Darb 1718 is back with another environmental initiative called the Re-Art Recycling Art workshop. The workshop will last four days, in two consecutive weeks, and aims to create an environment for recycling where people can learn to use common material lying around the house for better and artistic use. The Contemporary Art and Culture Centre explained its philosophy:
“We are very interested in environmental initiatives and we have done others, like the Recycling festival, but this is the first time we host Re-Art. One of our main goals is to include and empower members of the community around us to recycle and find a sustainable solution to our garbage problem. In the future, we would like to offer some spots in the workshop to local children for free, or have one of the people giving the workshop volunteer and do it pro bono,” said Reem Hatem, public relations and communications manager at Darb 1718.
Among the people giving the workshop is Medhat Zanzer, along with Noha El Sayyid (who focuses more on decor and using recycled material in decorating), who told us the whole initiative started at college. “It started as an idea when we were college students after we finished our big project for the year. At the end we would be left with a tonne of material; paper, plastic, wood, paint, et cetera and it would go to waste. Then we thought, well, we could use this material. We all have a lot of things in our houses that we do no longer use, like newspapers or magazines and glass jars. We can use them in creative ways,” Zanzer said.
Zanzer, who is now a teaching assistant at the New Cairo Academy where he originally attended as an applied arts major, says this is his sixth time giving the workshop. “We have done a few workshops specifically for children and one of them was for orphans and free of charge.”
After the four days of the workshop a day will be organised to showcase the produced artwork. The date of this exhibition is not yet confirmed but Hatem said it will closely follow the festival. The workshop costs EGP 200 this time around but Darb 1718 said they plan to make it more accessible in the future.
Zanzer said each day will be organised based on the materials that will be used. “One day we might do paper, another glass, and so on, and we will tell people to bring the material with them so that they can prepare.”
The workshop will be held from 7 to 9 pm on 9 and 10, 16 and 17 October, and attendees are asked to bring their material with them and will learn how to use them at the workshop.
