Waste materials become artworks

İZMİR - Anatolia News Agency

During the workshop, huge masks are created by international sculptors using waste materials. AA Photo

Sculptors from around the world who have gathered in İzmir for the International Waste Material Mask Workshop are creating sculptures using waste materials such as children’s slides and heavy construction equipment.

Serpil Birsin, director of the İzmir Mask Museum, which organizes the event, said the museum had received 25,000 visitors since opening and the idea of a workshop came from the notebook used by visitors. “Upon demands, we have decided to organize an international workshop to bring artistic richness to the city. The works to be created here will be displayed in various parts of the city,” Birsin said.

Birsin said that the workshop was hosting 10 sculptors from countries like Egypt, Finland and Serbia. One of the participants, Dokuz Eylül University head of the Department of Sculpture Associate Professor Gökçen Ergür, said she had designed a work named “Phoenix” using a children’s slide, safety irons and lamppost flanges.

The workshop will end today with a documentary screening at the İzmir Fair Painting and Sculpture Museum.