The third Global Nomadic Art Project (GNAP) will take place in South Africa in September and October this year following the success of the previous editions, with the presence of international environmental artists, including one nature artist from Iran.
The GNAP 2016 ‘Stories of Rain’ traces the legacy of the first nomadic peoples of southern Africa. Local artists guide international artists through varied landscapes and world heritage rock art sites across South Africa, creating temporary nature art responses along the way.
Nine renowned land artists from Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, South Korea and Sweden will join local artists in the project.
Iranian artist Mahmoud Maktabi together with the other artists will travel along different routes in small groups, meeting and staying with local participating artists and supporters along the way. The tours will commence on September 8 and culminate in an exhibition of the works produced by the artists (installations, videos and photos) in Cape Town, on October 6.
Speaking about the project, Maktabi said, “I have cooperated with a number of the participating artists. Iranian art and artists are now known in the world and so are the foreign artists’ works in Iran,” ISNA quoted him as saying.
In the third GNAP edition, the participants will be divided into groups of two or three and each group, traveling to different places, will meet local artists and create works of art apropos to the area.
“Artists from across the world get together and travel globally across continents creating artworks by natural elements without damaging the environment. As the works are temporary, after the project is finished, they will become part of nature again in a natural process,” Maktabi said.
Ephemeral Art Practice
Nature art is a non-destructive ephemeral art practice that uses natural materials and structures found at a chosen site to construct or perform a temporary artwork. Artists will often repeat the same forms at different locations.
‘Nomadic’ artists also indulge in inter-cultural dialogue and interact with groups of students at various educational institutions and share their expertise.
Maktabi, 31, is a graduate of painting who has turned to environmental art and performance since 2005. He has participated in more than 40 exhibitions and festivals in Iran, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Canada, France, India and the US. He was Iran’s representative at the first and second edition of the project in South Korea (2014) and India (2015) respectively.
The 2016 edition is organized by The Site Specific Collective (a volunteer based initiative in South Africa) in collaboration with Yatoo (Korean Nature Artist’s Association). The project first started as an idea by a group of artists from South Korea and has turned into a movement.
It will be followed in Iran in 2017 and will continue in European and American countries later.
