We are pleased to announce that the VORRES MUSEUM 12-day artistic residency promoted by the innovative project EMPACT – Empathy and Sustainability: The Art of Thinking like a Mountain, is about to begin! It will start the 31 July to end on the 12th of August and has been co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme (Grant Agreement No: – EMPACT – CREA-CULT-2021-COOP-2).

The EMPACT residencies initiate a dialogue between artists, sustainability experts, philosophers and social scientists, in order to explore the importance of empathy as a key to aid people tackle and act upon climate change.

Specifically, EMPACT aims to facilitate artists in creating, through sustainable practices, art that fosters an empathic stance towards non-human beings and nature.

This will succeed in enhancing artistic and cultural cooperation at the European level, and in fostering innovative thinking and mobility in Europe’s cultural and creative sectors. At the same time, it will help the circulation of artists and works, it will trans-nationally explore the aforementioned sectors of Cultural and Creative Industries, it will give rise to innovative co-productions and artistic creations, and it will contribute to disseminating professional and artistic good practices across Europe and in practically establishing a forum to exchange ideas and critical arguments towards an empathic and sustainable world

EMPACT considers the artist’s own emotional and empathic stance as a key point that will allow them to effectively incorporate the concept of sustainability in their artistic production.

Vorres Museum in Greece is dedicated to contemporary Greek art and folk art. Its aim is the promotion and dissemination of Greek civilization through the creation of infrastructures and permanent collections, the presentation of exhibitions, the implementation of educational programs, the design of publications as well as the organization of events, happenings, speeches, etc.

The Vorres Museum “breathes” due to its location and its open spaces, it has adopted the last couple of years a more sustainable approach in the way it maintains and develops its gardens. Extensive use of endemic species, drought tolerant plants adapted to the weather patterns of the area and a new dry part have been added, to make them a paradigm of Mediterranean gardening. The educational programs and workshops implemented every year host more than fourteen thousand students every year. It also prepares a Residency program every year.

The three selected participants for the VM/EMPACT program are Veredas Lopez and Alva Moca from Spain and Venelin Shurelov from Bulgaria.

During the residency they will explore the Museum Collections establishing  ideas and critical arguments  and they will propose artistic creations as well as  artistic good practices.

On the closing weekend they will present their projects to the Paiania community and anyone who would like to participate.