Universal Market Art project

  • In Ancient Greece the Agora was the heart of the city-state and "gathering place" of all the community. Administrative, political, judicial, commercial, social, cultural, and religious activities all found a place together in the agora. The agora also served as a marketplace: here merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid colonnades.

    In Athens for instance, the use of the area as a marketplace is indicated by the many shops where potters, cobblers, bronze workers, and sculptors made and sold their wares.

    Ancient authors such as Aristotle report that the area devoted to the sale of food was neatly separated from the zones where other types of merchandise were traded. 

    We have explored ancient trade routes, coins, food, the way of life in the past, it is time to look at the markets. 

    Task: Create a work inspired by what a multinational market looked like in the past, in present and in future. Use any means of art expression - traditional or digital. Works will be presented and exhibited in Spain during the common group activity there. 

    Here are results of our investigation and work

    Italy:

    Our proposal was not the prototype of a market but a game summing up the spirit of the AVITAE Project: the game, called "Trade Off" worked with cards, paper money, a gameboard, 7 tokens, a rule sheet, dice. Each card would show the image of one iconic item of goods coming from the trading traditions of the seven partner countries. The tokens too would be shaped after iconic characters from the seven countries (Dante for Italy, The Mermaid for Denmark, Venus for Cyprus etc). Our purpose was to pay homage to the project's itself, and to its actors!

     

    Spain:

    Different models were made by the following Spanish students: Carolina, Carla Andrea Rguez, Carla Rodríguez, Iván, Pablo, Dámaris, Marina, Yaiza, Daniel, and Damián. Some of them inspired in traditional Spanish/Canarian markets, others in Arabian/Egyptian ones ... Watch them here.

     

    Denmark:

    Nice work of students can be seen here 

    Ancient market, modern market animation made by Kasper Baun from the Danish AVITAE-team!

     

    Slovakia

    We created virtual museum of the market in past, present and future

    Here is the link to our museum

    Greece: