Lucy and Jorge Orta focus in their art projects on the general scarcity of
water, food, energy and safe shelter in the world. The overarching aim of
their artistic process is to contribute proactively to the broadening of our
understanding and development of sustainable solutions for the water, food and
energy dilemmas ahead in playful and accessible manners.
OrtaWater came to be because of the fact that the planet is thirsty. Water is
the origin, the source of life. It is the fountain of youth. It is purity. It
is everything: survival and well-being. And it is everywhere, around us and
inside us. And yet a billion people suffer the tragic consequences of not
having access to clean water. The number of countries in this situation is
soaring. In this project the artists focus on water and issues surrounding
the privatization and corporate control effecting access to clean water.
Lucy and Jorge Orta create display cabinets, “windows on the world” and other
objects, sculptures that constitute suggestive metaphors combining functional
source-based objects, photography, steel welding, sound and objects related to
the water problematic.
The large work entitled ‘OrtaWater Zillie Fluvial Unit’ was commissioned by
the Austrian Pavilion of the International Expo 2008 in Zaragoza. It
incorporates the traditional Zillie canoe form the mountain regions of
Austria, with an organic steel structure which forms a ‘bottle rack for
hundreds of bottles of water collected from destinations around the world.
The artworks Lucy and Jorge Orta create stem form the idea that the
imagination is a means of constructing the world and that the images we
produce can help to model sustainable forms of development and possible new
modes of coexistence.
OrtaWater was the focus of major survey exhibitions at the Hangar Biccoca
contemporary art centre in Milan (2008); the Venice Biennale (2007) and Museum
Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam (2005). ‘OrtaWater’ received an ‘Award for
Sculpture’ that combines artistic excellence with an environmental message,
presented by the United Nations Environment Programme at the Nobel Peace
Center in Oslo 2007.
At the DSM office Sittard the project Antarctica Village - No Borders draws
attention to the current climate of migration and the refugee status in which
many people throughout the world find themselves.
Courtesy art works and text Motive Gallery in Amsterdam.
