Art Making with a Sprinkle of Culture

SCRAPS

October 14 and 15

Time: 10am to 5pm

Ticket: $60

Location: Co.As.It. Conference Room
199 Faraday Street, Carlton

Bookings: https://www.coasit.com.au/scraps 

Project by Memetica

:: What to expect

Scraps is a playful take on an art-making workshop with a sprinkle of language trimmings on top.

You will create mesmerizing puppet costumes… with a little cultural the twist.

The workshop facilitators are all mother tongue Italian speakers and you’ll have a chance to finally utter those few words you always wanted to practice… but never dared to!

What if you don’t know any Italian words? better still! The fun will be greater!

In a playfully creative environment you will join internationally renewed Memetica in the creation of a new spawn of the Reeflings, fantasy mutant creatures originated from the reefs around the world and came to land. The creatures will perform at the 2023 Melbourne Italian Festa in Carlton (not confirmed yet)

Scraps is a community art project combining creative inflatable sculpture workshops with playful language learning and cultural immersion. The final outcome is an exhibition of collective community engaged work with strong aesthetic impact.

Scraps invites community participants to create inflatable costume puppets from salvaged materials. The unique twist: they do so under the guidance of Italian (and English) speaking artists and facilitators. As participants learn about and create costumes, they also learn scraps of language. The playful, colloquial, communal process is supported by short performative language ‘lessons’ and a cumulative series of ‘flashcards’ written or drawn onto offcut scraps of fabric. Cultural immersion and authentic community engagement is ensured by working with ‘mother-tongue sewers’ – community members whose first language is Italian, and who bring sewing skills – in the delivery of workshops.

The workshop’s creations will feature at Melbourne Italian Festa where Memetica will make its Reeflings available for children to wear and perform in. You will see your work becoming alive for the delight of the audience and the young performers alike

:: The Reeflings 
The Reeflings emerge as a mutated species, originating from reefs across the world’s oceans. Among them are those who are newly acquainted with land, while others are born here, carrying on their legacy in the wake of the reefs’ decline. These resilient creatures embody optimism as they navigate a life devoid of a familiar home or seek refuge from their original habitats. Their ultimate quest is to find a place to call home, establish thriving communities, and coexist harmoniously with other living organisms. The Reeflings history weaves a tale of escape, survival, arrival, transformation, joy, hope, and the remarkable ability to adapt to new environments.

The Reeflings have a strong visual impact whether in day light or lit-up from inside in a blacked out environment.
They are inflatables  puppet characters made with abandoned camping tents collected in the aftermath of big music festivals.