SPIRIT OF KIDERGARTEN is an exhibition that shows the work by nine artists in whose work form, colour, material or the element of play is related to the concept of Kindergarten.
Irma Cohen, as the avatar of Irma Arribas, presents three pieces that reflect on education, play and identity.
“Irma Cohen created an enigmatic and anonymous schoolgirl character. Outside the Hedge House stands an enlarged and mysterious Fröbel box that welcomes us when entering the exhibition. Inside its dark interior is a wall drawing: a teaser for an undefined manga movie which features the anonymous girl. Her story is complex. Irma created her for a research project on ecology in which scientists and artists join efforts to safeguard the Mar Menor coastal lagoon in the Region of Murcia, Spain. The schoolgirl is from the cast of 16 a promotional campaign Cohen devised to highlight the problematic situation facing the Mar Menor’s natural micro-climate due to industrial and agricultural pollution, tourism and catastrophic urban planning. The girl is the diminutive hero, a little mermaid fighting for the ecological cause. Irma Cohen sees her as an exemplar of Fröbel’s respect for nature. He taught children to care about nature and love plants and animals. Cohen’s girl uses the exhibition site to continue campaigning. Despite being trapped in a dark underworld presented inside the gigantic Fröbel box, struggling to find solutions for problems that are out of control, she invites us to become activists like her. She wants us to find answers by collecting cards for a card game scattered around the Hedge House contemporary art pavilion. By taking the cards home and colouring them in, we become aware of the importance of behaving in an environmentally responsible way.”
Erich Weiss. Curator
