Hybridart Management launched the Hybridart International Creative Camp in 2016 in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Modern Art Gallery. The 10-day long art camp was themed the “Circle of Life” and was hosted by Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma. It was led by sculptors, Gergő Kovách and György Szász, and art students from the Visegrád countries and attended by students from the United Arab Emirates. As a result of the joint work of the 10-member teams, a 4 meter-high dinosaur-shaped installation was built using more than 4000 plastic PET bottles of the Benedictine Abbey’s Vis Vitalis mineral water. The dinosaur stepping on the Vis Vitalis water bottle was created to draw attention to the importance of the selective collection of PET bottles as well as to the proper disposal of waste (making sure it is pressed).

Hybridart Camp consists of the domestic and the international art camps thanks to its environmentally conscious focus and firm value tracking. The theme of the annually organized camp is to display and showcase the spirit of sensible consumption and the spirit of sustainability through fine art. The raw materials used for the works will be selected accordingly.

This year’s statue was made from recycled aluminium containers, and the International Hybridart Art Camp was held between 14-24 August 2017 for the second time in the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter of Pécs/Hungary. It focused on the theme of Upcycling Art. The 2.5 meters tall, 4 meters long horse head installation was made from 8,000 aluminium containers, and was realized through the joint efforts of the University of Pécs, the Etihad Modern Art Gallery, and the Budapest based Hybridart Management. Graduate students of Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Slovak and Emirate art universities participated together in creating the giant public space installation. The 11-member team’s work was headed by sculptor Gergő Kovách. The statue was built in the spirit of environmental awareness and upcycling, that is re-utilization.

In essence, re-utilization means, that an item that we no longer need is given a new function, with minimal energy consumption, making it part of our environment in its new, creative form. The huge horse heads are covered with pressed aluminium containers, which refer to the importance of the selective collection of aluminium tins, as these empty, pressed containers can be collected, stored and recycled very efficiently. The use of materials in the installation draws attention to the increased environmental impact of aluminium containers, as the production of one such container causes 15 times as much air and 3 times more water contamination, generating a volume of waste that is 45 times as much, with the energy consumption being 20 times greater than that of a regular glass bottle. The statue was exhibited at the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter in Pécs throughout August, while in September, within the framework of the annual Art Moments Festival for visual arts, was on display by the Danube riverbank, followed by an exhibition in cooperation with Etihad Modern Art Gallery in November where it was on display at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair and in the AR Gallery during the Dubai Design Week, and last but not least, in February 2018, it will arrive to Brussels.

Find out more about the project HERE