(Not) Art - Share Point

Sometimes art does not have to be aesthetic at all, it can be rude, ugly or even disgusting. It  can be really simple and from the first sight, if we just observe how it looks directly, but if we look deeper it can look strong, full of interesting ideas. It can reflect main society problems or reveal concerns in nowadays humanity. It can speak about relationships or the lack of relationships even if it is so obvious by its form and does not reflect the problem directly. It can also bring up questions or it can make the viewer or participant think and make questions by himself. The most interesting for me is when artist can create interactive art or object which attracts viewer to participate and become a part of the art peace, event, installation or some performance. Sometimes least I care about the form of art and the most about things you cannot see directly.

This time I want to introduce project which was not created by some famous artist and it was not exposed in galleries or exhibitions. This, as I introduced ART peace, is made by the good will, responsible and caring people who want to refresh and remind once again the main idea of kindness and sharing.  It was an idea of a group of students from Masaryk University located in Brno. I recently visited this second biggest city in Czech Republic and what I have seen inspired me to do something. It invited me to participate and think about some problems which are common everywhere - ecology, wasting, poor-living, social integration between different classes of people and helping each other, which is the main idea of society and humanity and finally I got strong feeling that I want to share about it with others. 

What I saw was totally not aesthetic piece of art and also it did not have anything to do with art as we usually understand it and it was even not created to be a piece of art. It was standing near a wall just in a simple street of Brno and it looked just like simple home equipment things which we usually see in our routine. It was a fridge and a wardrobe in the middle of street with very simple sign on top - SHARE POINT. The main idea of those objects is that anyone can bring food to the fridge, or to give old clothes and put them to the wardrobe and anyone can take it, although it does not matter whether you are from the street, just poor student searching for help in difficult period of life or old person who is not always able to have some dinner. Nice thing is that when we opened them you could see that it is being used, there was something inside and it reflected that this idea works. That people cares about each other or are interested in this project and wants to become part of it.

It is not the first and only sample of this kind of project, and definitely it is not the new thing, but sharing it and developing more ideas and places like this is respectable action. Even if it is simple and obvious, sometimes for me it looks like some kind of social art form where you can be involved and become a part of good generous act. So, as I started in the beginning this maybe cannot be accepted as art and maybe it is not art, but it encourages me to look for it inside this project. Maybe, if we would look more to small things, everyday habits and actions as into forms of art, we would be more involved with generosity and kindness and we would create this kind of "ART" among us more often.

Gerda Žemaitytė