THE CORK PEOPLE PROJECT
[SAVING the CORKS]
THE STORY:
The Cork People Project began in the first few months of the new millennium, when I started collecting corks - part of a broader interest in collecting natural or nature-derived small and similar objects. I was looking at people opening wine bottles and throwing the corks to the garbage and in the beginning it was just an attempt to recycle one more object. Soon it became an obsession. My friends and acquaintances were giving me bags full of corks (they still do!); my studio was full of them. Then, one day, I took a few corks out of the pile and started putting them together. The Cork People is the result of this initiative. Every Cork is looking for a companion and every Cork gives birth to the next one…
THE STATEMENT:
The Cork People Project is examining the transformation and recycling of material into an all-inclusive micro-society in a candid and humorous manner. The Corks read, sleep, think, do yoga, swing, sit, stand, they are happy or sad, they walk, they sit on a wheelchair, they jump in the pool, they bike or enjoy the sea breeze… Everyone of them would be about a meter tall if standing.
The project reflects the current state of humanity in all its exuberance and brokenness, in a simple and representative way. It creates a metaphor for the human destiny, while examining the creation of movement through self-imposed rules set by the materiality and shape of the cork.
Boxes upon boxes of corks…
In 2015 I made a video and uploaded it to Kickstarter to crowd-fund the Cork People project. I also made tee-shirts and tote bags for the supporters. The project was successfully funded. You can take a look at the whole campaign at the Kickstarter page here.
You can go through the carousel or look at all the Cork People individually (getting to know them by their names), as well as the promotional tee-shirts and tote bags at the GALLERY here.
