An inspiring collaboration

A calendar is an ancient tool we humans invented to assist us in measuring time but also reflecting on the seasons. The seasons embody the tale of life. They have a different meaning for each of us, they also recall very different memories, images, tastes, stories.

We all tend to love summer and dislike winter. We need these polarized feelings just to situate ourselves in life. In reality we are just grateful that in our part of the world the four seasons manifest themselves with their individual traits.

Young artists are very sensitive to the signals of the climate; like never before we are seeing the emergence of artists caring about elements that were considered almost too poetic: butterflies flying, a flower enjoying the sun, the fish inhabiting our rivers. They feel that the inability to see the small events of nature affects badly our capability of caring and protecting our environment.

Another element that is currently very present in the works of the upcoming generation of artist is water. Water – the clean water of rivers and the deep water of the oceans – embodies intelligence. Traditionally people think about water as being almost nothing. Now there is a new thinking about water as being intelligent: water knowing what the planet needs. Since we are also made of water, water symbolizes well-being.

Well-being and the aspiration of surpassing all anxieties and fears is also a subliminal message in all the works in this calendar. Going through the year means also overcoming many small and big obstacles. Finding balance, as the water always does, is a constant reminder of art.

Almost all the works have been created digitally or within a process that starts with the hand and the body and then uses digital tools to enhance the process. The digital is seeing in the arts as a companion that needs our guidance to perform the values and the tasks we consider important. Rather than a superpower that aims to dominate the world and put an end to the human dreams, the digital is a friend that is only learning to be in this world.

It is easy to imagine the digital future as a disaster but it is more important to imagine it as an alliance to enhance the aspects of life we want to protect – nature, culture, education, health – and the lessening of solitude.

See every page of this calendar as an image to project a tale. A story that may have started with a similar image or a reverie. Hold to that image and tell yourself that memory in a longer form, add or invent like in a daydream to create a fantasy that pleases you and enhances your mood. Do so monthly and you will have a great collection of stories about your own life that you can tell yourself again and again like a secret that makes you happy. Smile!

Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW