Art Bus Workshop

BACKGROUND

While traveling through Europe for the past two years I have invited local artists to leave a new layer on the exterior of the van. Starting with a completely white car (blank canvas), this has resulted in a slowly accumulated collage of imprints that somehow reflect the cultural atmosphere and spirit of each location. It started with graffiti from Belarus and Ukraine, then street art as I drove further south. Then more politically charged actions in Greece with the refugees, in Macedonia with the protestors, and yugo-nostalgic punks in Serbia.

Here are some things I normally suggest to take into consideration to help tie a new contribution to the conceptual themes of previous and future pieces:

- The collage aspect. It would be nice for a new piece to comment on or somehow interact with what is already there.. that way at least some part of each layer would be preserved to the end when I return to Finland. Currently the dominant aesthetic is something like trashy punk, but for each layer I encourage to try to incorporate something very different so the overall aesthetic evolves over time to something even more diverse and incomprehensible haha, eventually perhaps just one very abstract piece. - I write "imprints that somehow reflect the cultural atmosphere and spirit of each location".. this isn't something to overthink, but it could be kept in mind that this van and the stories behind each layer will be told in several different countries.. so a new layer is more than welcome to highlight some cultural characteristics or current Portugal/Algarve phenomenon in the piece. - Public space has become a recurring theme for the painting actions. It is arguably the best area to practice socially engaged art, and the fact that the van is on wheels opens a lot of possibilities. The threshold for attracting an audience or contributors is very low compared to more traditional art venues. Also there is a democratic randomness that is appealing. The public space should be used to the advantage of the project and in some way or other to engage passersby in the action.

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