ITMO to Host Eco Art Festival and Upcycled Fashion Show

The philosophy

The festival is organized by Elina Monahova, Maria Sharonova, and Daniil Mironov, the members of ITMO's Sustainable Development Club. When coming up with the idea for their event, the students, or othersiders, as they call themselves, draw inspiration from Timothy Morton, a philosopher who proposed to stop dividing the natural world and the human world and perceiving “nature” as something external and alien to humans. As noted by the professor, the distance between them grows when people are marking their actions under the labels of “ecology” and “eco-friendliness”. What he suggests instead is to adopt the view that everything around us is nature, and humans are playing their part in it, just like everything else.

The organizers believe that their festival is not just about delivering art mediations and lectures on sustainability, although these are also included in the program, but rather creating the perfect full-immersion environment and, ideally, building a community of eco-enthusiasts. To make it true, the team wanted to involve artists in ecological and science art in their project. The planned exhibition is expected to turn into a large-scale installation that will emphasize the unity of the entire project.

Program

The festival will include lectures, an exhibition, and an accompanying fashion show. Within the first part of the event, practicing specialists, environmental scientists, and young researchers will come together to talk about environmental issues and ecological art. Among the speakers are Oksana Orlova-Gorskaya, the director for sustainable development at TSQ Consulting and a methodologist on environment matters at All Good, and Daria Martynova, a lecturer at ITMO’s Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations. Most of the presentations will be given by aspiring specialists who have participated in the project’s open call. 

The second part will welcome the participants of the open call, namely artists from all over Russia (e.g. Ekaterinburg, Volgograd, and St. Petersburg) who practice a wide range of media and techniques. Yet the exhibition’s main focus is installations made using organic or recycled materials. For instance, one of the artists included a tumbleweed, which was specifically delivered from Simferopol, in their installation. Apart from the eco-friendly exhibits, there will also be a photo display of works submitted via the website.

And last but not least, the festival will close with a fashion show featuring outfits that were created by ITMO students under the guidance of Daniil Mironov, the head of the it make up club. The fashion collection will be made up of upcycled materials and unwanted clothes, some of which will have living flowers planted into the fabric to promote its unity with nature. 

“We thought that it is not right to ask people to reduce their consumption and make it more conscious without telling them exactly how to do it. And this is our way to show that stylish looks can be simple. After all, fashion is also a form of self-expression, and it is available to everyone. That’s why we will also showcase some outfits that do not require much time, effort, and materials to make,” comments Daniil Mironov.