Upon entering the Ex-Libris Gallery for the exhibition, I was unsure of what to expect. However, what I found was a room filled with a variety of art styles, a mix of wonders in every corner that kept me intrigued throughout.
The exhibition brought together three creative communities: the Creative Minds Lab, in collaboration with the Creative Coding Club and BFreak Project, creating an event featuring a diverse range of projects including art, poetry, coding, entrepreneurship, and design. What I personally appreciated the most was the interactive aspect. Attendees were invited to engage and add their own ideas to a collaborative art involving experimental collages, painting on a wall, drawing their journeys on a map, and much more.
The event was led by Jakub Stadnik, a 24-year-old artist studying at Newcastle University. Jakub says: "It's a dream to finally bring it to life... This is a very interactive exhibition; it's not an art gallery where you look at a piece for a few minutes and then move to another one. I want people to come here to do crazy things together but also to network, make friends, and start collaborations." He added, "Creative is everything what you don’t do in the usual way, when you don’t follow the established patterns. I truly believe every person is very creative."
"Here, we are not open just to art but to anything creative, unusual, crazy," Jakub continued. "Each of these artists is so different from each other; we have poets, entrepreneurs, architects, and soon we will have a philosopher joining us. We’re embracing creativity in all its forms."
One piece that particularly caught my attention was the Dream Coat by Nicola Sokell. The Dream Coat is covered in pockets, each containing a dream written by someone. Anyone can take a dream from a pocket but must exchange it for one of their own.
Nicola says: “The language of dreams is the universal language of the world; everyone understands it. And even though this piece is very hard to fit somewhere within the art world professionally, I love how people light up when I explain the concept of the Dream Coat." The idea came to Nicola almost 20 years ago and since then people from all parts of the world are exchanging their dreams through this coat.
Daniel, one of the visitors, shared his experince, "I think it's crazy cool, seeing the breadth of styles and mediums and how they nicely interconnect within each other is very exciting, and I instantly felt drawn in."
I believe that for some, this experience may have seemed a bit chaotic, but the atmosphere conveyed that this amount of craziness was something that consumed people visiting and for many was very much appreciated. Chaos, often seen as confusing, has its own charm. In this exhibition, it wasn't a problem; it was part of the fun. Each corner held surprises, each piece was a new adventure. I mean, how often can you just take random colors, brushes, and paint on a wall of a university room?