Sustainability and its benefits are becoming today’s necessity. From this comes the realization that we, people, have to create something that is no longer suitable for use according to the object’s direct purpose or can be used in another, completely opposite nature. For example, busts of David or Dante are made of jeans.
Valentinas Butanavicius, the director of Marijampole Art School, wanted to decorate the interior of the school with used, thrown out musical instruments, and set the goal – “the second birth of a thrown out musical instrument”. An instrument, like a living organism, created to emit sound, to excite with its vibrations, it came from Europe and lived for many years at the Marijampole Art School, was kept in the hands of a young person for so long and is soaked in a wide variety of emotions… And to suddenly take it and get rid of it? After all, it is not only an alloy of metal, plastic, wood; it is alive in its unique form and emitted sound vibrations.
The origins of the idea of the project “The second birth of the used musical instrument” go back to the beginning of work at school. After getting to know the employees and reviewing the work spaces, the idea arose to start the change with the reorganization of the work spaces of the school. In the attic of the school, the director found enough old instruments: trumpets, guitars, violins, percussion. Now all instruments are arranged in the school lobby around the clock, creating a circle of the seasons: 12 p.m. summer, 3 p.m. autumn, 6pm winter and 9 p.m. spring. In order for the instruments to reflect the colorful Lithuanian landscape of the year, the instrument representing each season is filled with stabilized moss: in summer – green, yellow; autumn – red, green; in winter – gray, brown; and in spring – green, yellow. In this way, the circle of nature is filled with musical and at the same time colorful sounds throughout the year…
On the second floor, double basses, a cello and a keyboard instrument are mounted on the walls. These instruments became illuminated, music shelves filled with prizes, diplomas, cups, etc. won by the students of the school. At the same time, it is a new vision and mission of the instrument itself, which is visible to the student and everyone who passes by. It is a kind of equivalent to the famous composers who look from the vaults of the walls into the eyes of the young artist, just like these instruments, which after honorable service observe the glances of passers-by.
The social environment of the Marijampole Art School has been improved thanks to the project “The second birth of the used musical instrument”. They live on, watching the past artists, their different generations, but the same aspirations – to be heard and seen.
