ArtTogether is a major art project dedicated to creating an “Altar of Nations” installation as a space for people’s creative communication and expression of their cultural identity. The Ghent altarpiece, a work of genius crafted by the van Eyck brothers during the Northern Renaissance, serves as the creative foundation of the “Altar of Nations”. It is the largest and most complex altar in the worl
d, depicting Heaven on earth. The altarpiece has had a thorny and eventful fate, reflecting world history from the 15th century through to the present day. The masterpiece has survived the many destructive conflicts that have rocked Europe and the world. Many conquerors wanted to claim it as proof of their power and each generation has undertaken efforts to save the altar and inscribe new meaning to its subject. The aim of the “ArtTogether: Altar of Nations” project is to recreate this historical masterpiece in a new format and unite humanity in cross-cultural and transnational creation and creative interaction. The project’s mastermind and founder, artist Oksana Mas, is committed to uniting people through the energy of peaceful space, where each person can become a part of the overall creative process while maintaining their uniqueness. As such, the monumental interactive “ArtTogether: Altar of Nations” project aims to create new social connections between countries and continents, cultures and religions, generations and different social groups. It offers every person on the planet the opportunity to leave their artistic message on a spherical, oval-shaped egg, which will later become part of the global collective art installation. The first hundreds of thousands of contributions were created at art mobs in various corners of the globe, where participants drew their messages to humanity on wooden eggs using oil paints. Between 2009 and 2011, more than 380,000 drawings were collected, which were presented by Oksana Mas during the POST-VS-PROTO-RENAISSANCE exhibit at the 54th Venice Biennale. The second stage of the project gets underway in the Fall of 2016 with the launch of the digital platform ArtTogether.com, which, with the aid of online tools, will expand the potential geography of participants to every continent. Anyone wishing to add their own contribution to building “Heaven on Earth” via the global creative dialogue will be able to join the project as a co-author, financially support the project, and create their own unique piece of the Altar of Nations.
“The Cultural Code of a Generation”, which is the name of the new stage of the project that covers the period between 2016-2017, reveals the artist’s goal to search for the cultural code of the generation of the first half of the 21st century. More than 3.5 million eggs will be collected in a single 92m x 134m installation, the Altar of Nations, where the pixelated unit of the large-scale work will be an egg that carries the unique fingerprint of one person: a message, a picture, a symbol. After Oksana Mas connects all the panels as a cohesive artistic image, the piece will be made in full size, completing the creation of a symbol of global peace and the creativity of each person.
