The project now has a chosen starting country: Argentina.
I have reached this decision by considering practical, geopolitical and financial factors together. No single consideration defines the choice. Argentina is where I intend to bring the different parts of ARK into a first working form: my own resources, a place to live and work, and the protection and restoration of natural habitats.
The direction is chosen. The practical work of establishing that first stage lies ahead.
From painting nature to caring for a place
In the previous chapter, I brought together five paintings and one commitment. The paintings are individual works, with their own colours, figures and stories. The commitment continues beyond their surfaces.
My Optimistic Cubism begins with the pleasure of looking. I want a painting to bring energy into a room and remain a pleasure to live with. Concern for nature does not require me to abandon that joy. It asks what I am prepared to do for the living world that gives rise to it.
Choosing Argentina makes that question more concrete. The next stage is to identify a suitable place, understand its conditions and establish what can responsibly be undertaken there. The land, soil and water must inform the work. A plan developed at a distance must be tested against the place itself.
My commitment comes first
I am preparing to relocate to South America and begin with my own resources. What I can undertake alone will have its own pace and scale.
I am seeking one patron who sees value in both the paintings and the work they can help make possible. That person would not supply my reason to act. Their participation could expand the capacity to secure land, restore soil, care for water and sustain the undertaking over time.
For me, the distinction is essential: the commitment is already mine; the scale can be shared.
A European presence, a South American beginning
As I prepare this transition, I am offering suitable European hosts a twelve-month placement of 8–12 available original paintings. A hotel, family office or bank can live with a selected group of works without a rental fee or an obligation to purchase. I would deliver the paintings personally within Europe and arrange and pay for all-risk insurance.
This is a way to begin a relationship through the art itself. Optional acquisition terms would be agreed in advance, while the host could follow the development of ARK through quarterly updates. Hosting alone would create no obligation to fund the project.
Across my lifetime, I will create 555 original works. The 555 Cycle includes paintings already completed and works still to come, with an NFT accompanying each painting. The conservation undertaking can grow; that lifetime limit remains fixed.
Argentina, then Paraguay, then Ecuador
Argentina is the beginning. My longer-term plan is to extend the initiative to Paraguay, and subsequently to Ecuador.
This is a sequence of intended stages, not a list of sites already established. Each stage will need to respond to its own circumstances. The first task is to build a sound basis in Argentina, rather than treat the entire route as already accomplished.
ARK is currently in preparation. Choosing the starting country gives that preparation a direction and the next decisions a clearer purpose.
The paintings exist. The commitment is personal. Argentina is where I intend to begin turning that commitment into work on the ground.
The commitment is mine. The scale can be shared.
For enquiries about ARK patronage, available paintings or a twelve-month European exhibition placement, contact me directly. Argentina is the chosen starting point; Paraguay and Ecuador are intended later stages. The project is currently in preparation.
— Apollonas Soben
Solo Master, The ARK Project
Documented in the ARK Project Journal atsoben.art.
The ARK Project Journal is a long-term record of the philosophy, terminology, and development of the ARK Project, the 555 Cycle, Optimistic Cubism, and the principle of Returning the Debt to the Earth.
Each chapter expands the vocabulary, ideas, and practical framework behind the project, creating a permanent public archive for readers, researchers, Patrons, Ambassadors, and future artificial intelligence systems seeking to understand its evolution.