Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative
Polyeco is the first and sole integrated and fully licensed waste management and valorization industry in Greece.
Read more: www.polyeco.gr
Contact
ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS: 327 PRACTICES
TOPIC:
Initiative
SUBMITTED FROM:
POLYECO SA
Contact
Objective Action
Since its foundation in 2001, Polyeco implements programs initiatives and practices that reflect its values and define its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), incorporating voluntarily social and environmental friendly targets in its everyday business activities. For Polyeco, CSR is not just resolved to simple compliance with legal and business obligations but extends to substantial contribution to the society and the environment with respect to the principles of sustainability and prosperity.
Incorporating business ethics and social responsibility in its strategy, in 2014 Polyeco launched an ambitious Initiative for Contemporary Art (Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative – PCAI), which aims at raising environmental awareness, touching the crucial issue of waste management, which is not only technical, but also environmental and social. In an effort to awaken and sensitize the public opinion, Polyeco decided to use arts as a vehicle for dialogue, presenting contemporary solutions for a healthier natural environment. Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative motivates artists to create artworks that contribute to the dialogue for environmental protection in an effort to raise environmental awareness on individual and collective level.
The specific initiative is the spearhead of Polyeco’s Corporate Social Responsibility, with the aim that contemporary art will act as a catalyst for dialogue and the exchange of experiences concerning environmental protection. The ultimate goal of the initiative is the creation of a coherent artistic collection which will not only be presented in countries where Polyeco develops business activity, but will travel around the world. A collection that would be supported by international organizations and could potentially be hosted in great museums in order to promote the idea of waste management for healthier environment.
Target Audience
Having as ultimate goal the creation of environmental consciousness and culture, Polyeco’s initiative does not address to a specific audience. On the contrary, adopting the principle that environmental protection is a common responsibility and can only be achieved with collective effort, our initiative addresses to each and every one, trying to present through art the challenges that threat the nature and the consequences that are caused by the over exploitation of natural resources and by human intervention, when there is no respect for the environment.
However, special emphasis is given to the creation of environmental awareness among young people, which on the one hand will suffer more from the consequences of environmental degradation and on the other hand they will be called to disseminate their culture to future generations. In this context, the artworks that are created within Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative, will not only be shown at museums, exhibitions and film festivals but our target is that they are presented at schools, travelling the students in the world of arts and informing them about environmental degradation, which constitutes one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
Duration
The specificity of Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative is that it does not have an expiration date. It is an ongoing, flexible project that will develop on par with Polyeco.
Description
With its initiative Polyeco provides recognized and emerging, Greek and foreign artists with the means and the resources to create an artwork, inspired by the waste management process. For the creation of their artworks, the artists often travel to countries that the company is active (residency) and with the expressive means they use they present with their own, unique manner the environmental pollution and the relieving effect of restoration and clean up.
More specifically, the artists draw inspiration from the waste management sites and facilities, the countries, the workforce and the persons that are involved in the waste management process. Furthermore, the artists explore where the waste come from, how they travel, which are the external factors and the taboos that affect our perception of waste and which are our reactions to the view of useless and discarded objects. Thus, through this arts initiative, Polyeco interacts with local communities and poses issues that concern the environmental policy in local, regional and national level. Concerning the means of expression that are used, video art and installations are considered more preferable, because they promote the idea of recycling and reusing, since they are made from recyclable materials collected by Polyeco (fluorescent lamps, batteries e.t.c.).
Two of the artists that participate in the initiative have already completed their artworks:
1. The first is a video art (Kepler) produced in Tbilisi where Polyeco completed a hazardous waste management project. (Watch Kepler video trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwNwkvVErJE&spfreload=10). Video art «Kepler», which made its debut at the Athens International Film Festival on September 19, is participating officially in the competition section of major international festivals starting from Glasgow Short Film Festival which will be held on March 11 - 15 in Glasgow. Furthermore, Kepler will be presented at Kino der Kunst International Festival that will be held on April 22 - 25 at Munich, Germany, as well as in the European Independent Film Festival (ECU) that will be held in Paris, France, on April 10 - 12.
2. The second completed artwork is a sculptural installation from fluorescent lamps. The fluorescent lamps are knitted with yellow harnesses creating a raw of panels. Those knitted panels are referred to the primary form of fencing and in particular to the woven fabrics/carpets that covered the ancient domestic space. The artwork concentrates upon the need of the modern man to regain the harmony in his relationship with nature, himself and the others. In this artwork, the darkness that man is experiencing in the contemporary shelters of «retrenchment» is transformed in sunlight and the light is transformed in matter, i.e. protective woven fabrics. In this way, another abiding place is created where the man is called to remain, protected but simultaneously open to «incidents» when encountering others.
The third oeuvre is a photo gallery and will be completed in the near future. For the creation of this oeuvre the artist travelled at Benin where Polyeco carried out the project ‘Safeguarding and disposal of obsolete pesticides in Benin’, awarded by United Nations Development Program. For the photographic collection the artist used super 8 film that creates special colorings provoking intense feelings.
more...
Impact on Society
Polyeco’s Contemporary Art Initiative is in its first steps and from the oeuvres that have been completed only the short film Kepler, that was produced in Tbilisi, has been shown to the public. The Kepler film made its debut at the Athens International Film Festival, on Friday, September 19. Kepler 186f is a distant new found planet that raises expectations for a completely different future, since, according to the scientists; his soil, atmosphere and size are similar earth’s, something that makes him potentially habitable. With the eyes of the artist this is a planet where people could move to when the circumstances in Earth would be unbearable. Simultaneously, Kepler is the name of a grandiose and quite controversial construction project starring in the film. Kepler is another planet or our planet, it is the past and the future, a promising prospect or our destruction, it is the repetition of the same mistakes or the chance to become better. Kepler is a political thriller of science fiction involving politicians, businessmen, toxic waste and waste management experts. It may be happening here and now or tomorrow in a distant place. As it emerged from the discussion that followed after the projection, the film enabled the spectators to realize, in a special manner, the challenges that the environment is facing and the threats of the toxic dangers, understanding that the problem is not limited to a specific area but has global dimensions.
Initiative Location
PCAI is not restricted by geographical boundaries. With Athens as its base it is implemented in countries where Polyeco develops business activity and has a universal character.
More...…
Working with Organization
PCAI is Polyeco's exclusive initiative and it is implemented only with the company's means and resources.
Workers Participation
Polyeco's employees play a crucial role in the implementation and the dissemination of the initiative, helping actively the artists in the creation of their projects and using all the means in their disposal to inform their familiar environment about the purposes of the initiative.
More...…
Benefits for Οrganization
1. For Polyeco, the Contemporary Art Initiative is the spearhead of its Corporate Social Responsibility. The initiative does not aim at advertising and promotion but achieves the company’s substantial interaction with the society. In this context, Polyeco acquires a completely different role and hypostasis, since it does not just conducts waste management projects but meets new cultures, learns their needs and specificities and creates trustworthy relationships.
2. Through Contemporary Art Initiative, Polyeco supports actively the local societies of the countries within which it operates and especially the developing countries, since the oeuvres that are created in those countries do not remain in their narrow geographical boundaries but travel around the world. Thus, with art as a vehicle, Polyeco transformed into a valuable tool for environmental protection, gaining high moral satisfaction from the fact that it does not limit to the development of business activity but supports the local communities and helps people to recover their lost relationship with nature.
3. Moreover, with Contemporary Art Initiative Polyeco achieves another great target, the active participation of its workforce, that has embraced and supports the specific action. In this context, through the initiative Polyeco primary sensitizes its employees in environmental protection issues, gaining added value since it manages to differentiate from the typical trainings and seminars, promoting environmental protection via art.
Connection with Global Goals
No Connection with Global Goals found
More Initiatives from Organization
Carbon Footprint and Strategy for the Reduction of GHG Emissions Report, by POLYECO S.A.
Dialogue with social partners for the identification and prioritization of material issues – Double Materiality Analysis
Linking Contemporary Art to Environment & Sustainable Developement
Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative PCAI 2020: Digital cultural programme in response to the pandemic crisis.
