The sculptures made at the Solidarity FabLab Garage Lab in San Sebastian (Spain) by young people seeking to enter the world of work have arrived at the Chillida Leku museum in Spain.
The sculptures, which had already received the jury prize at our International Solidarity FabLabs Challenge in November 2020, have achieved their ultimate objective: to enable the visually-impaired to come into contact with works reproduced and miniaturized using digital technology, while training and re-motivating young school dropouts at the same time.
A transformative adventure for the young people
The program involved ten young people aged 16 to 18 who had dropped out of school; they were supervised by a training program from the San Sebastian 2nd Chance School which developed the project. The young people changed throughout the adventure, which gave them the chance to learn and use digital manufacturing technologies, and acquire essential skills such as teamwork, independence, creativity, and communication… and above all, regain a taste for work: everything they couldn’t find in traditional school structures.
Supervised by their FabManager and the visual impairment experts from ONCE, stimulated by the challenge and its focus on solidarity, the young people accommodated all of the parameters, constraints and possibilities to find the motivation, confidence and energy to succeed.
A success made possible by several public and private partners
Before the exhibition at the Chillida Leku museum, the young people designed and produced the objects at the GarageLab FabLab in Ortzadar with the support of the Orange Foundation, in association with ONCE (an institution for the visually impaired) based on sculptures by Eduardo Chillida. Then the Orange Foundation’s international challenge boosted the project by crowning it a winner among the most significant achievements of young people in integration trained in our network of Solidarity FabLabs. Awarded at the event, the project benefited from our support of 10,000 euros and recognition that pushed the young people to go even further… A total of 90 young people from the 2nd Chance School are now being trained at the Solidarity FabLab thanks to the support of the Orange Foundation.
An emotional inauguration
It was in the presence of the artist’s family, representatives of all the partners involved, young people and a visually impaired person that the relief and braille creations were revealed and discovered by visually impaired people.
The sculptures included:
- Buscando la luz - 1997
- Arco de la libertad - 1993
- Homenaje a Balenciaga - 1990
- Consejo al espacio 6 - 1996
- De música III - 1989
- Esertoki III - 2000
- Homenaje a Fleming – 1955
Permission to reproduce these works has been given by the artist exclusively for this project.
