Thursday, January 22, 2015
The conference “Green Laboratory: Culture and Environment” was initiated by GeoAIR and Culture and Management Lab in cooperation with the Georgian National Museum in the framework of the project “Discover Eliava”. The conference was dedicated to creative and alternative approaches towards reduction of negative impact on environment, effective management of waste and reusable energies, energy efficiency. During the meeting attendees and guest speakers discussed the issues of artistic residencies, production of art works from the second hand materials, reusable energies, reduction of the use of recourses in cultural institutions, newest trends of the “green architecture.”
 
Conference brought together the representatives of different fields: artists, architects, businessmen and the others, among them the representative of the British organization Julie’s Bicycle, Luke Ramsay (www.juliesbicycle.com). The organization has a long experience in consulting cultural institutions and individuals on reduction of negative impact on environment and carrying out creative projects. It has an expertise in the realm of energy efficiency and renewable energies as well as use of the waste materials and calculation of impact on environment. During the conference guest speaker from the artistic residency Pollinaria Daniela d’Arielli (Italy) presented the initiative Tree House  (www.pollinaria.org/en/Arte/fritz-haeg.aspx).
 
Speakers:
- Mikheil Tsereteli, Deputy Director of the Georgian National Museum
- Luke Ramsay, Environmental Sustainability Manager, Julie’s Bicycle (Great Britain)
- Mamuka Japaridze, Founder, cloud library (Georgia)
- Karaman Kutateladze, Head of the Residency, Garikula Art Residency (Georgia)
- Daniela d’Arielli, Production Assistant, Artistic Residency and Farm “Pollinaria” (Italy)
- Ia Kupatadze, Architect, Ilia State University (Georgia)
- Giorgi Zurashvili, Local team leader, Energocredit (Georgia)
- Mathieu Vrijman, Founder/Artist, Kultivator (Sweden) (online presentation)
- Nino Sulkhanishvili, Director, Ecovision (Georgia)
- Kakha Karchkhadze, Senior Researcher of Reusable Energies, Ilia State University (Georgia)
 
The conference “Green Laboratory: Culture and Environment” was part of the initiative Green Art Lab Alliance (GALA), which is curated by the Dutch organization Trans Artists. It took place in the frames of the cultural program of the European Union.