The successful Tilos Artist Residency programme continues for the second consecutive year on the island of Tilos. The cultural organisation Polygreen Culture & Art Initiative (PCAI) is collaborating this year with the British Council in the framework of the Circular Cultures (Making Matters), inviting the British art collective RESOLVE. The art collective will be on the island of Tilos from 23 to 31 October 2023 to explore possible environmental solutions through the lens of artistic creativity and the tools offered by art.

RESOLVE is an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology and art to address social challenges. Having carried out numerous projects, workshops, publications and talks in the UK and across Europe, they aim to realise just and equitable visions of change in the urban environment.

The project aims to explore how circular economy principles can inspire creativity, collaboration and innovative thinking in architecture, design, different materials and urban planning. In particular, during their participation in the residency programme, the artists will have the opportunity to see first-hand the circular economy programme implemented on the island, study the management chain, the sorting system and the materials collected daily at the Tilos Centre for Circular Innovation.

The collective, which will be represented in Tilos by Lauren-Loïs Duah, interdisciplinary visual artist, author and spatial-designer, and Melissa Haniff, co-director of the group, will also get in touch with the local community as well as the history, crafts and folklore traditions of the island. In collaboration with the Dodecanese Primary Education Directorate and the primary school of Tilos, the artists are going to create a collective artwork with the community that will be a legacy of their research and will remain on the island.

The first participants of the Tilos Artist Residency, Hypercomf and The New Raw, left a similar “footprint” by creating artworks and art objects from recyclable materials, most of which are on display in Tilos, at the Just Go Zero Tilos Information Centre.

The artists’ hospitality programme is part of the Polygreen Group’s collaboration with the Municipality of Tilos and Polygreen’s Just Go Zero Tilos, which was launched in 2022. It is an innovative project, which develops solutions to promote sustainability and the circular economy, and has made Tilos the first zero waste island in Greece.

Maria Papaioannou, Head of the Arts Department of the British Council Greece, notes: “We are delighted to join forces with PCAI as part of our European project on Circular Cultures (Making Matters), inviting the British collective Resolve to Tilos. Through the innovative Tilos Artist Residency, we hope to highlight the importance of collective design and collaborative design with a focus on sustainability, as well as continue the dialogue on the importance of reusing local, indigenous materials in co-creating an ethical global creative community.”

Athanasios Polychronopoulos, CEO of Polygreen and Founder of PCAI, and Kika Kyriakakou, Artistic Director of PCAI, report: “In collaboration with the British Council Greece, this year we are organizing the new cycle of Tilos Artist Residency inviting the renowned Resolve from the UK. A cultural partnership of organisations with local stakeholders and the Tilos community, which we are really excited about and hope will further contribute to the global promotion of circularity and good environmental stewardship.”

This year’s residency is supported by the Onassis Stegi Foundation, as part of the Circular Cultures (Making Matters) programme.