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Art with Conscience

An image says more than a thousand words
- Contemporary proverb

Imagination is more important than knowledge
- Albert Einstein

Program description

Art is an expression of our humanity, a holistic way of communicating. In the syntony quest toward more meaningful and sustainable ways of being and becoming, we need to explore diverse means to reach not only the minds but also the hearts of people. Art can inspire us to think and act in new ways.

Artists with Conscience is a program of Syntony Quest that was created to:

• foster the production of art aligned with a message of social and ecological responsibility through the critique of social realities in diverse contexts and the visualization of new possibilities for a common sustainable future;
• engage in dialogue and learn with artists, scientists and activists about the social and ecological challenges and the potential of the arts as a means for the evolution of consciousness;
• establish bonds of collaboration between individuals and institutions committed to creating Art with Conscience and to fostering sustainable development around the world; and
• explore and learn from the cultural differences and similarities around the theme of Art with Conscience.

Interested? Intrigued? Curious? Please consider our invitation. Your support is always appreciated!

“Viaje hacia la conciencia”
(“A trip toward conscience”)
by Gerardo Lenin

Invitation

Wanted: Artists with Conscience

“Jardín de Antenas”
(“Garden of Antennas”)
by Gerardo Lenin

Are you an artist? Or an art-lover?
And do you also care deeply about the future of the planet?

And are you interested in education, sustainable development, and community building, as well?

We are looking for individuals interested in engaging in an exploration of the past, present, and future of humanity and the planet from an artistic point of view. We are interested in exploring the role of the arts in the evolution of social and ecological consciousness. Artists with Conscience is a program that takes a holistic position by connecting reason and intuition, knowledge and emotion, reality and possibility. You can be an artist or a person interested in art. You can be a professional artist or an amateur. You can simply be curious about what we mean by Art with Conscience! The important thing is that you care about creating a better world. This program isn’t about getting a good picture of how things are in the world – we can do that with the sciences that describe and explain what is. Instead it’s about getting our fingers on the pulse of change by looking ahead and helping emerge the values and visions that can guide us to futures that aren’t just a simple extension of the present. It’s about envisioning the world anew; about emerging what could be!

Your participation involves the creation of an international Community of Artists with Conscience. In fact, one of the founding artists in this program, Gregorio Rivera, has already done a tremendous amount of work in this direction (visit this link for more on what he’s up to). The community provides a means for artists to join efforts in the creation of a better world. The artists participating in this project are interested in collaborating and exploring the social and ecological connections of their art so that they can communicate critical perspectives and visionary opportunities through different media.

Syntony Quest will showcase their art and organize events that combine various dimensions of sound, color, rhythm, shape, movement, light, and texture, in the hope that people will have a direct experience of syntony! Help us to make this dream come true by joining us in this quest.

If you are an artist, know an artist, or would like to support other artists to focus their creative energies in manifesting critical reflections of "what is" and envisioning possibilities of "what could and should be," then here is your opportunity.

What is the first step? Please download and fill out this questionnaire and mail it to

Syntony Quest
1761 Vallejo Street, Suite 302
San Francisco, CA 94123

or Fax it to:
(415) 346-1547

Gallery

The first community of Artists with Conscience in Mexico

Mexico 2101
By Gregorio Rivera

Three Mexican visual artists came together to produce a thought provoking “newspaper” on Art with Consciousness. Gregorio Rivera presented a computer generated image of the possible future geography of Mexico if global warming raises the ocean levels. Victor Castro wrote a story about how he got involved in working with children with special needs when he first went to Oaxaca. Gerardo Lenin took the newspaper as a whole as his project and he designed the layout, created the illustration for the editorial, generated classified adds, and made of this unique publication an absolutely gorgeous display of ideas, images, and possibilities. The process for creating the newspaper was creative, fun, and eye-opening. For instance, the three artists, together with Alexander and Kathia Laszlo, went to visit one of the garbage processing plants outside of the city of Monterrey, Mexico, and the surrounding neighborhoods. They learned about some of the challenges of life in this area, took pictures of drawings made by gangs on the walls of the plant, and documented the contrast between a rundown and squalid neighborhood and the clean and tidy national supermarket chain that sits in its midst without playing a proactive role in supporting its development.

You can see the wonderful single-run newspaper “El Camino” (text in Spanish) in the Resources page. [link to El_Camino.pdf]

Here are some samples of the individual work of these three artists. If you would like to be in touch with any of them, let us know at artists@syntonyquest.org.

“Sin Título”
by Gerardo Lenin

“El Viaje al Sol”
by Gerardo Lenin

Gerardo Lenin and his wife Carmen Gutiérrez have founded TPM Asociados, an art broker firm that shares a percentage of their sales to support young Mexican artists. You can contact Gerardo at glenin63@yahoo.com or visit their forthcoming TPM website at www.tallerartemexicano.com.

“Luna” by Gregorio Rivera

“Eclipse” by Gregorio Rivera

Gregorio Rivera is developing an integral approach to arts and sciences through the creation of an international network of artists who function as a learning community focused on the notion of sustainable development. For more on this, follow the link mentioned above.

“Las Bodas”
(“The Weddings”)
by Victor Castro

“Sin Título”
by Victor Castro

Victor Castro founded efevece_org to carry out art projects for and with children with special needs. He has worked with street children in Oaxaca and with terminally ill children in Monterrey. To learn more about Victor’s work visit www.efevece.org.

Exhibitions

Art with Conscience on the Web

Moçambique: Images of an African country :
Photographs by Sandro Pintus

From the introduction:

“This exhibition on Mozambique aims to be a small testimony and contribution to the country in which between 1984 and my last visit in 1992 I've worked as a journalist and photographer.
Most of the pictures deal with a very sad period in the history of the country, when it was steeped in the blood of a civil war. There was a great deal of starvation and misery but the population of Mozambique never ceased in displaying great dignity and courage even in the most difficult of times.

I wanted to begin this exhibition with a photo of a tree, the Cajueira (Cashew tree) that provides shade during the lessons at a primary school and finish it with another tree, the Baobab, used as a postal office. They are both symbols of Africa and an integral part of the daily life of the population.”

Kuwait was Hell: Images from the environmental disaster of 1991 :
Photographs by Sandro Pintus

From the introduction:

“Seven years after the end of the Gulf War… we want to remember some of the consequences of that invasion - the fire of the Kuwaitian oil wells - which caused very severe environmental damages, not yet fully reabsorbed.
….
Kuwait wants to live peacefully, in freedom and security. It is a rightful desire, for which a very high price was paid. It is a wish to which all peoples and States ought to aspire. Never more invasions, never more violences, never more wars. This is a warning and the hope we want to propose even today.”

Drawings made by Kosavar children who have run away from war

If you would like to have your webpage of Art with Conscience linked here, please let us know.

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