A canvas spreads its wings — for 1.3km!

Red Bull uses an old technique, coupled with new-age technology and social media, to support art.

LAHORE: Red Bull has given wings to a 1.3km-wide canvas. June 15 saw Red Bull display a part of artwork that took 2,000 artists to create. The Red Bull Collective Art sees artists creating one of the largest pieces of collective art in the world. The project is evolved from the concept of ‘cadavreexquis’, a Surrealist technique introduced around 1925. The idea is that an assortment of images of words is collectively assembled, with each successive person adding to the previous contribution.

The artists are able to see the last part of the previous design and connect that very image to their concept. This is one of the few times that the canvas is the inspiration for the artist rather than just being a medium. Red Bull has taken this old technique and projected it into the digital age by utilising modern technology and social media.

“Over the past few months, Red Bull’s Collective Art project has received over 2,000 submissions contributing to an art piece that now totals 1.3 km,” says a Red Bull spokesperson at Stoneage Lahore. “The project has seen contributions from 85 countries worldwide.”

A variety of different creative people including designers, artists, photographers and publicists, contributed to this project. Each continuation has a meaning of its own and adds new meaning and depth to the image preceding it. With participants from 85 countries, including Japan, Poland, Slovenia and Pakistan, the art work was selected via an online portal.

The exhibit at Stoneage included live performances by musicians and artists. While the musicians played their music, the artists painted a canvas to treat guests to their creative process.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

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