Shai Zakai

1st stream reclamation via eco-art in Israel

“I would like there to exist places that are stable, unmoving, intangible, untouched, unchanging, deep-rooted; places that might be points of reference, of departure, of origin: ..to try meticulously to retain something, to cause something to survive; to wrest a few precise scraps from the void as it grows, to leave somewhere a furrow, a trace, a mark or a few signs.” Georges Perec, Paris 1973-74 .*

In my quests for visual expressions which would bring man and the environment closer together I have conceived of a reclamation plan which operates concurrently on the physical level – cleansing the stream, and on the social and spiritual level – healing people from their environmental indifference…

For me, an eco-artist is comparable to a doctor practicing alternative medicine, who would never offer you a painkiller, but would examine the body as a whole; or to a judge, who would send a transgressor to a rehabilitation program rather than to jail; to a philosopher who would always explore multiple versions and variations before he finds that singular insight; to “sublime nature” that often invokes in its beholder magical sensations that are never quite deciphered; wishing to utter our admiration, we feel close to the place and it becomes so precious to us that we want to preserve it.

Source www.eco-art.co.il