CUPP Collective received the Thami Mnyele Foundation Residency Award in March 2022.
Collectief Un Prati a Patu (CUPP) creates a mental and physical space for sharing knowledge and experience around ecological and local materials, among artists in Suriname and The Netherlands. Within the 2022 exchange programme CUPP focuses on material research.
In March 2022 CUPP lives, studies and works with six artists in the Thami Mnyele Foundation Residency. From here, they start by physically visiting workshops, material labs and exhibitions in the Netherlands, followed by collective work sessions in the residency studio. In November 2022, the same group of artists will visit workshops and exhibitions in Suriname. In between, the group conversation continues online during meetings with the advisors.
The material research focuses on different types of "skin": paper, textile, kombucha, reed. What experimental and traditional knowledge can we bring together? Which fibers does it consist of? How do they grow? How can we apply the material? How can we interweave it? With the group, we want to investigate the functional properties of the materials, combined with crafting techniques.
At the end of the research period, CUPP makes a bundle of material samples. The material research will be translated into a publication with an extra artist book, so as to also touch and smell the sample materials. This serves as a physical materials guide for the further application of ecological and local materials in artists’ practices. In addition to the samples, the bundle will include documentation of the production process and knowledge exchange, by means of diagrams, photographic material, interviews and documentation of discussions. We aim to contribute to the transition towards using more ecological materials and material cycles within artist practices.
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CUPP Collective was founded in 2020 by Razia Barsatie (SR) and Marjet Zwaans (NL). Razia is a Thami Mnyele Foundation fellow and joined the residency program in 2017. In 2021 they were nominated for the Theodora Niemeijer Prize. As artists and initiators, they conceptualize and organize the CUPP exchange program and curate the research process towards a publication.
www.marjetzwaans.nl
www.raziabarsatie.com
Within the collective research period, every invited artist also has their own focus:
- Maegan Peneux (SR) wants to support and preserve her grandfather’s working skills in her further art practice by working with the warimbo reed and in particular the “bereâ€.
www.instagram.com/meggymeg52/
- Basse Stittgen (DE based in NL) explores the potential of lignin through a lense of materiality when reunited with cellulose fibre, creating a recombined wood made from recycled paper pulp and lignin that would have ended in a thermal waste plant.
bassestittgen.com
- For Annemarie Daniel (SR) this cooperation offers the possibility to effectively research the qualities of Goma and to make durable sculptures with it in the long run.
www.instagram.com/adhennamarie/
-Asli Hatipoglu (TR based in NL) proposes to work with kombucha biofilms as a material alternative to paper, hence making vinegars as a by-product which can be implemented in the dying process of leftover textiles or second-hand fabrics, mainly for local wool.
www.aslihatipoglu.com
The process will be in online correspondence with two advisors, with experience in presentation and artistic research: Alida Neslo and Yasmine Ostendorf.
CUPP collective is supported by Stichting Stokroos, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds, Thami Mnyele Foundation Residency Award.