Winter Olympics Protest Piece with Pictures

To time with the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, IDa4 produced  a new mural to

 highlight the plight of the LGBT community & their supporters in Russia.

Despite seven months of international outcry, Russia's law restricting gay-rights activity remains in place.

This new mural was a protest to the way that the LGBT community has been vilified in Russia with the recently passed Gay propaganda law.  This inhumane new law will be in full effect at the Sochi Winter Olympics. 

With the backing of local business man Adrian Gadd, who owns a number of businesses within the Newcastle gay quadrant, IDa4 painted his protest mural on a prominent wall within Newcastle city centre. This will hopefully serve to be a sign of support from the people of Newcastle and especially the North East  LBGT community.

We timed this to be in conjunction with the opening weekend, to show the IOC, its huge cooperate sponsors and the general public the reality of this brutal new law and that LGBT people must not be targeted with violence or deprived of their ability to advocate for their own equality.


We were fortunate, that this piece was picked up by the local and national media, and this piece went viral.

We had emails from all over the world, from Brazil to Australia.  But the ones that really made us feel like it was worth it, was from a gay teenager in Russia thanking us for raising awareness to this issue.

I'll not put all the links up from the numinous websites, but i think the best and most meaningful one was from The Guardian news paper, a UK national news agency.

Sochi Winter Olympics: Newcastle street art protests against Russia's anti-gay laws - video

Thanks for all the message of support.

14# IDa4 MURAL IN EUROPE:Ljubljana, Slovenia. BIT Center Hotel

About the BIT Center Hotel

The Bit Centre hotel Ljubljana was completely renovated at the beginning of 2012.  And as you can tell, for the first time on our travels we stayed in a HOTEL, instead of a hostel.  The BIT Hostel and Hotel are linked and in the same building, as much as we like staying in hostels (we find them the best way to meet people, be it fellow travellers or people from the local area) we made the most of our stay at the Hotel.  

This was a BIT of luxury, with a flat screen TV, en suite facilities, this was the first time we hardly ever ventured outside, (this might have also due to the fact that the Slovenian winter had descended on us and was -5 outside).  

We were also at the tail end of our trip and it was nice just to relax a bit, and take in what we had achieved in the 4 months we had been away. 

We took the relaxing to the max and used all of the facilities in the hotel, which had a huge private gym and a sports hall  , we relaxed in the Sauna, we pondered in the Bar and we finally contemplated over the lovely breakfast.

The staff at this hostel/hotel just like all our previous experiences were spot on, and were made very welcome.

About the Art

We were asked to decorate one of the hotel rooms, with a theme from our travels and  we thought that a montage in browns would suit the room and the surroundings

We had quite a selection of stencils to use after 14 hostels, so we went about and changed this room and hopefully it will put a smile on peoples faces when they stay in the room.

have a look at the video

IDa4 painting the BitHostel, ljubljana slovenia


PHOTOS

Get on Board with the Exchange Idea

So after we 9 counties 16 murals and 4000 miles (6437km for you on the Euro mainland) we are back in the UK planning our next exchange trip.

We would like to say thanks all the new friends we met, staff and owners of all the hostels that let us spray paint their walls and doors and rooms with our own unique way of cheering up a blank piece of space.

The reaction around Europe has been amazing, the media coverage we got from every country was a lovely surprise and a welcome realisation that people were really on board with the exchange idea. 

This leads me nicely on to how you too can get on board with supporting  the exchange idea.

We have set up a Trevolta page with is crowd funding site for travellers with unique ideas. 

We need your help with the next leg of the exchange trip! if you could share it or donate on it or send it to that really rich friend that has loads of cash that would be great.

any donation would me amazing with gift rewards for money pledged.

Please check out our Trevolta page for more details and thanks for reading and helping

50 Murals around Europe 

or email us on ida4media@gmail.com

13# IDa4 MURAL IN EUROPE:Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tresor Hostel

So about Ljubljana

With a dazzling hilltop castle as her crown and the emerald-green Ljubljanica River at her feet, Ljubljana is a small princess. But her pint size conceals a wealth of culture, sights, activities and good old-fashioned fun that would be the envy of a city twice her size. And best of all, everything is within such easy reach

 

View from Ljubljana castle

 

Old part of town

So about the Hostel

Former bank transformed into unique urban getaway

Hostel Tresor is a superb example of how a grey and staid home of bankers can be transformed into something lively and cutting edge, about as far from its severe and strict origins as you can imagine. Now, Tresor's most noble currency is the pleasure and experiences of their guests.

I recommend you come and Make your own 'getaway' in this former bank

So about the Art

As I mentioned before this building was formally a bank and only opened in March 2013, so everything was brand new and well thought about. A looked like a lot of investment and love had gone into this place.

So we were thinking where would our art go and what could we do to this new build.  I think the company was worried too, because on our arrival we had a meeting with the architect that designed the concept for the building and the manager of the hostel.

After a friendly discussion we decided to do interactive stencils of a bank robbery scene coming up from the vault in the basement.

The staff were so enthusiastic and loved the idea so much that they wanted to be in it too.  So we had one as a robber trying to escape through the skylight and the other a security guard "on duty"

We were really happy with the outcome of this one and by the looks of the guests going down to the "vault" TV/common room they liked  it too

12# IDa4 MURAL IN EUROPE:Celje, Slovenia. MCC Hostel

Our Time In Celje...

Well I'll start  this blog entry with a simple question: when is the right time to say i love you?

Well for us, Slovenia and especially Celje, it was love at first sight! I don't think we have had such a lovely and amazing time since we started this journey 3 months ago. 

From the long, long drive from Milan to Celje, we were welcomed at the MCC by a very enthusiastic 17 old receptionist, who was really welcoming and showed us around the very impressive hostel.  He told us that the hostel was recently refurbished and that they had got local artists to come up with concepts for each room, based on characters, myths and legends of Celje. He also told us the history and the story behind every room, the Ninja room was our favourite! ( a guy dressing up as a ninja and throwing death stars at police?)

When we dumped our bags, we went down for the obligatory pint of lager, where we first met Eva,  We chatted outside, while drinking Lascko and the national spirit, a Blueberry Liqueur. then we chatted on a bit more,  finding out she's a talented abstract artist and in two bands. cool girl.

After this warm welcome we'd thought we hit the town for a few more beers, where we came across Metropol, a bar with a art cinema attached,  inside we found another warm welcome in Anja behind the bar and her good friend Mitja, who gave us a detailed list of all the best places to visit in Slovenia.  from food, to caves to general sights.   We spent the rest of the night, drinking Laško and his grandfathers homemade wine! very nice it was, this homemade wine was going to be a tradition in our stay in Celje.

Mitja and Anja were so nice to us and made us so welcome that night Mitja even suggested we meet up the next morning for a personal tour around his home city, this was a lovely gesture and we found out about the history of the place and what were the most liked building in the city. we were also induced to burek a Bosnian pastry dish filled with three different types of meat, they also do a cheese version.  This was going to be our staple diet while here.  (Greggs our favourite bakery in the UK have lots to learn from this delicious snack!

We went back to the hostel and were greeted by more loveliness in the shape of the two receptionists Deveda and Netica.  and behind the bar we meet Nejc, Sašo and Stopar

This place was beginning to feel like home!

The next night we were making food and  Đevada and her boyfriend Matjaž , popped into the hostel to see us, so we all sat down and shared a meal that i had prepared together, while drinking Matjaž's homemade wine, this wine was so nice, you'd pay top dollar back home for it!  they left but not before inviting us  to a poker evening the next day, MINT!

So anyway, the same night we ventured out to see a bit more of Celje, we ended up in the local hang out for artists called, TamkoUčiri, again we were meet by really friendly people and were shown around the local gallery even though it was approaching midnight! 

The art in there was amazing , we returned to the bar where we were drinking with Celje elite artists and musicians, this city was just getting better and better, they invited us back the next night for a private party... hmmmm poker or private party.. one of life's tough decisions

Well we choose. Poker with Matjaž  and the boys! We glad we did, out of 50 people, Chris came 3rd and won the bronze prize of a poker t-shirt, sun glasses and a 10 euro health certificate. Nice!

After the game we went back to the  MCC bar to witness, if I'm to be honest the best and probably the worst  and definitely the funniest and the drunkest  magician I have ever seen. I nearly fell off my stool I was laughing so much.  the guy was accidental genius!

The next night was the wine night at Matjaž and  Đevada's.   To get invited to a night like this means the world to me and Chris, and what travelling is all about to us. A side of the country and people you don't see on any tick list in a travel book. 

Our hosts could not have been nicer, lovely people.  When we arrived we were promptly introduced to everyone then taken to Matjaž's wine cellar where he keeps his freshly made homemade wine, he told us with great pleasure about the history of the wine, how they make it and its process. 

We tried the two types and both were nice but, the white was good enough, you would have ordered it in a restaurant.  We were then told he had produced 200 litres of the stuff! this was going to be a night to remember! or try to remember in the morning!

Well the night pasted quickly and presently, with new friend made, dancing and a good sing-along at the end of the night to Balkan songs, some I even( thought) I knew the words to. good wine!

But we were here to do some art, so I think I better talk about that now!! but thank you to Eva Verdev,  Đevada Mehmedovic , Nastja Rogač, Stopar Miha, Sašo Wimmer, Anja Popov, Nastja Jezernik, Matjaž Dolenc  for making this a place to remember for us. and also a  big thank you to Klemen Sagadin, who is the manager and was the one who said yes in the first place, organised the media fest, unfortunately we didn't see much of him because his wife just gave birth to their second baby, thanks and congratulation.

I cannot recommend Celje and the MCC more, if your thinking about coming to Slovenia, come to this city and this hostel! you wont regret it and you might, just like us, not want to leave..

So about the Art.

We were happy to find out that we were part of a media festival, at the MCC when we arrived with poster and leaflets  explaining what we were doing with the exchange idea and what we would be doing in the hostel.  We were even interviewed on Slovenian television for TV Celje

We are given two huge walls to do in the middle of the court yard. one would be the theme of the people holding the monuments and the other would be more abstract with different images in a frame like shapes, dotted round the wall.

The monuments that we used were the castle, the train station and the Slovenian flag. The images on the other abstract wall were some of IDa4's favourite one's with links back to North east with the Tyne bridge and north eastern sayings.