AMPPARITO (ES) - STREET ART BUS
Stavanger, previously regarded as the ‘Oil Capital of Norway’, is fast on its way to becoming the world’s first ‘Art City’.
Renowned the world over for its annual Street Art Festival Nuart, the city has commissioned an ongoing series of curated Street Art Buses with the latest artwork coming courtesy of Spanish conceptual street artist Ampparito.
Taking inspiration from buses in Argentina, commonly referred to as ‘colectivo’ (meaning ‘collective’ or ‘group’), Ampparito has transformed the bus into a wicker basket carrying people from location to location.
From the artist:
“I spent a lot of time thinking about different allegories with materials, taking inspiration from the ‘colectivo’.
The intertwining wicker serves as a metaphor for how individual elements can come together to achieve a greater purpose, much like the people who organize into groups or 'colectivo' to make mobility affordable for everyone.
I firmly believe that interaction is the most important human function. In an increasingly individualistic world, encouraged by technological advancements, it is ever more important to inspire interaction and relations between people.
This bus is about relations: people sitting, talking, pushing, hugging, escaping, sharing, avoiding, growing, evolving and interacting.”
Regional bus company Kolumbus commissioned the first Street Art buses in 2016 and has committed to a three-year plan to introduce more designs to a fleet already boasting artworks fromnational and internationally renowned artists Add Fuel (Portugal), Ernest Zacharevic (Lithuania), Martin Whatson (Norway), M-city (Poland) and Norway’s leading female street artist Hama Woods.
“Nuart’s goal is to make art a part of people’s everyday lives: to bring art out of museums and galleries onto the city streets”, says James Finucane, General Manager at Nuart Festival.
“The bus has traditionally been viewed as the transportation of choice for those less advantaged in society, and possibly the least likely mode of transport to be associated with contemporary art. But like the subway carriage before it - something this project could be seen as paying homage to - it is now host to an art form that is derived from the streets”.
Grethe Skundberg, press spokesperson for Kolumbus, said: “We want to make leaving your car at home an attractive choice. Putting art on buses can help transform mass transport from a dull experience into a more exciting one for some. Nuart adds spice to our daily commuters’ lives and we admire Ampparito’s latest design.”
Nuart Festival 2018 takes place from 6-9 September.
For more comments from Kolumbus please contact Grethe Skundberg (T: +47 481 65 307; E: grethe.skundberg@kolumbus.no).
For more comments from Nuart Festival please contact James Finucane (T: +47 93 66 70 46; E: james@nuartfestival.no).
This project is made possible with the support of Rogaland Fylkeskommune.
