Sabina Shiklinskaya presents Save the Earth as part of Participate! 2013

(( [if gte mso 9]><![endif]))

(( [if gte mso 9]>Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE<![endif]))(( [if gte mso 9]><![endif]))(( [if gte mso 10]><![endif]))

Save the Earth mobile environmental project by Sabina Shiklinskaya (Azerbaijan)

30th July 2013, from 17.00 

YARAT Contemporary Art Space proudly presents mobile environment project, Save the Earth, by renowned artist and curator Sabina Shikhlinskaya.

By transforming a local bus into a plastic-collecting vehicle parked in a widely used bus station, Sabina Shikhlinskaya hopes to heighten environmental awareness. The graffiti-decorated bus will be moved to various locations around the station with explanatory leaflets. The art piece by Ms. Sabina Shikhlinskaya  directly refers to global environmental problems, since waste material output keeps on increasing while recycling is stiill minimal.

The Baku Central Bus Station was purposefully selected as the venue because local residents visit this spot in their hundreds everyday, leaving a plethora of garbage behind. On hot summer days, environmental negligence by Baku residents is most noticeable - a spot in front of the passenger building is covered with drinks bottles, ice-cream wrappers and other 'signs of summer' litter .

In an attempt to keep a public eye on environmental problems, the artist conceived a specific creative experiment. Her piece of art is an eye-pleasing decorated bus and, at the same time, a bottlle bin. All passers-by are welcome to raise their voices in favour of cleanliness and order in their native city by throwing bottles into the bin. Both the artist and project organisers YARAT Contemporary Art Space strive to find out the most effective way of plastic reprocessing. At present, the bus is in motion and it is expected it will make inroads into some regions of Azerbaijan.

Sabina Shikhlinskaya is an established artist working in a range of media, from land art to textiles, painting and video. She was educated at both the State Unversity of Arts and Culture in Azerbaijan and the Vera Mukhina Institute of Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2006 she received the title of Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan. She has been exhibited at 30th Council of Europe Exhibition, German Historical Museum, Berlin (2012); Documenta 13, Pavilion of Critical Art Ensemble, Kassel (2012), Centre of Contemporary Art, Baku (2011); Proun Gallery, Paris (2011); State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow (2011), The National Art, Culture and Museum Complex, Kiev (2011), the official Pavilion of Azerbaijan at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007).