The Orange Republick - Land of Active Citizens Trees
"The Orange Republick" is a country where people and trees, united in art, have come together in the form of a nation, with its own culture and beliefs for the sake of common survival.
Its goal is to promote the unheard voice of trees, carriers of culture and the air we breathe.
Through the artistic method, the project aims to raise awareness and enhance the green and cultural elements of the territory.
Regional
Spain
Andalucía, Sevilla, Cordoba
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Riccardo Last name: Rossi Gender: Male Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Calle Relator 57 Town: Sevilla Postal code: 41003 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 622 89 18 61 E-mail:riccardoandreaalbertorossi@gmail.com Website:https://theredcatgallery.com/
First name: Micheal Last name: Padilla Gender: Male Nationality: United States Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Calle Jorge de Montemayor, 2 AC Town: Sevilla Postal code: 41009 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 600 33 58 32 E-mail:michael.v.padilla@gmail.com Website:https://www.thepadilla.com/
“The Orange Republik" was founded by a small collective of artists in 2020. Its goal is to promote, preserve and disclose the green heritage of urban spaces by linking them with their historical culture.
With our actions we connect and highlight a key element of local culture, in the case of Seville, the “Orange Tree”, generating a living reference point that characterizes the city and its community. We spread our message through artistic actions and community involvement. Placing the focus on Trees we aim to create a new alphabet and iconic images that can enrich the city, its culture and the sense of belonging of its citizens, both humans and plants.
“The Orange Republick” aims to create a cultural identity, focused on the Tree itself with the intent to provide a pleasant and original way to generate awareness of one's own historical-cultural heritage available in our community, but not always valued in its importance.
Our unconventional education program takes place in the streets, public spaces, schools and in art institutions. We reach the public through the universal language of art and new technologies, combining them in a new form of communication and immersive dialogue. Our multi-pronged initiatives include live events focused on local trees and their cultural and historical importance, art exhibitions of works created, digital contents and augmented reality, and networking.
Participation
Replicability
Positive
Tree Awareness
Multidisciplinarity
“The Orange Republick” embodies the values of artistic activism by developing, through fine art and live events, an educational campaign to promote and underline the green elements of of our surroundings.
Our format is nearly cost free and easily replicable in different contexts. All of our events and artworks have been produced by the hands of our volunteers.
All our activities are temporary and non-invasive, our interventions leave no trace or waste behind.
Of fundamental importance is the work carried out in the digital ecosystem, making these elements of collective importance visible and accessible on mainstream media, facilitating the knowledge and use of this set of public information, as well as the creation of artworks based around augmented reality technology.
Through the actions of the "Tree Tags Project", “The Orange Republick” played an active role in the urban context of Seville and Cordoba, bringing attention and the looks of passers-by back to the trees that provide them with shade, fruit and the air we breathe.
These temporary installations on trees not only perform an aesthetic action that enhances the beauty of the tree, but in its simplicity and strength it functions as a real attracting element. Passers-by, like insects at night before a traffic light, are overwhelmed by these unexpected explosions of color and unknowingly attracted to the tree, generating the most varied of reactions.
The creation of an iconic element based on the typical tree of the city aims to enrich the already existing heritage and culture by adding a new narrative line. The city and the territory are thus helped by a strengthening of their sense of identity through the interweaving of Art, Culture, and the Green System.
Through our artworks (Attachment 3) and digital exposure (Attachment 1-4) we are designing a set of iconic images to support our intentions. By the use of a new visual language and new technologies we create art that interacts with people of different strata and ages throughout civil society.
While so far we have dealt with the project from the point of view of the public, the method and the "players" that make these installations possible are of fundamental importance. This project, led by experienced artists, has been developed in collaboration with children and families, making them artists and main actors of the actions. Through the game of choosing colors, hanging tags and recollection, while having fun outdoors and away from harmful screens, children take possession of the concepts and values promoted by the project while learning to appreciate the urban green spaces available to us.
The project aims to become a cultural activity to be carried out in cooperation with local institutions and especially in educational places, and converting non-conventional spaces into educational ones. Local institutions can benefit from our project to enhance their community heritage and activities and to serve as networking points for community outreach.
"The Orange Republick" wishes to transmit the idea of "Active Ecology" as attractive and replicable. Therefore, we have developed a format capable of conveying the values of ecology and art through direct involvement in a fun and novel way. Inspired by Bruno Munari's method, our process becomes a game, where inherent in the rules the core values of this Ecological Artistic Activism are defined. Play and education are fundamental reference points in our artistic production and critical thinking.
This project involves citizens in their own context raising awareness and a sense of belonging to their territory. The project ”The Orange Republick” promulgates respect and care for the environment, recognizing the universal historical and cultural value of the green element.
The project “The Orange Republick” aims to enrich the city and the community where the project develops. Through our works we highlight the green heritage of the city binding it with art, culture and society.
Our unconventional street interventions engage civil society spontaneously, reaching out directly to local citizens and tourists who visit the city.
With our new language that crosses disciplines and technologies we are able to speak in an attractive and unexpected way to a wide range of public, directly in the streets of the city. Playing with curiosity and surprise, our project stimulates reactions and interest in people by returning our focus to the values we share.
Our visual iconography aims to build a set of visual elements that declares the importance of the Tree in our surroundings, aesthetically, culturally and for the sense of belonging to the territory.
The project was born spontaneously from the desire to help and participate in the development of the territory we live in.
The collective promotes its live events in the streets and connects to local institutions and international art competitions.
In the course of our activities we have involved art institutions in Andalucía (such as the C3A Cordoba - CAAC Sevilla) and international contests, including them in our activities and interventions. (IV Certamen de pintura rápida villa de La Algaba 2022 - 58* Premio Reina Sofía 2023 AEPE - Format23 OpenCall - Beca DKV C3A Cordoba - Propuestas VEGAP 2022 - 41* Certamen de Pequeños Formatos AEPE ).
Through the presentation and publication of our artworks, the collective has been promoting its values and objectives for two years now, interacting with a transversal and multicultural audience.
Today the collective is developing the project to involve schools and neighbors' associations through playful/cultural activities, aiming to involve more age groups and different sectors of the social fabric in the project development process.
Over the last two years, the project has built a small community of volunteer activists. Through collaboration with public institutions and associations we are aiming to build a movement capable of promoting activities in the region that can stimulate an active protection of the same and its green heritage.
The collective "The Orange Republick" to date is made up of children, adults, the elderly and 45,065 Orange Trees.
The project is based on the concept of multidisciplinarity. Starting from artistic intuition, the collective has developed a creative universe capable of exploiting the synergy between different fields of knowledge in the service of a new way of interpreting and boosting ecological activism.
Art: Artistic language is the vector that unites our actions like an invisible thread, our approach is based on cultivating curiosity and the desire to know through experimentation and play.
Group activity: The most important quality of the project is participation. Carrying out shared activities around the trees, the collective has brought together experts with the younger members and ordinary people. The interest generated by the idea behind the project becomes the engine of synergies, ensuring that the participants try their hand with our techniques and technologies, mixing and sharing knowledge.
Culture/Architecture: The actions carried out in the architectural context of the city are strategically positioned to exploit and enhance valuable and often underappreciated elements of the city. The binomial Architecture and Artistic Tree is of primary importance in the creations, playing both on the macro-scale positioning (as in the actions carried out on the Trees of the Walls and gateways to the city) and on the contrast between the background (architectural elements) and the protagonist (Tree).
Digital: Particular attention has been dedicated to digital mapping and online communication. Exploiting the possibilities offered by the web and the use of multimedia devices (Google Maps/360cam/QR codes/AR/Social Media/Video) the project is transcribing its activities into the world of the web, and immortalizing them. Spreading elements of the work across multiple platforms ensures accessibility by all parties regardless of borders. The end result is the generation on of a multimedia map that intertwines a digital identity to Trees, based on the artistic experience.
The project stands out for its experimental nature, mixing activism, society and artistic creation.
Using the language of art, the project embraces the themes of the New European Bauhaus, renewed through a new form of communication and intervention methodology, and reconnected with nature and the reconquest of the sense of belonging to our territories.
The collective, which has created a nation to support trees, intends to generate a catalyst of interests, interventions and values at the service of its inhabitants (Humans and Trees), making their usefulness evident through the cultural/aesthetic aspect and raising awareness about the need to safeguard and promote the green level of our territory.
Exploiting digital technologies and possibilities, the "The Orange Republick" project introduces an innovative approach to the world of social media, bringing Trees as actors and interpreters in social networks and the media. (Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@theorangerepublick9383/playlists - Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/the_orange_republick/ )
The project is also characterized by the tourist and the economic potential that derives from tourism, enhancing a characteristic element in the area that defines and represents its essence.
The Orange Republick project proposes a method that can be applied to any territory. The easy replicability of the format ( Tree Tags - Census project ) makes the proposal accessible to all.
The example of Seville and Cordoba is based on the Orange tree (“Genius Loci” of the Andalusian territory where the presence of this tree species dominates the landscape), however, as already demonstrated through interventions on Olive and Lemon trees, the format allows maximum adaptability to all Arboreal elements that may define other cities and territory.
The collective hopes that in the future it will be possible to select other cities and socio-cultural contexts in order to be able to replicate the format and thus compare different case studies. The idea of creating an international network of symbolic cities united under the banner of their Trees would bring a further step in the development and construction of a sense of European community capable of overcoming geographical borders and would reinforce our culture and sense of belonging in biodiversity.
The project carried out up to now has been developed with three methodologies of interventions:
Tree Tags Project - consists of artistic actions in the urban context with the aim of spreading awareness and respect for trees. Through the ritual hanging of colorful tags (sheets of paper hung with a cotton thread), trees captivate the eyes of passersby as they navigate the urban jungles (or not) that we share as inhabitants of this planet.
Ritual hanging, observation, and later removal of tree tags, draws inspiration from Yoko Ono's Wish Trees, with the intent of transferring the focus from our personal, human wishes and desires to those of the trees that support the tags, and our lives.
Census and Mapping
Through the use of new technologies we have begun to catalog and map the tree society of The Orange Republick. A online digital ecosystem, creating a way for the public to access artistic acts and a census of the non-human artists involved in the project.
The digital Census and Archive project is carried out by combining the potential of the Google platform (Maps + Drive) and the use of mobile devices. As can be seen in the Attachment 1, the collective is transcribing the map that we use every day to navigate the city into a series of new points of historical interest, making artistic interventions accessible and commentable. The Censo (Attachment 4) instead is archived on Google Sheet + Drive after a process of research and investigation including mindful walking around the city in the spirit of Guy Debord and psychogeography.
Artworks - Exploiting creativity on canvas and through photography, "The Orange Republick" offers a new iconographic idea of brotherhood between humans and trees, a non-utopian scenario in which humans are devoted to and complicit with their green friends.(Attachments 3)
Playing with visual content we create a visual theory of the concept “Identity of a Tree” and the idea of a Green Citizen.
The project proposes a new way of living and relating to the green environment around us, starting at a local scale, focusing on the Tree/Art duality promotes respect for nature by combining the historical/aesthetic and cultural values of the territory .
The idea aims to develop a catalyst of interest on the topic, using direct involvement of individuals in our activities.
“The Orange Republick” promotes respect for nature by combining the historical, aesthetic and cultural values with element of educational and recreational activities. This synergy allows us to bring attention back to the issue we promote and also to appropriate and identify with the green context that characterizes our territories.
The universal goal of the project is therefore the creation of a new language that can attract and engage people in an active defense of their green heritage.
The spreading of our actions and values is a way of bringing into daily life the complicity and synergy between humans and plants.
Over the past few years, the collective has already produced numerous activities and artistic materials. To date, the project has been impelled mainly by the participation of a group of volunteers and activists.
Currently we are contacting and involving Local Institutions with the aim of developing activities in coordination and support for the work done by these entities.( ex: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla - Córdoba ).
In the artistic world, we have created temporary works in the CAAC of Sevilla and the Centro de Creación de Arte Contemporánea de Córdoba, with the declared objective of enhancing these spaces through our actions. We are currently proposing the results of the first two years of production for art exhibitions and activities in collaboration with the two entities.
We are working on the involvement of additional associations, schools and communities to expand our working groups. (ex: Fundación Doña María Fundomar /I.E.S. Heliópolis/CEIP Juan Ramón Jiménez / Salva Tus Árboles Sevilla / Convento de Capuchinos Sevilla ).
In addition, thanks to collaborations with private individuals and local merchants, we are building a network of places where we can exhibit and present our productions in an attempt to specifically involve the tourist sector of the city.
By presenting this project for the NEB Prizes 2023, the collective hopes to connect its activities with the European community in order to evolve the project and stimulate replications in different realities across Europe.
The "The Orange Republick" method is inspired by M. Cristina Finucci's example (www.garbagepatchstate.org) where through artistic activism it was possible to help the disclosure of the environmental problem, in that case plastic pollution.
Our actions instead focus on creating a format that can help and improve the condition and survival of the trees in our territory.
