We, at Arcola Theatre were thinking about getting an “air curtain†for our front door. An “air curtain†is when you have hot air blowing from above the door frame, to maintain the temperature inside although the door to the outside is open. Now we decided to close the door instead, after reading that this would cut 10 tonnes of our annual CO2 emissions. For more information about this research, look up “Close the Door†Campaign.
Monthly Archives: December 2011
New on our news page
This post comes to you from Ashden Directory
In Nottingham, there’s a three-day celebration of the apple.In Edinburgh, David Abram, author of The Spell of the Sensuous, and Being Animal: An Earthy Cosmology,  gives a public talk.
In London, Arcola’s Green Sundays return with a focus on recycling and upcycling.
In the bookshops, David Rothenberg’s Survival of the Beautiful investigates why nature is beautiful and how it has influenced science, Brendon Larson explores how metaphors entangle scientific facts with social values and Mojisola Adebayo’s Plays One includes ‘Moj of the Antarctic: An African Odyssey’.
There’s a new funding stream for public art by Creative Scotland, and a call for runners to participate in NVA’s Speed of Light at the Edinburgh Festival.
On the international scene, Conversation between Trees uses sensors and mobile phones in the forest canopies in Brazil and the UK to communicate the light and colour of the trees and the changing climate around them.
Closer to home, Culture and Climate Change: Recordings is available as an online pdf and publication.
“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK†(2020 Network)
ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.
The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.The Directory has been live since 2000.
U-N-F-O-L-D in New York
This post comes to you from Cultura21
New York
30 September – 15 December 2011
The Exhibition U-N-F-O-L-D exhibition continues until 15 December in New York City at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) at Parsons The New School for Design. It shows the work of twenty-five artists who took part in Cape Farewell expeditions 2007 and 2008 to the High Arctic and 2009 to the Andes, where they were able to witness the consequences of climate change and global warming. Their work is an innovative response to these processes and explores the role that human activity plays in it. In this way the artists aim to raise awareness and create a cultural shift through their work.
The programme of public events and performances can be downloaded here.
A series of exciting lectures, panels and special events are broadcasted on newschoolradio.org.
One of these broadcasts is “What Ifs: Climate Change and Creative Agency“, in which Architect and planner Dilip da Cunha and artists Aviva Rahmani and Susannah Sayler as well as artist Eve Mosher talk about their creative interventions and debate oppositions and collaborations between science and art. The webradiocast can be found on http://wnsr.parsons.edu/2011/10/19/what-ifs-climate-change-and-creative-agency/
In February 2012 the U-N-F-O-L-D heads to Liverpool, where it opens at John Moores University.
Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.
Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.
The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:
– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21
Call for Submissions: Horizons – Arts in Nature
This post comes to you from Cultura21
France - The Horizons – Arts in Nature event will take place between the 16th June and 16th September 2012. It is the 6th of a contemporary art event based on short-lived visual works of art.
Managed by the Sancy Tourist Office, the call for projects involves the creation of 11 works of art in the Sancy Massif located in the heart of the Massif Central in France and exceptionally within the theme park Vulcania.
The works of art will be put up in places where they highlight the surrounding countryside’s qualities. Discovery trails and Art workshops for children are held around the art piece in order to mediate their content.
The event aims at developing contemporary art in the area, allowing professional artists to contribute their sensitivity to the area. Furthermore it is supposed to reinforce the growth of tourism in the Sancy Massif by addressing so-called cultural tourists as well as people passing through.
The event is open to artists with a strong national or/and international artistic experience and to young talents, who just or recently – less than 2 years- graduated from art school.
To download the application form for 2012, description of the territory and listing of the sites please go to the website of the event:
www.horizons-sancy.com (section: ESPACE PRO)
For further information about the territory, please visit the Sancy website: www.sancy.com
Contact:
Magalie Vassenet
E-mail: m [dot] vassenet [at] sancy [dot] com
Deadline for reception of the applications: Monday 19th December 2011, to the address below:
Horizons – Rencontres Arts Nature – Office de Tourisme du Sancy
Allée du Lieutenant Farmont – 63 240 LE MONT DORE
Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.
Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.
The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:
– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21
Call for Papers: The International Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change
This post comes to you from Cultura21
USA
September 13-15 2012
The Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change is an event of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, that takes place from the 13th to the 15th of September 2012.
Which obstacles and opportunities are U.S. climate policymakers and scientists confronted with? Current issues of climate change will be focused at the International Conference on Culture, Politics and Climate Change. This will happen in a cross-disciplinary way, in order to look at the topic and at intersections between culture, politics and science from different viewpoints.
The political and cultural discourse generates many questions concerning climate change:
How can climate change be addressed on a national scale? Or should climate change rather be addressed on a global level? How is policy made and what is the role of state and non-state actors? How is meaning is derived from our shared culture?
Especially in the U.S. the topic is relevant, all the more facing the national elections and ongoing international climate negotiations.
The Call for Papers is addressed to presenters, who look at the communication of climate change in public and its effect on other cultural and political processes. Comparisons, with papers and panels on culture, politics and climate change in the U.S. and other countries are welcomed.
The following questions may be considered as suggestions for papers and panels,but can be enhanced by other ideas as well:
- Communication of science
- Media and environmental policy
- Social movements/activism
- Political communication of climate change
- Mediated representation
- Non-state actors in climate politics and communication
- Journalism studies
- Visual culture
- Consumer culture studies
- Spiritualities of globalization
- Religions and the environment
- Documentary/feature film
For more information, contact:
Deserai A. Crow, Associate Director, Center for Environmental
Journalism deserai [dot] crow [at] colorado [dot] eduor have a look at the homepage of the conference www.climateculturepolitics.org
The Call for Papers can be downloaded as PDF file here:
Sept 2012 CU-Boulder conference – media, culture & climate change CFP
The deadline for submissions and abstracts is January 10, 2012.
Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.
Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.
The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:
– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21
Research and Development
This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
Creative Scotland have announced a call for proposals for public art research and development projects.
“The fund’s purpose is to support the initial research and scoping of a range of public art projects and approaches to provide opportunities for communities across Scotland to engage with the development of creative places through imaginative, artist-led projects.  The aim of the investment is to open opportunities for the public of Scotland to engage with artists in a wide range of public art activity. We want to encourage high quality and imaginative projects that contribute to successful places, build new audiences and extend the diversity of public art practice.  In 2011/12 there is a budget of £150,000 available.â€
ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland
Exhibition: Andrea Polli – Breathless
This post comes to you from Cultura21
Turin
28 October 2011 -26 February 2012
Andrea Polli
BREATHLESS
in collaboration with Chuck Varga
From the 28th of October 2011 to the 26th of February 2012 the first solo exhibition by Andrea Polli takes place in Turin in Italy. Andrea Polli is known as an ecological artist and lives and works in Albuquerque in New Mexico. She presents some of her most meaningful works in collaboration with Chuck Varga at PAV Living Art Park in Turin.
Her exhibition Breathless deals in an innovative way with the comprehension of phenomena like climate change and global warming. In cooperation with scientists, weather experts and climatologists she transforms scientific data in aesthetic experiences through mixed media installations. For example data on urban air pollution is analyzed and different interpretations are offered. She chooses site-specific environmental installations to make invisible effects of climate change visible and tangible for the visitor. Polli also sees signs of cultural change in the climate variations and investigates the impact of the climate on the future of life and on the balance of the whole planet.
The exhibition of the American artist is curated by Gaia Bindi and Claudio Cravero and the opening hours are Wednesday to Friday, 13.00 – 18.00 and Saturdays and Sundays, 12.00 – 19.00.
You can find more info, photo, biographic news and video links about the artist at www.andreapolli.com.
For more information about the exhibition mail to info [at] parcoartevivente [dot] it
Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.
Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.
The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:
– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21
BLDGBLOG: Literary Climatology
Some fascinating ideas from BLDGBLOG in excerpt form a little while ago, which relate to ideas of ecodrama:
1)Â Performance PhysicsÂ
It was, we might say, not performance art but performance physics: an immersive, urban-scale demonstration of quantum dislocation… constantly out of self-synch in a single setting… the skies of San Francisco temporarily modeling an inter-dimensional event.
2)Â Sky Forensics
…the passage of the Blue Angels had been setting off car alarms all over the city… the locations of the car alarms always coincided with the physical passage of the airplanes… you could actually reconstruct the aerial trajectories of the planes through entirely indirect means.
In twenty years’ time, then, forensic historians could reconstruct the skies of Fleet Week 2011 using nothing but data from parked cars.
3)Â Literary Climatology
…we briefly got onto the subject of skywriting… The idea of blogging in the sky through the medium of artificial weather—chemically produced, aerodynamic clouds draping the city in a haze of literary climatology…
Of course, it’s worth the whole post….
Approaches to Arts-based Environmental Education by Jan van Boeckel
Image from Nature Art Education site
This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
The Shorelines Symposium which took place at Rozelle Maclaurin included presentations by two keynotes Ian McGilchrist (author of The Master and his Emissary), Chris Drury (artist) as well as a number of others.
The Symposium was organised in conjunction with Alison Bell and Cathy Treadaway‘s exhibition Shorelines currently at in the Maclaurin Galleries. It was great that a Symposium of this quality took place in Ayr. We need more of this quality of thinking and discussion.
Jan van Boeckel of the Nature – Art – Education research group at Aalto University, School of Art and Design, Helsinki, gave a short paper entitled Angels talking back and new organs of perception: Art making and intentionality in nature experience. He has provided the abstract and link to the full paper.
ABSTRACT
This article is about the role of artistic process in connecting to the natural environment. In my research I have explored what participants experienced and learned when they engage in different types of arts-based environmental education (AEE) practices that I have facilitated. The premise of AEE is that efforts to learn about our (natural) environment can effectively take their starting point in an artistic activity, usually conducted in groups.
I found that, on the whole, two major orientations can be distinguished. One starts from the point of aesthetic sensibility: the tuning in with the senses, or with “a new organ of perception†(Goethe), in order to perceive “the more than human†with fresh new eyes. This tradition can be traced back to (but is by no means limited) to the Romantic Movement. Art in this context may help to amplify the receptivity of the senses and strengthen a sense of connectedness to the natural world.
The other major orientation in seeking bridges between nature and art builds on a view of artistic process as leading to unexpected outcomes and “emergent properties.†The fundamentally singular experience of making a work of art may evoke an aesthetic object that becomes a “self-sufficient, spiritually breathing subject†(Kadinsky). The art work can be spontaneously generative and multi-layered with meanings, some of which even ambiguous and paradoxical. But perhaps more importantly: it can catch the participant of an AEE activity by surprise; overwhelm him or her as “coming from behind one’s back.†The element of improvisation, of taking in the new and unanticipated and accommodating for it, is the core quality here.
These two orientations, when practiced as part of AEE, have implications to how we relate to nature through art. In the closing of this article I address the question whether it is possible to bridge the dualism between the two orientations.
ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland
Political Ecology
This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
Where is the politics in political ecology? is a follow-up discussion by the Political Ecology Working Group at the University of Kentucky. Its an open discussion that anyone can participate in – artworks can be contributed, or short texts (max 300 words). Deadline 13 December 2011. There previous discussion, What is Political Ecology? is up on their site.
This way of working (calls for short position statements, with a simple editorial process, published to a blog) seems to me ideal as a means to build up understanding about a new or growing subject. 
ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.
Go to EcoArtScotland