite our visitors to an exercise in concentration. Just watch the point painted on the wall, and for a few minutes do absolutely nothing.

9 SECURITY I AM NOT AFRAID Security means that we feel protected, and when in trouble we can count on help. Every person has the right to be born in a place, where he or she can later say: I couldn t have wished for more loving parents or a better environment. installation: Children In this game, visitors can learn about the lives of children from around the world. We present five real child characters (Hungarian-Gipsy, Cambodian, English, Kenyan and Canadian-Indigenous). Every character has a story tablet and a colour. The visitors have to choose a tablet, and based on the colour will look for the objects, pictures and information related to the character. Built into the roles of the children, we discover their backgrounds, as they correspond to their security environment: parents, home, family, health, school, peace. These touching stories reveal the social, economic, ethnic and cultural differences to be found around the world.

10 LOVE LET S CARE FOR EACH OTHER Love is the thing that we long for the most, about which so many songs, poems and films speak. As it is one of our basic needs, we express this with attention to others, gentleness and by giving presents. lead-in: In our culture giving gifts is one way of expressing love. In an indigenous tribe however, desire for owning things is considered a disease. When someone is noticed to be too eager to acquire goods, people start to worry. One way they try to cure the person is by showering him or her with so many different items, until the symptoms go away. installation: People standing in line We see an apparent endless row of people standing in line, with the caption: People are standing in line for hours, in order to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Is this really the way they can bring them the most joy? installation: Gift coupon Can gifts only be things? There is also a favour coupon creation spot on the table. It is a type of coupon card that can be used for shared experiences: a massage, a conversation, a walk in the woods, etc. Visitors can fill it out according to their wishes.

11 DREAM I CAN IMAGINE SOMETHING DIFFERENT It can excite us to push out of mind our daily routines and look into the future, dreaming up something. How able and willing are we to do what is required, in order to turn our dreams into reality? The visitors of the exhibition were thus far able to see some of the drawbacks of technical development, where on the contrary a person today might rather try to bring about sustainable development. In this cozy, dimmed room, we can let our imagination run free, imagine a different world. installation: Shadow forms The visitor here may project shadow forms, based on his or her own imagination. The tools: cut-out paper pieces, which when placed on the projector, create shadows on the canvass; words written on translucent film, which also glimmers on the wall. PARTICIPATION TOGETHER WE CREATE OUR FATE We are social beings. Everyone is responsible for the world, in which we live. We can make it a better place, when we understand that your suffering is my suffering, and your happiness is my happiness. (Manfred Max-Neef) installation: PERSONAL COMMITMENT You can make a personal commitmentto do something for our common future. Write it on a piece paper and place it. Further information can be found in three more installations nearby: DISZTRÓ - information station of publications provided by civil organisations the library corner contains literature on sustainability themes a mind map, which shows several practical solution that can help to slow down climate change

12 The chief organiser of the exhibition: Gary Hankó, ÖKO-Pack Nonprofit Ltd / / gergely@okopack.hu Further information: Youtube: Mirror to the World - subtitled educational video