Western European city kids of the 21st century have fewer chances than ever to sense the changes of the seasons. It is not only because of the climate crisis and the shifting temperatures of the year. Our society is also designed for constant production and consumption. In winter, our spaces are heated; in summer, they are cooled by air conditioning. Bananas and oranges are available all year long, and we eat them as if they were apples.
To connect kids with the rhythm of the seasons, IPek created a year-long visual experiment. She organized community painting days for the same surface, repeated each season. It became very popular: neighborhood inhabitants liked the idea of a changing artwork in their daily landscape, and kids found it inspiring to work on a surface that had already been painted before. These projects are not only opportunities to talk about climate and sustainability, but also a way to experience respectful engagement with given conditions. Kids learn how not to demolish but to transform, how not to overwrite but to integrate.

Would you like to design a four-seasons workshop for your social institute, museum, or community centre – have IPek do it with your community, or learn to do it yourself?
Contact IPek here.