The 1200 Buildings Commission is a pilot public art project responding to the energy and sustainability performance of a commercial building within the City of Melbourne – the Green Spaces at 490 Spencer Street in West Melbourne. The Green Spaces building is an early entrant in the City’s 1200 Buildings scheme, which aims to facilitate the energy retrofit of 1200 buildings within the municipality, making a significant contribution towards meeting the City of Melbourne’s target of carbon neutrality by 2020.
Carbon Arts is working closely with the City of Melbourne, Guy Wilson of Fort Knox Self Storage and Dave Collins of The Green Spaces to deliver a $30,000 commission by the end of 2011. Eleven artists, designers and architects have been selected to provide proposals for the space and share in the development of a new public arts program. The public arts program aims to leverage the efforts of signatories to the 1200 Buildings scheme by making these largely invisible efforts visible to the public and engaging all Melbournians in the Eco-City vision.
Culture|Futures is organising the conference “Eco-Leadership through Culture” on December 5th from 9.30 to 19.00 during the UN Climate Summit COP17 in South Africa.
The conference is co-organized with the Municipality of Ethekwini (Durban), the Ecological Sequestration Trust and the Danish Cultural Institute in co-operation with many other partners in Durban and worldwide.
The conference will take place at the Durban Municipal City Chambers located at The City Hall, 263 Dr Pixley KaSeme Str (West Str), 1st Floor Council Chambers, Durban. The program will feature key notes and panel-interventions from some of the world’s highly recognised specialists and activists highlighting solutions needed to solve the challenges of the World and Africa.
Key notes include Peter Head, one of the world leaders in integrated urban sustainable development and chair of the new Ecological Sequestration Trust, and Prof. Edgar Pieterse, director of the Africa Centre for Cities. They will present a global and African perspective to address major global and African challenges for urban/regional development and discuss the significant role of culture.
The purpose of the conference is to:
clarify the vision of an Ecological Age by 2050, how to deliver it and the role of culture
inspire institutions working with culture, and cities in Durban/Africa/World to undertake eco-social leadership
build Culture|Futures as a new international network for cultural institutions/actors, cities/regions and other stakeholders in eco-leadership
If you want to attend the conference, please register by sending an e-mail to info@culturefutures.org with your name and organization (if relevant), or by signing up to http://culturefutures.ning.com/events/culture-futures-eco-leadership-through-culture-conference-durban – (this requires that you first go through a signup procedure to join the Culture|Futures online network (approval to the site may take one day).
As there are only a limited number of seats at the conference, confirmation of registration is required. The conference is free of charge.
Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.
The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.
Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.
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Interviews and conversations with experts on sustainability, design and innovation, reflecting theory and generating actions between a diverse range of disciplines including design [product, fashion, graphic, web, architects and interiors], science, art, activists, business, psychology and academia.
The 5 Kaleidoscope Videos, split into four different values; Balance, Meaning, Innovation and Culture. During each interview we asked how each value is seen and practised today and how they should be practiced in order to move towards a better future. The last video focuses on the tools and skills that we need to get to that better future, acting as a call to arms for designers and professionals about the need for rethink the way we practice our disciplines.
This short film is about Culture.
Engage by Design is a social enterprise developed through the final Master research of Rodrigo Bautista and Zoe Olivia John in sustainability and design. As a consultancy they specialize in strategic interventions that aim to support the transformation of your product or service into a more sustainable one.
Engage by Design’s research arm intends to act as a platform which enables dialogues and actions between a diverse range of disciplines around sustainability and design.
Rodrigo Bautista – Rodrigo is an Industrial Designer and has worked in many different industries including media, products, services and telecommunications. Today his work focuses on strategic interventions and tools to apply sustainability and design instruments within a company.
Zoë Olivia John – Zoë’s background in Fashion & Textiles has lead her into the research and development of better ways to integrate learning about sustainability for Higher Education students and tutors, particularly within the F&T programme. She is interested in finding new ways to readdress our value structure from one of linear economic quantity to one of circular quality.
Applications for the 2012 Indy Convergence (May 7-18) are open. Thank you for your interest. Beginning this year there will be a $10.00 application fee for allapplicants payable by check or through our paypal account. Please contact Robert at robert@indyconvergence.org if you have questions about being a participant in 2012.
DEADLINE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING: January 15th, 2012
FINAL DEADLINE (WITHOUT FUNDING): February 13th, 2012
Please note that these applications are only for the Indy Convergence in Indianapolis. Indy Convergence- Haiti, in its first year, is only open to previous participants in the Indy Convergence.
Through December 1st at Diablo Valley College Art Gallery in Pleasant Hill, California (Bay Area) is a terrific little show organized by artist and educator Hopi Breton. Included are twelve artists, mostly from the Bay Area, with Vaughn Bell from Seattle, Michele Brody from New York, and Northern California’s Cynthia Hooper who is currently working with ecoartspaceon a water show in Stockton titled Delta Waters.
Many of you who know Cynthia’s work as a video artist may not be familiar with her landscape paintings(2000-2008). These small exquisitely painted works, eleven total for TURF, are from an ongoing series that evokes a “Sunday painter” vernacular cataloging human impacts on the land. Instead of ignoring the industrial detritus for these beautiful crafted landscapes, she includes it all just as she sees it, just like the wildlife and elements that also have to work with human impediments on the land.
Another artist from Oakland,Alex Jackson, who created “Our National Scenic Resources” while in graduate school in 1992, recently revived this work for TURF. The original installation included a replica of a National Parks wooden Information station with volunteer style designed pamphlets that incorporate collage of images and text that the artist has assembled through the years about how we relate to and interact with nature. Titles include: Interpreting Scenic Beauty Estimates, Nature As Logo, Ornamental Palms in California, and Understanding Bears, Alcohol and Human Nature. Jackson includes content taken from government and trade publications, advertising and academic articles pointing out the structures we impose on nature in our efforts to manage and conserve it. He included three new pamphlets for this recent iteration and has continued to place them in racks at park visitor centers and other tourist information sites unauthorized through the years as his creative expression.
Also included, a photographer from San Francisco Christina Seely, who has captured stunning imagery, almost painterly, of major cities at night. Three works included that are from her series “Lux,” capture the oddly alluring artificial glow produced by urban lights. The three largest illuminated areas that are seen from NASA’s satellite mapsof the world at night are the United States, Japan, and Western Europe. Her work is inspired by the beauty the lights present, although at the same time begs the viewer to question our dependence on energy that has a huge impact on our planet.
Vaughn Bell’s portable landscapes, or “Pack of Forests” with accompanying water bottles and a portable “surrogate” mountain, each with attached walking leash, added a layer of interactivity making for a playful atmosphere. And, Stephen Galloway‘s unique photographic scans of rhizomes were blown up and floating in space, nature observed, examined in parts.
Get out to see the show if you are in the area before it closes on December 1st. You won’t regret it. And, thanks to Hopi Breton who shared withecoartspace that she was inspired by our work to curate this exhibition. She also noted that her art students were interested in environmental issues which also led her to TURF. It is rare that an artist curates a show for others and does not include their own work. Kudos Hopi!
ecoartapace is one of the leading international organizations in a growing community of artists, scientists, curators, writers, nonprofits and businesses who are developing creative and innovative strategies to address our global environmental issues. We promote a diverse range of artworks that are participatory, collaborative, interdisciplinary and uniquely educational. Our philosophy embodies a broader concept of art in its relationship to the world and seeks to connect human beings aesthetically with the awareness of larger ecological systems.
Founded in 1997 by Tricia Watts as an art and nature center in development, ecoartspace was one of the first websites online dedicated to art and environmental issues. New York City curator Amy Lipton joined Watts in 1999, and together they have curated numerous exhibitions, participated on panels, given lectures at universities, developed programs and curricula, ad written essays for publications from both the East and West Coasts. They advocate for international artists whose projects range from scientifically based ecological restoration to product based functional artworks, from temporal works created outdoors with nature to eco-social interventions in the urban public sphere, as well as more traditional art objects.
ecoartspace has been a project of the Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs in
Los Angeles since 1999. Go to EcoArtSpace
Venue: Sang Arts Village, Sang near Tamale in Northern Region of Ghana
Date: February 10-24, 2012
Venue: Abetenim Arts Village near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana
International Land Art Workshop is a two-week group residency. It is designed to bring together creative persons such as artists, architects and engineers to create works by use of materials from the environment. The participants will live and work together in an Arts Village in a rural township for knowledge sharing and cross-fertilization of skills over the two-week period. By land art (or earthworks, environmental art) we imply: (1) Works created with materials from the environment involving air, water, earth, stone, and wood, or (2) Site-specific installation (with natural or industrial materials) within a landscape to create an aesthetic experience. Thus, the theme is open; but permanency of work is encouraged, ephemeral would be only if it is the most appropriate means to communicating the idea. The realized work may become a part of the Arts Village or sited in a public space in nearby village.
Organizers will provide accommodation and food; an accepted applicant will contribute participation fee of $100 / €70 toward food. The international participant is responsible for own travel costs and proposed project. We suggest that participants apply for travel grants through their national art councils or other sources. To apply, send CV, statement/sketch of your proposed work, and a sample of your existing work to info@nkafoundation.org/ nkaprojects@gmx.com. Submissions will be reviewed until space is filled. For details on our projects go to www.nkafoundation.org.
In Ghana: Nka Foundation, Box Up 1115, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.
In Burkina Faso: Nka Foundation, 04 BP 399, Ouagadougou 04.
Interviews and conversations with experts on sustainability, design and innovation, reflecting theory and generating actions between a diverse range of disciplines including design [product, fashion, graphic, web, architects and interiors], science, art, activists, business, psychology and academia. This project tackles these conversations with two supporting outcomes.
The first is the 5 Kaleidoscope Videos, split into four different values; Balance, Meaning, Innovation and Culture. During each interview we asked how each value is seen and practised today and how they should be practiced in order to move towards a better future. The last video focuses on the tools and skills that we need to get to that better future, acting as a call to arms for designers and professionals about the need for rethink the way we practice our disciplines.
This short film is about Balance.
Engage by Design is a social enterprise developed through the final Master research of Rodrigo Bautista and Zoe Olivia John in sustainability and design. As a consultancy they specialize in strategic interventions that aim to support the transformation of your product or service into a more sustainable one.
Engage by Design’s research arm intends to act as a platform which enables dialogues and actions between a diverse range of disciplines around sustainability and design.
Rodrigo Bautista – Rodrigo is an Industrial Designer and has worked in many different industries including media, products, services and telecommunications. Today his work focuses on strategic interventions and tools to apply sustainability and design instruments within a company.
Zoë Olivia John – Zoë’s background in Fashion & Textiles has lead her into the research and development of better ways to integrate learning about sustainability for Higher Education students and tutors, particularly within the F&T programme. She is interested in finding new ways to readdress our value structure from one of linear economic quantity to one of circular quality.
Artists from all countries are invited to send a proposal for a site-specific outdoor sculpture installation to be created during a 26-day artist in residency (April 11 – May 7, 2012) in Cheng Long, a small rural village near the southwestern coast of Taiwan in Kouhu Township,Yunlin County. This art project is an expansion of the 2010 and 2011 Cheng Long Wetlands International Environmental Art Projects, going into the Village as well as the Wetlands. The selected artists will work with elementary school children and community residents to create large-scale sculpture installations focused on the theme of “What’s for Dinner?” The artworks should reflect on environmental issues surrounding food production and emphasize organic aquaculture. Artworks will be in village public spaces, on abandoned buildings, and in the wetlands nature preserve, and artists will use recycled materials and natural materials to create their artworks that will stay on exhibition through 2013.
Proposals Due: Feb. 8, 2012
Artists Notified by: Feb. 22, 2012
Residency in Taiwan: April 8 – May 7, 2012
Selected Artists Receive: NT50,000 (US$1,662), round trip economy airfare, accommodations and meals for 26 days in Taiwan, local transportation, volunteer help to find materials and make the artworks
Description of your proposed sculpture installation giving estimated size and materials to be used (limit 1 page as a .doc or .pdf file).
Sketch of your proposed work as a .jpg or .pdf file (less than 1 MG in size)
Images and image list (title, date made, dimensions, materials/media, and where located) of 6 previous outdoor sculpture installations (6 .jpg files each less than 1MG in size)
CV or resume showing exhibitions, awards, residencies, education and experience as an artist (.doc or .pdf file)
Contact information: Name, Present Address, Nationality, Email address and Website (.doc or .pdf file)
‘You’ve described a very interesting project and one that could fill a critically important void.’
David Orr.
The Kaleidoscope videos are conversations with experts on sustainability, design and innovation, aiming to reflect and generate actions between a diverse range of disciplines.
We interviewed a variety of people who have been working around sustainability for years all with different approaches; Science, Business, Graphic, Fashion and Industrial designers, Psychologist, Architects and Academics from different parts of the world; the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, Austria, Spain and Germany.
Participants:
Ramon Arratia European Sustainability Director at InterfaceFlor
Eric Benson Graphic Designer Co-founder of Re-Nourish
Dr. Jonathan Chapman Reader & Course Leader of the MA Sustainable Design at University of Brighton
Mark Gawlinski Senior Lecturer in Leadership specialising in Organisational Change
Nick Gant Co-Director of the Inheritable Futures Laboratory & Co-founder of BoBo Design
Ken Garland Visionary & Co-creator of First things First manifesto. Ken is a Graphic Designer & visiting lecturer at many design schools across the globe
The videos are split into four different values; Balance, Meaning, Innovation and Culture. Asking how each value is seen and practised today and how they should be practiced in order to move towards a better future. The last video focuses on the tools and skills that we need to get to that better future. Acting as a call to arms for designers and professionals about the need for rethink the way we practice our disciplines.
The videos will be released one by one over the coming weeks and are a starting point for conversation showing different points of view and perspectives from all around the world.
Please interact with them, leave a comment, challenge them and most of all share them.
All the content you find here is Creative Commons. Please reference Engage by Design.
Engage by Design is a social enterprise developed through the final Master research of Rodrigo Bautista and Zoe Olivia John in sustainability and design. As a consultancy they specialize in strategic interventions that aim to support the transformation of your product or service into a more sustainable one.
Engage by Design’s research arm intends to act as a platform which enables dialogues and actions between a diverse range of disciplines around sustainability and design.
Rodrigo Bautista – Rodrigo is an Industrial Designer and has worked in many different industries including media, products, services and telecommunications. Today his work focuses on strategic interventions and tools to apply sustainability and design instruments within a company.
Zoë Olivia John – Zoë’s background in Fashion & Textiles has lead her into the research and development of better ways to integrate learning about sustainability for Higher Education students and tutors, particularly within the F&T programme. She is interested in finding new ways to readdress our value structure from one of linear economic quantity to one of circular quality.
The event was an opportunity for members of the Green Theatre Network to meet up, share progress, discuss issues and find new ways to improve sustainable practices within theatres. The morning consisted of discussions and updates, particularly from members of the network who gave brief summaries on their latest sustainability initiatives. There were also discussions on the future of greening theatre and what we can ideally achieve by 2025.
The variety in projects ranged from new LED lighting techniques, introducing Green Riders into contracts, energy monitoring and measuring, Climate Week 2012 progress and more. It was inspiring and exciting to see how each theatre or company is using different initiatives to be more sustainable.
The event was organised by Julie’s Bicycle, an organisation working to integrate sustainability into the arts.
The 1200 Buildings Commission is a pilot public art project responding to the energy and sustainability performance of a commercial building within the City of Melbourne – the Green Spaces at 490 Spencer Street in West Melbourne. The Green Spaces building is an early entrant in the City’s 1200 Buildings scheme, which aims to facilitate the energy retrofit of 1200 buildings within the municipality, making a significant contribution towards meeting the City of Melbourne’s target of carbon neutrality by 2020.
Date: October 5-19, 2012