Artist Residence (Ecoart Uganda)

 https://tedxinnovations.ted.com/2016/12/16/playgrounds-made-out-of-trash/  Completed Artist in residence at Fabrikken of Kunst og Design in Copenhagen July 2017. This is an opportunity to grow and reflect about my studio practice as an artist and something few artists in my country are previledged to enjoy and thus my story begins.  In 2011, I founded Ecoart Uganda,  a contemporary form of environmental art organisation created by artists who are concerned about local and global environmental situations, and who take art making to a functional format thus the recycled playgrounds  l have been involved in TED since 2011 curating the first TEDx in Uganda and growing the network to 11 different other events.      Having been born and raised in Uganda, it is one place where art and culture have  great potential to grow and explode but also limited in places that nurture such dialogues.  Thus, the reason I turned my home into an artist residence to brigde this gap and create  platforms where artists, writers, disruptors, activists, innovators can freely explore their creativity in a place of calm and peace , a dream away.    My background to art residence experience begun in  2014 when I was invited as Environmental Artist in Residence at the McColl Center of Art and innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6GiIe5BgUA&t=19s) . This was after I won the TEDPrize for City 2.0 in 2012 where I engaged my community and we built a playground for children who had none. It is featured here (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/world/africa/playground-trash-ruganzu-bruno-uganda/index.html ) I started with saving my stipend offered at McColl and used it to buy land in Kampala, it is from this land as an ecoartist that I build a home together with a studio that I wanted to share with other artists and my community. The materials I have been using are scavenged in the environment which in a way end as building material. Am talking about building with plastic bottles, wine glass bottles, sand, the earth and some concrete to strengthen the pillars. Much as majority of my materials is waste, it is not free. I need to compasate the garbage collectors who provide these materials and also buy other condtruction materials and install solar energy in addition to the Water harvesting which we currently use.  I am because we are = Ubuntu is why am here sharing with you to support the first of its kind Artist residence where artists from allover the world will come stay with my family and interact, dialogue, develop research and collaborate with Ugandan artists. You can get to know more about the work of Ecoart Uganda through this TEDxTalk presented last year ( Ruganzu needs to raise $5500 or Kr 50,000  to #buildecoartistresidence. Support the spirit of Ubuntu space for ALL artist communities please donate what you can and share widely.