For a new, cheap nature
The social artwork “#NewCheapNature” promotes less
#NewCheapNature asks several important questions about the relationship we have with our environment, with nature and with each other. With the help of a social media campaign and an exhibition at openspace.innsbruck, people’s attention is drawn to a wide range of sustainability issues and they are encouraged to rethink their consumption habits.

We underestimate the consequences of our actions
The human ability to understand the causes and consequences of one’s own actions is the premise of the project. Especially in our behavior towards the nature and earth, we have difficulty seeing and understanding the causality between our everyday actions and their effects. Nature’s delayed response to human intervention exacerbates this phenomenon. Despite the rise of sustainability thinking in recent years, one must continue to raise awareness.

After two successful implementations of the project by “Novo Kulturno Naselje” (Novi Sad, Serbia) and “Kaunas Biennial” (Kaunas, Lithuania), the Magic Carpets EU Project will be realized in 2022 in Austria in collaboration with the artist Richard Schwarz, “openspace.innsbruck” and students from the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol. Additionally, Sara Agic from Novo Kulturno Naselje and Danijela Oberhofer Tonkovic will support as curators and project managers. The implementation of the project includes a two-week Instagram campaign on the Instagram account openspace.innsbruck. Through interactive formats, in an entertaining and exciting way, attention will be drawn to various sustainability topics. People will be encouraged to think about more sustainable methods in everyday life with the help of tips.

Implementation
This online campaign eventually leads to a community action. In which everyone is invited to find their oldest T-Shirt in their wardrobe and write a short story about what has already been experienced with it. In this way, an emotional value is attributed to the clothes and the community is encouraged to reconsider and reduce their clothing consumption. Based on the age of the clothing, the amount of drinking water saved by keeping on wearing them is calculated in contrast to the purchase of a new one. We are aware that this approach and the calculation are not 100% accurate. However, the numbers show connections and create awareness for the problem and additionally create an incentive for the community to post their garment. In this way, #NewCheapNature makes it clear what impact our actions have on the limited resources of the earth.

Factsheet
The two-week Instagram campaign starts on Thursday, Nov. 24 and ends on Thursday, Dec. 08. Simultaneously, the community campaign also starts on this day (Mary’s Conception) and everyone is invited to share their stories until Dec. 15.

New Cheap Nature is part of the Magic Carpets project, co-funded by the EU as part of the “Creative Europe” program and supported by the City of Innsbruck, the Region of Tyrol, the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport.