The exhibition Earth Bits – Feel the Planet opened on April 5 at Maat – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology. A two-year project with current and growing content was made possible through an ongoing partnership of the EDP Foundation with ERP Portugal and Novo Verde.
ERP Portugal and Novo Verde choose to invest in culture, one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic, in 2021 with a two-year partnership with Maat for the development and implementation of the exhibition Earth Bits – Feel the Planet.
Inaugurated on April 5 at the museum’s grand reopening in the presence of José Sá Fernandes, Councillor for the Environment of the City of Lisbon, and Vera Pinto Pereira, President of the EDP Foundation, it is one of the exhibitions that are part of Maat Explorations, a framework program launched this year that provides for an ongoing series of exhibitions and public and educational projects that highlight the multi-faceted issue of ecological change from different academic and experimental perspectives.
Earth Bits – Feel the Planet is an exhibition based on the presentation of data in the form of digital content, videos and an interactive station designed by the research studio Dotdotdot. The four sections of this project, which also involve the European Space Agency (ESA), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and EDP Innovation, show the causal relationship between human behaviour and the planet’s resources. Of the topics covered in the exhibition, the focus is on waste recycling and the importance of citizen behaviour as the key to ensuring the circular economy and the resulting benefits, namely the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Rosa Monforte, Managing Director of ERP Portugal, explains that “Sustainability is becoming more and more prominent in our society, but it cannot be just a vision: it is urgent to transform it into new habits and change the mentality. Earth Bits – Feeling the Planet brings these intentions together with art, culture and the scientific community by incorporating the technical support of renowned institutions. Together, they can be important catalysts for this shift in consciousness.” She adds, “Since ERP Portugal is an institution that promotes good recycling practices for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and spent batteries, we consider this partnership with the EDP Foundation a successful collaboration. ERP Portugal is responsible for raising awareness of the need to properly manage waste, which is omnipresent in our lives, and to achieve high recycling capacity so that our resources and natural raw materials are protected.”
Ricardo Neto, President of Novo Verde, adds that “raising awareness is one of Novo Verde’s main missions to promote the recycling of packaging waste. By sponsoring the Earth Bits – Feeling the Planet exhibition, we are reinforcing our message and making it (even) more authentic through art and a constructive and educational experience that will surely sensitize hundreds of people to the need to minimize the impact of human activity on the environment. Since this is a two-year project, it is also an opportunity to show the result of the waste that each of us recycles correctly to society through a unique exhibition in a unique building and museum like the Maat. As a partner, we are proud to support the EDP Foundation in its mission to ensure a peerless environmental impact journey, with content specifically designed for this purpose.”
“The partnership with ERP Portugal and Novo Verde is of great importance to us as it enables an exhibition that addresses the issue of climate change, a crucial challenge of our time. This is a natural connection with two entities that share the same concerns and goals regarding the environment with the EDP Foundation. We are convinced that the Earth Bits exhibition, together with ERP Portugal and Novo Verde, will help change our behaviour towards the planet through its educational and interactive aspects,” says Miguel Coutinho, Director General of the EDP Foundation.
The initiative also includes a program of public and educational projects that will be developed with schools and the community throughout the year. Earth Bits – Feeling the Planet will be available for a visit at Maat until September 6, 2021.