Who we are
We are an association of artists, cultural managers, and creative individuals from various disciplines who have created Drap-Art with the aim of making visible, through art, the ecological disasters caused by our current consumer society and proposing alternative, more sustainable lifestyles.
Drap-Art was founded in 1995 in Barcelona as a platform for artists who reclaim the concept of objet trouvé, placing it within a reflection on their environment and its challenges.
Drap-Art has been present in more than 16 countries, and in its 23 years of activity, the project expanded to the Americas, with regular activities in Barcelona, Montevideo, and Pittsburgh, and since 2017 also in Buenos Aires, promoting the work of more than 780 artists and carrying out awareness-raising activities for all audiences.
Drap-Art has become a network within the emerging sector of Catalan artists, designers, artisans, and other creative professionals who work with discarded objects, fostering exchange with artists from other parts of Spain, Europe, and the rest of the world.
From this perspective, it functions as both a springboard for young artists into the professional art world—creating job opportunities and facilitating exchanges with experienced artists—and as an awareness campaign that echoes and disseminates the reflections of its artists on environmental and social issues, inviting the public to consume more responsibly, change their habits, and adhere to the three Rs slogan (reduce, reuse, and recycle).
Drap-Art’s philosophy is extending into other fields of social and cultural action as a premise for surviving in the current economic, social, and environmental crisis, promoting art as a tool for experimentation and transformation. The habit of using and discarding must be redirected towards the awareness that nothing disappears—everything transforms.
Mission
Drap-Art’s mission is to provide a platform for artists working with concepts such as sustainability, reuse, and the more efficient use of resources through festivals, exhibitions, workshops, events, and spaces for debate, aiming to educate and entertain on environmental and social issues through creativity and art.
Additionally, it seeks to generate a positive impact on younger generations, sustainable artists, and individuals interested in taking action to raise awareness about environmental and social challenges.
Vision
To awaken collective consciousness through art and creativity, providing a reference point for the fight in favor of the environment and social inclusion. To showcase positive solutions for a world that is more sustainable socially, environmentally, and economically. To contribute to shifting the habit of buying and discarding towards habits of care, responsibility for one’s consumption and waste, and the principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Objectives
- To promote the emerging sector of artists working with discarded materials, using creative recycling as a tool to support transformation in art, the environment, and society.
- To lead a network that recognizes artists and entrepreneurs who embrace the 3Rs concept: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
- To integrate key sustainable development topics—such as climate change, sustainable consumption, reuse, and waste prevention—into education, teaching, and learning through artistic experimentation.
- To develop participatory methods through art targeted at different social sectors, empowering them to change their behavior and adopt sustainable development measures.
- To provide opportunities for artists working with discarded materials, preventing waste from ending up in landfills and fostering a new creative, green, and circular cultural industry.
