Monthly Archives: January 2013

Sanitation is culture

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talking with
Brooklyn Museum employee Peggy Johnson

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Wallace Heim writes: In New York last week, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, artist in residence since 1977 for the New York City Department of Sanitation, conducted a series of live interviews with Brooklyn Museum’s daily maintenance staff, window washers, floor sweepers, security guards, and told them what they do is “the first kind of culture”.

In her performance, which also included architects and city planners, she asked each person a series of questions: How do you personally survive? What do you need to do to keep going? What happens to your dreams and your freedom when you do the things you have to do to keep surviving? What keeps New York Cityalive? What does the city need to do to survive after Sandy?.

Ukeles told the workers, “Here’s the museum with all this stuff, and then there’s what you do. You are culture, and your work is culture. And the endless hours that will never be done, that’s what enable us to be in an institution like this. Mopping up the garbage from yesterday. It’s safe. And the things in here are taken care of. That’s culture.”

Full interview with Ukeles on Gallerist NY.
photo: Carole DeBeer, courtesy Brooklyn Museum.

h/t to ecoartscotland.net

“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.

Go to The Ashden Directory

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Trash Talk: The Department of Sanitation’s Artist in Residence Is a Real Survivor

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

“Last week, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who is the first and, to date, only artist in residence in the history of the New York City Department of Sanitation (a title she has held since 1977), was speaking at the Brooklyn Museum’s daily staff roll call. She told the museum’s crew of maintenance workers—among them window washers, security guards and floor sweepers—that even though their work can seem boring and repetitive, what they do is “the first kind of culture.”

Continue reading on GalleristNY…

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

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Call for Applications: Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways- Part IV

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khoj_logo3-300x133Deadline: 5th February, 2013

Khoj is inviting applications from artists, artists groups or professionals for the Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways – Part IV project.

All projects proposals must tackle issues of ecology and should have an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes both research and community engagement. Projects should be site-specific and should preferably be located in peri-urban or rural places within India.

Applications for the Negotiating Routes project should be submitted to applications [at] khojworkshop [dot] org and should include the following:

An artist biography & images of previous projects

  • A concept note
  • A note explaining how the project will be executed
  • A project budget of up to Rs. 1,50,000. The budget should include travel, accommodation, allowance (up to 10% of total project budget), research, production & installation costs.
  • A brief note outlining strategies for reporting the project

Open to Indian citizens or foreign citizens who have been residing in India long term.

Click here for further information about the project and the application process.

Reposted from Khoj International Artists’ Association newsletter.

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

Go to Cultura21

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Call for Submissions – Water Memories & Tomorrow’s Landscapes

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waterwheel_turq_hires-177x30012th Inter-University Meetings on Landscape Symposium on Waterwheel for World Water Day – 22 March 2013, Tunisia

On 22 March 2013, the Research Unit Horticulture, Landscape, Environment of the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott Mariem, IRESA, Sousse University, Tunisia, will host the twelfth international inter-institutional and inter-university meeting dedicated to water landscapes. In keeping with its multidisciplinary nature, this will also be the second World Water Day Symposium on WATERWHEEL platform, in partnership with Griffith University in Brisbane (Australia), the Five Colleges in Massachusetts (USA), and Reciclarte and IQLab in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

The proposed theme Water Memories and Tomorrow’s Landscapes is inscribed in the project of building a new interface between sciences, techniques and arts in order to imagine the future of ecosystems resources. Facing concerns provoked by problems of the “degradation” of inhabited environments, new interdisciplinary tools are needed. Within a systemic framework, it is essential to better understand the main properties, characteristics and uses of water, and ways of relating them to the organization and operation of environments of all kinds.

The general organization aims to create the best possibilities of communication and expression, thanks to the internet platform Waterwheel, which will allow an exchange in the form of on-line workshops (between 1-2 hours max), presentations (10 minutes), panels (2 hours max including 30 min discussion), performances (10-20 minutes) and posters, throughout the symposium, and will ensure their dissemination through the site http://water-wheel.net.

Participation is open to academics, practitioners and artists. Four topics will be particularly privileged across disciplines:

  • temporalities of water and environments
  • water, environment and society
  • risk management: flooded cities
  • new technologies and water governance

Timeline:

6 Feb 2013: CLOSING DATE for submission

24 Feb 2013: notifications

3 March 2013: closing date for supplying extra information

9–12 March 2013: training on using Waterwheel & technical test

17 March 2013: closing dates for final versions of the selected works & upload of media and presentation (including PowerPoint, audio, video…)

22-23 March 2013: Symposium

6 months after the symposium: publication of the proceedings (book & pdf file)

Abstracts, performances, workshops and panel proposals must be submitted BEFORE the 6th of February 2013

Download the full open call here: water-wheel.net

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

Go to Cultura21

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SCANZ 2013: Wananga-Symposium

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Developing the culture to create a sustainable civilization

SCANZ2013LogoWebGraphic1-300x102Feb 1st–3rd, 2013 – New Plymouth, New Zealand

SCANZ (Solar Circuit Aotearoa New Zealand) is New Zealand´s premier art, technology, culture and ecology event and involves a symposium, creative residency, and public events and exhibitions. Occurring biennially, it has typically involved a mix of Aotearoa New Zealand and international artists, producers, theorists and curators. SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature will be the fourth event and will be organized by Ian Clothier, Trudy Lane, and Nina Czegledy of Intercreate, in partnership with aligned organizations within the arts and sciences and with tangata whenua.

SCANZ 2013 3rd nature seeks to develop a fresh space, carrying memes from previous SCANZ events (which have all had an emphasis on environment) and other Intercreate projects that have involved scientists, indigenous peoples and artists working together. The aim is to build new knowledge and establish legacies around this work, unencumbered by old perspectives and now distant categories.

We ignore the environmental crisis at our peril. Integrating the indigenous perspective, creative, environmental and scientific views on the environment is essential for continued human habitation of the planet. From these trajectories, it is possible to conceive of a fresh hybrid space, composed of overlapping elements.

For the symposium schedule, a list of selected abstracts and to register, click here

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

Go to Cultura21

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Aviva Rahmani, January Events

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Water, part 2 of Oil & Water diptych, encaustic on archival digital print by Aviva Rahmani 2011.

Water, part 2 of Oil & Water diptych, encaustic on archival digital print by Aviva Rahmani 2011.

One of a Kind III

Curated by Heidi Hatry

January 11 – February 24, 2013

Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University

61 York Street, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada

Galley hours M-F 10-5 PM, Sat & Sun 1-5 PM

http://www.mta.ca/owens/index.php

 

Trigger Points After the Storm  

An evening event/discussion

Hosted by Aviva Rahmani with Wendy Osserman in the

Philosoprops & Onotological Apparatus Dialectic Revival Series Exhibition

by Alyce Santoro

Monday January 21st @ 7 PM

“In a post-Sandy environment can we layer bioregionalism,

environmental justice and intuition for coastal resilience?

We will explore how aesthetic tools can trigger healing.” -Aviva Rahmani

Gasser Grunert Gallery

523 W 19th St. New York, NY

http://gassergrunert.net

http://alycesantoro.blogspot.com/2013/01/dialectic-revival-series.html

http://www.wendyossermandance.org/dancers.htm

 

It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)

January 30th @ 6 PM Rahmani will give an Artists Talk at the opening reception

Feb 28th @ 3:30 PM Rahmani will participate in the Panel Discussion

January 30th Opening Reception 5-7 PM

Curated by Amy Lipton

January 30 – March 6, 2013

Ramapo College Art Galleries

Jersey 505 Ramapo Valley Rd., Mahwah, NJ

Gallery Hours Tue, Thu, Fri: 1-5 PM, Wed: 1-7 PM

http://www.ramapo.edu/berriecenter/galleries/index.html

http://ecoartspace.blogspot.com/

Green Choreographers-in-Residence

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ecocityIn December, Dance Exchange hosted Amara Tabor-Smith, our first Green Choreographer-in-Residence. Amara and her collaborator Sherwood Chen spent a week with Dance Exchange artists exploring sustainable food practices and food justice. Amara’s residency, which took place in our studios, as well as at sites like Eco City Farms in Edmonston, MD, culminated in a Thursday night HOME event featuring a potluck dinner and reflections on food and family. Visit Dance Exchange’s Facebook page to view more pictures from the residency.

Jill Sigman, of New York City, is our second Green Choreographer-in-Residence and will be in residence from January 28-February 1, 2013. Sigman will explore principles of permaculture and engage in hands-on work with small living systems, and this research will inform the development of movement scores and improvisational systems for use in her work The Hut Project, a series of site-specific structures built from trash. Sigman will share her methods and research in her HOME event on Thursday, January 30th from 7:00-9:00pm, and teach FRIDAY CLASS on Friday, February 1st from 9:30-11:15am.

Su Grierson 20th January

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The heated table. Photo and permission Su Grierson

The heated table. Photo and permission Su Grierson

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Day 1

The journey to Japan was good and easy.  Yoshiko Maruyama, the artist/ initiator of this project, was waiting for me at Narita airport.

The Japan Foundation wanted to meet me and receive my flight invoices and this meant an hour bus trip in the wrong direction into central Tokyo, but a smiling Mr Ohnishi met us, gave us lunch and towed my suitcase for me and after the formalities of paperwork he found us the correct train for our 3 hour journey up to Kitakata. He is promising to visit us in 10 days time to give us our generous fees and expenses.

I got a little closer to understanding why this project is being sponsored by the Japan Foundation and just what their hopes for it are. It seems there is a general desire of local and national government to counter the current negative images that accompany the word Fukushima internationally, as well as a desire to re-build the cultural activity of the area. Our impressions of our visit that we give to them and local people and also take home with us are just as important as any artwork we create here. They also talk of us conveying a positive image of the area to what they call the ‘Refugees’, in other words the survivors of the Tsunami who are living in temporary accommodation here that they must vacate after 3 years. I hope to find out more about that later.

I feel they see us as trailblazers initiating an artist’s residency in Fukushima that they hope others will then be willing to come to. It is refreshing that they and the other funders are happy to support a project without any clear idea of how it will proceed, instead just letting things fall into place as it goes along.

Day 2.

Yoshiko and I have now joined the two Norwegians, a sculptor and an architect and the first impression for all of us is the COLD, the second is of amazing scenery and buildings.

This is my seventh visit to Japan and I have never seen it look so stunning nor have I been so cold. We are staying in a traditional farmhouse style building with sliding walls with paper ‘glass’ on the inner side and glass on the outer wall (with a metre wide buffer zone between) none of which are tight fitting. There is absolutely no insulation and there is a general reluctance to use any electricity. This seems to stem partly from cost which is often mentioned – although the adjacent new part of the building does have solar panels on the roof (I haven’t yet had a chance to ask about that) – and also from a general attempt to reduce the use of electricity after their nuclear catastrophe. No one here seems to know how many of their nuclear plants have been re-opened.

As Margretha from Norway is an architect we have had long discussions about the nature of these building which seem to have been traditionally so unsuited to this climate, but then again they have also to withstand earthquakes and extremely hot and humid summers for which they seem perfectly adapted. We also don’t yet know the extent to which their approach to life was, and maybe still is, so different from our own age of ‘comfort’. The winters are cold so you just put on more clothes and don’t think about it. We are trying hard to do the same with varying degrees of success. The paraffin heaters and heated meal tables are a blessing. Our hostess has just produced some electric blankets – JOY.

The amount of fantastic food we are plied with also goes a long way to keeping out the cold. Today we have a ‘party’ to which all the funders and local supporters as well as Press will be coming. Tonight apparently we are moving to a mountain farm house for 4 days.

With endless outings being promised, we are wondering when there will be any time to make work for an exhibition in 4 weeks time.

Su Grierson

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

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Call for nominations: “AWEInspiring” Arts & Environment Award

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

ciwem_612-300x139The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management´s (CIWEM) Art and Environment Network (AEN) is calling for nominations for their annual Arts and the Environment Award, carried out in association with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW), to recognise innovation and excellence in work by arts practitioners or environmentalists engaging with arts practices.

2013 sees the fourth year of the award, details of the award and previous winners can be found athttp://www.ciwem.org/competition-and-awards/aweinspiring.aspx

The eligibility criteria are as follows:

  • Nominations may consist of an artwork, arts project or body of work by a living artist (or group) that is contributing innovatively to CIWEM’s vision of “putting creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action”.
  • The nomination must demonstrate innovation and excellence; whether in ideas, execution or impact.
  • The award is open to arts practitioners, environmentalists engaging with arts practices, or persons/initiatives that integrate these disciplines.
  • The focus is on rewarding identified work, not simply a person.
  • All forms and modes of arts practice, and geographical locations, may be considered.
  • Special emphasis will be given to inspiring examples of young and/or emerging talent.

The deadline for nominations is 31st January 2013. The winner will be announced in the press and a presentation will be made at a high-profile event (in previous years this has been the CIWEM Annual Dinner).

You can consider putting forward a project, body of work, organisation, person or group you would like to see given special recognition in this way, by sending a short description, and your reasons, to Laura Grant at lgrant [at] ciwem [dot] org.

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

Go to Cultura21

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Promised Land – Fracking arrives in Hollywood

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

The documentary Gasland released in 2010, which portrayed the devastating effects of a method of drilling into shale gas formations called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, in rural american communities, garnered mostly positive reviews from film critics and newspapers but also negative responses by fracking lobbyists. The latter resulted in the launch of a website called Energy in Depth and the production of a movie titled TruthLand, by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, concerned with listing false information propagated in Gasland and showing a different view on fracking.

The new film Promised Land, released in December 2012, directed by Gus van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand, is the first Hollywood treatment of fracking, much to the displeasure of the oil and gas industry which have yet again launched an almost targeted campaign to discredit the movie even before its release, including buying onscreen ad time in theatres and planning to launch a “Truth Squad” initiative on social media platforms.

The film is set to have its international premiere at the 63th Berlin International Film Festival inFebruary 2013.

For more information on Promised Land and the surrounding discussion:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/17/fracking-lobbyists-matt-damon-promised-land

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

Go to Cultura21

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