We invite you to vote on the New European Bauhaus platform until March 27 to support the project in winning the main prize.
The project #itIsNotTooLate of Seagrass beds is the only Croatian project selected among 50 finalists in the competition of 530 projects from all over Europe. Public voting is open from March 6 to 27 march – with your vote, you can support our project, and the municipalities of Karin, Obrovac and Zadar, in becoming New European Bauhaus Champions.
Only one project in Strand A “Champions of the New European Bauhaus”, dedicated to existing and completed projects with clear and positive results, will be awarded according to the number of votes it receives on the NEB Prizes platform, while the expert panel will award one winner and one runner-up in each of the four categories: Reconnecting with nature, Restoring a sense of belonging, Prioritizing the places and people that need it most, Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking.
The winners and runners-up will receive a cash prize of: EUR 30,000 for the winners and EUR 20,000 for the runners-up. In addition to a monetary amount, each winner and runner-up will benefit from a communication package provided by the European Commission to help them further promote and develop their projects and concepts.
20 winners from all over Europe and beyond will be awarded this year at the official NEB Prizes 2024 Awards Ceremony on April 12, during the New European Bauhaus Festival in Bruxelles.
Near the road to the village of Lončari (Karin Gornji, Croatia), on the path leading to the River Bijela canyon, there is an installation by the American artist called “See glass again”. . Created as a result of the project “Seagrass beds: It’s not too late” (holder is Association for nature, environment, sustainable development and tourism Lončari), this work with a diameter of nine meters represents the largest artistic intervention in a public space in Croatia, in the creation of which hundreds of people participated.
The first phase of its construction began before the installation was even conceptually conceived. Namely, in three eco-cleaning actions that took place throughout 2020 and 2022, volunteers, local activists, mountaineers and climbers collected 125 cubic meters of glass waste in the river Bijela canyon, as well as five tons of surrounding garbage.
The goal of the project, in addition to cleaning the Bijela canyon and the seagrass beds of the Karin and Novigrad seas, was also to raise public awareness of the importance of protecting seagrass beds. The mentioned glass waste was intended as a material with which an artist will create an installation as part of their residency at OPG Pueblo Escondido. For this purpose, at the end of 2022, international competition “On accepting the undesirable” was published, in which Dodd Holsapple’s work, among 46 applications from all over the world, was selected as the best. His proposal was based on a ring-shaped drywall with an eel mosaic that would serve as a seating and conversation area. The goal of the project, in addition to cleaning the river Bijela canyon and the seabed of the Karin and Novigrad seas, was also to raise public awareness of the importance of protecting sea meadows. Thus, the collected glass waste served as material for the creation of an art installation in the form of a ring with a european eel mosaic, which during September 2023 transformed the area of the illegal waste dump into a viewpoint, a place of meeting and conversation. In addition to Holsapple, the creation was attended by local residents, volunteers, climbers and mountaineers, so the work of art, in addition to the artist’s, received the signature of all those who participated in the project’s public events. Holsapple thus in September and October 2023 replaced his address in California’s Santa Monica with a residence in Lončari. During his stay, a glass separation workshop was held at OPG Pueblo Escondido in which students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Croatia and volunteers from the Ocean Knowledge Association participated, as well as a drywall construction workshop with expert guidance from members of the Dragodid Association. The action is part of a project approved through the Three Seas FLAG competition for the selection of the Measure 2.1 project support for the valuation, protection and promotion of the natural resource base – rivers, seas and coasts within the implementation of the Local Development Strategy in fisheries FLAG Three Seas for the period 2014-2020.
The series of public events that took place from September 16 to October 10, 2023, was also supported by the Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
Financial support was also provided by the Serbian National Council (SNV), and the Paklenica Sports Climbing Club greatly helped in the organization of all events.
Other participants: Students of ALU Split, Students of ALU Zagreb, NMMU Zagreb, Erasmus student network Zadar, Sports climbing club Paklenica, The Serbian Cultural Society “Prosvjeta” , SNV-The Serb National Council, Association Lončari, Organization Ocean of Knowledge, Art organization Teatro VeRRdi, Association Vizura Aperta, Center for new media_kuda.org, Eko Zrmanja Association, Udruga Kamene babe, Karin Resort Association, OPG Pueblo Escondido, OPG Due di denari Karin Gornji. Građevinski fakultet u Rijeci, Institut für Baukonstruktion – TU Dresden, ReStruct Group – TU Delft
Supported by:
FLAG Tri mora Co-financed by the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund
SNV Serb National Council
Adria Think d.o.o.
Local municipality of Karin Gornji
Natura Jadera, public institution for the management of protected areas of nature in Zadar County
Ministry of Culture and Media, Republic of Croatia
Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
Zaklada Kultura Nova
Kamen Amadeus
Please check documentary movie ili Showreel video to understand project better
More about project https://morskelivade.com/en
