Monthly Archives: November 2010

New MFA in Art and Ecology at the University of New Mexico

Announcements, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The new MFA program in Art and Ecology at the University of New Mexico is an interdisciplinary, research-based program engaging contemporary art practices. Students develop ecological and cultural literacy with a conceptual foundation and a wide range of production skills, including sculpture, social practice, and digital media. Students in Art and Ecology have the opportunity to work on various collaborative and interdisciplinary projects with departments across UNM and on comprehensive thesis projects integrating community and ecological research. Coursework includes the Land Arts of the American West program, a semester-long travel and place-based arts pedagogy.

PARTNERS

Sustainability Studies at UNM
Landscape Architecture at UNM
SEV, Long Term Ecological Research at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
Centro Artistico y Cultural, El Paso, TX
The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover, UT
Art + Environment Center, Nevada Art Museum, Reno, NV
The UNM Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC)
Fodder Project: A Collaborative Research Farm
The American Society for Acoustic Ecology

CURRENT AND PAST PROJECTS

Paseo del Bosque Ecological Restoration

A design partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers on an ecologically-degraded section of the Rio Grande Bosque creating a design to engage art, access, and restoration of the bosque ecosystem.

Open Source/Open Culture

A learning community in collaboration with the Depatment of Theatre and Dance, the Department of Engineering, the Department of Art and Art History, and other programs at UNM, offering students and faculty an opportunity to develop virtual infrastructure and open source technologies.

ISEA2012 Machine Wilderness: The International Symposium for Electronic Art

A wide-ranging series of public events highlighting art, technology and environment in conjunction with the prestigious International ISEA Symposium  (www.isea2012.org) and created in partnership with 516 ARTS, The Albuquerque Museum, The City of Albuquerque Public Art Program, Creative Albuquerque and others.

USDA FoodShed Field Study

A summer UNM field program involving Art and Ecology, Sustainability Studies, the Department of Communications and Journalism, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Civil Engineering.

Barrio Buena Vista

A long-term project in the Buena Vista neighborhood in El Paso, Texas, working with the Centro Artistico y Cultural and the City of El Paso on wetland restoration, a mural series, and an urban pocket park.

Clean Livin’

A collaboration with Simparch and the Center for Land Use Interpretation on an experimental sustainability project at an abandoned military Quonset in Wendover, UT.

Bosque Environmental Monitoring Project

Engagement in the monitoring of local bat species and the creation of habitat-promoting sculpture through a coordinated program of volunteer citizen and student groups who gather long-term data on the forest ecosystem located along the Middle Rio Grande.

Albuquerque Metropolitan Area Flood Control Agency

A series of proposals and implemented projects addressing flood control structures, including detention ponds and wetland trash settlement areas, through art intervention.

For more information:
http://ae.unm.edu/

To apply:
http://art.unm.edu/academics/graduate_programs.html

About – 350 Earth Art 2010

news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This November 20-28, 350 EARTH will launch the world’s first ever global climate art project. In over a dozen places across the globe, citizens and artists will create massive public art installations to show how climate change is already impacting our world as well as offer visions of how we can solve the crisis. Each art installation will be large enough to be seen from space and documented by satellites generously provided by DigitalGlobe.

350 EARTH will be the first-ever global scale group show on the front line of climate change—our polluted cities, endangered forests, melting glaciers, and sinking coastlines. People around the world are invited to take part by attending signature events, submitting their own art, and spreading the word about the project.

350 EARTH will take place on the eve of the next United Nations climate meetings in Cancun, Mexico where delegates will work to create an international climate treaty. Our politicians have all the facts, figures, and graphs they need to solve the climate crisis. What they lack is the will. 350 EARTH will demonstrate the massive public support for bold climate action and the role that art can play in inspiring humanity to take on our greatest challenge: protecting the planet on which we live.

About – 350 Earth Art.

Green Stage Scratch Night Part of the Branching Out festival (also actors needed)

Announcements, Green Stage Project, news, Open Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

@ Rosemary Branch Theatre in Islington

November 28th, 7:30pm

Calling actors and directors:

We are looking for actors interested in participating in the a night of rehearsed reading for 3 exciting new plays!

We are also looking for one director who is interested in directing one of the plays.

Green Stage is an exciting new theatre project that plants sustainability at the heart of the creative process and at the root of new works themselves. Over the past 7 months they have devised original work inspired by environmental debates and interesting green spaces. Their short play Unplugged imagined how London would respond to a week long power cut and was performed at Spitalfields City Farm and Camden Green Fair. An interactive piece called Forest Trails & Urban Tales, inspired by King Henry’s Walk community garden, gave audiences a chance to reconnect with the forest through encounters with creatures both mythical and real. Now they venture inside a theatre building, with excerpts from 3 intriguing new plays tackling themes of activism, energy production and the frenzied detachment of urban living.

About the plays:

Good Fix by Meghan Moe Beitiks

A radical do-gooder art collective’s converted warehouse: a world of miso soup, grant applications, drunken hysteria and toxic sludge.
A play about the high we get from ‘right’ actions, the difficulty of pursuing lasting solutions, and the danger of defining ‘good’ too narrowly.

Cogent Park by Ian Lane

There is C. There is P. Together they make CHP.
P does the pacing. H hitches a ride.
P makes things happen. H makes things the happenings more bearable.
An absurdist physical theatre piece about the relationship between heat and power, and the benefits of cogeneration.

Hollow Glass by Lara Stavrinou

“The plundering of the human spirit by the market place is paralleled by the plundering of the earth by capital”—Bookchin, Murray, Post Scarcity Anarchism
Witness the dysfunctional social arrangements of six twenty-somethings as they struggle to accustom themselves to life in the city. Activism, vintage shoes and microwave brownies provide instant gratification, but in the midst of rising crime and distrust, can they find the space and time to relate to one another?

Rehearsals:

Thursday, Nov. 25th 6:30-9:30pm
Sunday, Nov. 28th 10:00 – performance at 7:30pm.

Unfortunately this is an unpaid opportunity but your travel expenses will be covered.

Please email: greenstageuk@gmail.com if you are interested and available for the rehearsals.

EXIT ART – Call For Proposals for Projects on Fracking

Announcements, news, Open Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Exit Art announces an exhibition on fracking, on view from December 7, 2010 to February 5, 2011. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a means of gas extraction that accesses gas trapped more than a mile below the earth’s surface. Fracking: Art and Activism Against the Drill, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), will expose this process of gas extraction that is contaminating water supplies worldwide. Through documentary videos, photographs, commissioned works and literature, it will engage the public in dialogue on this issue through public lectures and calls to action; and encourage audiences to continue educating themselves and their communities on fracking and its effects. It is organized by Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati, and Peggy Cyphers, Ruth Hardinger, and Alice Zinnes. As part of this exhibition, Exit Art invites artists and the general public to respond to the issue of fracking by submitting a postcard-sized artwork and brief written response.

PLEASE SUBMIT:

a 4 x 6” postcard with original work on one side (original drawing, painting, collages, photograph, etc.) and a brief written statement responding to fracking on the other side. Postcards must be mailed or dropped off in person during regular hours.

ALL postcards must be received by Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

MAIL TO:

Exit Art
Attn: Fracking
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018

All received works will be exhibited and handled by the public. Works will not be returned and will become property of the Exit Art Archive. No phone calls, please.

MORE INFORMATION on FRACKING

When a well is fracked, small earthquakes are produced by the pressurized injection of millions of gallons of fresh water combined with sand and chemicals, releasing the gas, as well as toxic chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive materials that contaminate the air and water. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed under the guidance of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, exempts fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act and major provisions of other protective laws, virtually eliminating the gas industry’s liability and E.P.A.’s regulatory oversight. Exemption from the Community Right to Know Law also absolves the gas industry from being required to report the actual chemicals used in the drilling processes—chemicals that can severely contaminate the water supply and cause serious illnesses. A drilling moratorium is in effect in New York State until the D.E.C. issues fracking regulation, potentially paving the way for drilling to commence in New York in 2011.

via EXIT ART – Programs | Call For Proposals.

Otis College of Art and Design, Graduate Public Practice and Graduate Fine Arts present author and public intellectual critic Lucy Lippard

news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To kick off Street Smart, three events on public art, Graduate Public Practice and Graduate Fine Arts present author and public intellectual critic Lucy Lippard, whose interests and writing include tourism, archaeology, anthropology, and small New Mexico towns.

Seating limited, reservations suggested at publicpractice@otis.edu or (310) 846-2610. Free to the public.

Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations. In her lecture, “Farther Afield,”she will speak on landscape, history, place-making and tourism from an interdisciplinary perspective. In the hands of many artists, her writing has inspired research and production on the relationship between visual art, space, activism, research, publics, and the social and political uses of art.

In a long history of key publications in the visual arts, The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society and On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art and Place have particular relevance for public artists. Her most recent book Down Country: The Tano of the Galisteo Basin, 1250-1782 is yet another relevant departure.

The informal studio setting of the MFA Public Practice program in the The 18th Street Arts Center –formerly home to the historic production of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party – will set the stage for an intimate and informal engagement with Lippard.

Graduate Public Practice Studios, 1657 18th St, Santa Monica CA 90404

Otis College of Art and Design.

Watch the Trailer for Waste Land, a Documentary About Beauty and Trash

news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WASTE LAND Official Trailer from Almega Projects on Vimeo.

Jardim Gramacho, outside of Rio, is the world’s largest landfill. In a new documentary called Waste Land, Vik Muniz, a Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based artist, returns to create portraits, made from the trash itself, of the so-called “catadores” who work there.

It looks like an interesting peek at a subculture you’re not likely to be exposed to otherwise, a helpful reminder that we’re creating incredible volumes of trash, and a nice example of the redemptive power of art.

Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores” — self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

2 Degrees of Separation – United Nations Climate Conference, #COP16

Announcements, COP16, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 Degrees of Separation

Cancun, Mexico

November 29-December 10, 2010

Javier Velasco, La Isla Hundida (2010)

ARTPORT_making waves and Cinema Planeta are proud to present engaging art where it matters—at the heart of the most important climate conference in the world!

A rich program of cell phone video contests, art videos, panels with conference participants and artists, and a live art performance with hundreds of children drowning little islands in the midst of a heated climate debate.

Presented as part of the official cultural program of the United Nations Climate Conference in Mexico, COP16, at local cinemas, outdoor screens, public spaces, and conference locations in Cancun, Tulum, and Playa del Carmen.

A full program will be announced in November.

PARTICIPATE!

Send in your cell phone video of 20 seconds for the planet. Learn more at www.my20sec.org

DONATE!

Learn more about the groundbreaking live art performance, La Isla Hundida (The Drowned Island) by artist Javier Velasco with hundreds of school children during the UN climate conference in Cancun… and help us make it happen through Kickstarter! Even a small contribution can go a long way. http://kck.st/92oUXD

Also:

(Re-) Cycles of Paradise

Spanish Cultural Center, Mexico City

November 11, 2010-January 9, 2011

In conjunction with COP16 (First presented at COP15, Copenhagen, Dec 2009)

International artists raise challenging questions about gender and climate change.

Participating artists:

Kim Abeles (USA), Ander Azpiri (Mexico/Spain), Subhankar Banerjee (India/USA), Charley Case (Belgium/Spain), Meschac Gaba (Benin/NL), Anita Glesta (USA), Yolanda Gutiérrez (Mexico); Perla Krauze (MEX); Nnenna Okore (Nigeria/USA), Betsabée Romero (Mexico); Javier Velasco (Spain), Frances Whitehead (USA), Insa Winkler (Germany)

Partners: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); International American School of Cancun; Summit of Environmental Cinema, Mexico; Government of the Maldives; Maldivian Youth Climate Network; Bluepeace Maldives; Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID); IPADE Foundation Spain.

Your ARTPORT_making waves team:

Corinne Erni, Co-Founder and Co-Director New York

Anne-Marie Melster, Co-Founder and Co-Director Valencia, Spain

Oliver Orest Tschirky, Co-Director Zurich, Switzerland

WWW.ARTPORT-PROJECT.ORG

9 DAYS|3 LOCATIONS|20 SUN BOXES

Announcements, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sound artist, Craig Colorusso, returns to Western Massachusetts with his latest piece, a solar powered sound installation; SUN BOXES.

For the first three weekends of November Turners Falls River Culture will present Craig Colorusso’s latest piece Sun Boxes.  At three locations, allowing the participants to observe the piece evolve as it moves through the town.

Nov. 5-7      Lawn of the Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Ave.

Nov. 12-14   Peskeomskut Park, Ave. A + 7th Sts

Nov. 19-21   Lawn at the beginning of the bike path, 1st St

Sun Boxes is a solar powered sound installation.  It’s comprised of twenty speakers operating independently, each powered by the sun via solar panels. Inside each Sun Box is a PC board that has a recorded guitar note loaded and programmed to play continuously in a loop.  These guitar notes collectively make a Bb chord.  Because the loops are different in length, once the piece begins they continually overlap and the piece slowly evolves over time.

Participants are encouraged to walk amongst the speakers, and surround themselves with the piece.  Certain speakers will be closer and, therefore, louder so the piece will sound different to different people in different positions throughout the array.  Allowing the audience to move around the piece will create a unique experience for everyone. in addition, the participants are encouraged to wander through the speakers, which will alter the composition as they move.  Given the option two people will take different paths through the array and hear the composition differently.  Sun Boxes is not just one composition, but, many.

We are all reliant on the sun.  It is refreshing to be reminded of this.  Our lives have filled up with technology.  But we still need the sun and so does Sun Boxes.  Karlheinze Stockhausen once said “using Short-wave radios in pieces was like improvising with the world.”  Similarly, Sun Boxes is collaborating with the planet and its relation to the sun.

Colorusso now lives on the South Shore of Boston with a wife and a cat.

Come be part of the drone.  Craig Colorusso  muudon@yahoo.com 718.809.2349

Lisa Davol, riverculture@montague-ma.gov 413-230-9910

Unruly ecologies: Biodiversity and art

Announcements, Open Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A SymbioticA Symposium

November 26 to 28 2010

A symposium exploring the possibilities and difficulties of the diversity of life through critical investigations in art, ecology and activism.

The ecology of biodiversity is based upon an uncertain definition, incomplete statistics and the need to act in a world without balance. While multiple flora and fauna databases have being established and are being coordinated, there is an urgent need to engage even more proactively with complex ecosystems and human responses. Artists, scientists, humanities scholars and conservationists will come together to talk of the ‘matters of concern’ around the potentials and futures of biodiversity.

Confirmed Speakers include Professor Bruce Clarke (Professor of Literature and Science, Department of English, Texas Tech University), Professor Timothy Morton(Professor of English (Literature and the Environment), Department of English, University of California, Davis), Associate Professor Anas Ghadouani (School of Environmental Systems Engineering, The University of Western Australia), Greg Pryor (Artist and Lecturer, School of Communications and Arts, Faculty of Education and the Arts, Edith Cowan University), Dr Lesley Instone (Lecturer, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and
Information Technology, Newcastle University) and British Artists Dr Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson.

Dates: Friday 26 November to Sunday 28 November

Locations: Perth and Mandurah, Western Australia

Registration: Symposium sessions free but please RSVP for catering purposes sym@symbiotica.uwa.edu.au

Call for contemporary artworks for a survey of examples:

Artist whose work explores the idea of biodiversity are invited to post links to their work under the following categories or email an image and paragraph of text to: perdy@perditaphillips.com

  • 1. as a concept or idea (eg taxonomy and classification, issues of scale in ecology, resilience)
  • 2. as an issue (habitat loss, over-exploitation of resources, alien species, pollution and climate change)
  • 3. as a way of thinking — diversity (human/nonhuman), complexity and interconnectedness, compositionist strategies (Latour), resilience

Tipping Point Announces Second Round of Commissions

news, , , , , , , ,

From the Tipping Point Website:

We are pleased to announce that our second round of commissions is now launched.

This year we are delighted to be able to offer a co-commission with Without Walls, the consortium of 8 of the UK’s most strategically significant outdoor arts festivals.

We will be able to sponsor around 6 commissions and will offer awards as follows.

  • One award of up to £30k (this will be a co-commission between TippingPoint and Without Walls and should meet specific criteria)
  • One award of up to £25k (TippingPoint Commission)
  • Two awards of up to £15k (TippingPoint Commission)
  • One award of up to £10k (TippingPoint Commission)
  • Two awards of up to £5k (TippingPoint Commission)

Proposals must be submitted by Monday 6th December at 5pm. For further guidance and a full application form please download the following document: TP Commissions Round 2 How to apply.doc