Monthly Archives: May 2014

OPEN CALL: CSPA Quarterly:  An Open Call for Essays, Artwork, and Reports 

news,

CSPAQ 8The CSPA Quarterly has embarked on what has turned into an incredibly challenging series of publications:  four issues focused on each of the four dimensions of sustainability (as recognized by UNESCO).  Our first issue in the series on Art + Economy was published at the beginning of the year, and our issue on Environment will be released soon.

The remaining issues in the series are open for submission.  Please send us tips, projects, essays, scripts, photographs, etc that represent the two remaining dimensions:

SOCIAL EQUITY / performances, artwork, or public art projects that address issues of social equity- local or global!

CULTURE / Yes, we know this is broad.  We’re looking for essays, projects, etc that evaluate the value of culture, and the role of art and culture in a sustainable society.

Please address submissions to:  Miranda@SustainablePractice.org

For Previous editions, please CLICK HERE

Creative Scotland announce Environment Connecting theme

Creative Carbon Scotland, , ,

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Creative Scotland’s new funding guidelines require applicants to show how they will contribute to the Environment Connecting theme, and all funded organisations and individuals now need to report their carbon emissions from April 2014 onwards.

Creative Carbon Scotland is offering an improved programme of training and support in carbon measuring, reporting and reduction, and will hold seminars on how a positive focus on Environment can strengthen companies artistically, financially and reputationally.

Read more about our training and support programme for carbon reporting.

Read more about the Environment Connecting theme.

Photo by Gemma Lawrence of Ellie Harrison’s Early Warning Signs outside GoMA, http://www.ellieharrison.com/

The post Creative Scotland announce Environment Connecting theme appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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Climate Change Couture

Artists and Climate Change

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

The Aquatutu. An inflatable suit to be worn in places that often flood.

Catherine Young is a Filipina artist-scientist-designer-writer-explorer working on human perception and the environment. How did she earn the right to claim such a beautiful, multidisciplinary, hyphenated title, you might ask? By receiving a degree in molecular biology and biotechnology from Manila, fine art education from Barcelona, and an MFA in Interaction Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Smart enough for you?

Catherine is currently working on something intriguing – The Apocalypse Project – that is just as multidisciplinary as her hyphenated self, and includes the wonderful series Climate Change Couture: Haute Fashion for a Hotter Planet. It is not fashion’s only foray in the world of climate change. Recently, Francesco Fiondella and Rebecca Fowler created Climate Models, a 2014 calendar featuring climate scientists in high fashion gear against backdrops illustrating their research interests. But Climate Change Couture is concerned with another kind of fashion: What we will wear when some of the scenarios of the current climate models (the computer kinds, not the flesh kinds) become reality.

What are the different components of The Apocalypse Project?

I used to work as a journalist, so interviewing people is a big part of my practice. The first thing I did was to hold a series of Apocalypse Workshops, where I asked participants to draw their answers to the questions, “What is your apocalypse?” “What superpower would you like to have to navigate through your apocalypse?” and “What would you wear to your apocalypse?” It made me understand how people (at least those in Singapore) viewed climate change, which is an issue with a large number of opinions.

I created the series Climate Change Couture: Haute Fashion for a Hotter Planet when I realized that the question on clothing resonated with participants the most — they found it an engaging question, whether they liked to draw or not. Climate Change Couture asks the question, “What will you wear to the future we create?” I designed the clothes based on the research of the Singapore-ETH Future Cities Laboratory, who collaborated with me during my residency. I think this series really resonated with people, and there is a diversity of environmental conditions all over the world which gives me ideas for a lot more designs.

I also held a project with students from Tembusu College, National University of Singapore called Earth vs Humans: The Court Trial. There I asked the question, “What happens if Planet Earth sues us for environmental misdemeanors?” The students, who took a class in climate change and whose professors helped me refine the project, wrote the script and assembled their cast, and we filmed it in their reading room.

I think there are many other ways to look at climate change apart from workshops, fashion, photography, and theater. I look forward to creating more projects under The Apocalypse Project platform. I am currently expanding the project in the Philippines, my home country and one that was severely impacted by Typhoon Haiyan last year.

Can you describe your collaboration with Singapore-ETH Future Cities Laboratory? How did you “translate” scientific research into design? What was your process?

My work is usually interactive and my earlier work had a lot to do with human perception. When I did a residency at the National Art Studio of Korea, I did a project that involved hiking all the mountains of Seoul. There, I saw firsthand the effects of human activity on the environment. At that time, I kept running into climate change in my investigations, and this led me to being a part of the 2013 Art Science Residency Programme, in partnership with ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, Tembusu College National University of Singapore, and Singapore-ETH Future Cities Laboratory.

I was essentially an artist in the lab. I looked at their research and saw opportunities to turn them into narratives that laymen can understand and care about using the medium of fashion. I think what makes the public shy away from science is its perceived inaccessibility and dryness. But I saw ways to turn science into stories that can engage people. Once I designed the clothes, I asked the researchers to critique them so that the final clothes would be solidly grounded in science. I see the project as one of speculative fiction, as opposed to science fiction — there are no zombies in this apocalypse, for example.

I really like this process of working with scientists, as I do have a science background. One of the most fun parts of the project was getting the researchers to model the clothes, which I don’t think people expect scientists to do. They got really into it and their artistic sides came out. I believe all of us are born artists and scientists — we are all curious and have the capacity to translate this into creative and innovative things.

What are people’s reactions to your Climate Change Couture series?

They found it to have a mix of seriousness and humor. The stories that go with the clothes are also a bit tongue-in-cheek. I think they saw climate change in a different light — it certainly deviated from the usual photos of polar bears. As an interaction designer, I believe in a focus on people, and that this will make an audience find the work relatable and relevant. When I present the work, I also invite the audience to wear the clothes, and this allows them to put themselves in the stories I created. The fun and interactivity of the project was a strategy to make them interested and engaged, and hopefully, make the issue of climate change important in their own lives beyond seeing the project in the gallery or online.

What do you think is the single most important thing artists can do to address the problem of climate change?

Artists can be the emotional hook in the problem about climate change. I think people in general are weary of being told that we are a liability to the planet, that there is no hope. I like to take a more empowering stance in the climate change conversation so that people will be spurred to action.

What gives you hope?

I have hope in the creative powers of humanity. We got ourselves into this, we can get ourselves out. We don’t have much of a choice, do we?

Filed under: Design, Featured Artist

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Biodiversity in the Multifaceted Uncertainty of the Knowledge Economy : the case of ecoLAB

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Image: Grass cutting day with green tea and humus photo by Lorena Lozano

[plastik] art & science is a mostly French language on-line journal.  Previous issues have focused on nano (#03), in vivo (#02) and la relativité générale et la physique quantique (#01).  Some essays, such as this one by Lozano are in English, Biodiversity in the Multifaceted Uncertainty of the Knowledge Economy : the case of ecoLAB.

There are lots of artists’ gardening projects, but this one, whilst transforming a bleak space, also benefits from some analysis, not least of the question of utopian ideals.  Read on…

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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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LAGI 2014 Copenhagen

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This post comes to you from Green Public Art

LAGI 2014 invites artists, architects, engineers, and designers to collaborate on an idea for what infrastructure art of sustainable cities looks like by considering clean energy generation within the context of public art. DEADLINE May 18, 2014!

WATCH: European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard calls for creativity in the conception of renewable energy infrastructure

The main goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is to design and construct public art installations that have the added benefit of utility-scale clean energy generation. The works will serve to inspire and educate while they provide renewable power to thousands of homes around the world. This year LAGI and Refshaleøen Holding are holding the LAGI 2014 ideas competition in Copenhagen.

As Copenhagen (the European Green Capital in 2014) moves towards carbon neutral status by 2025, the debate over the aesthetic manifestation and human interaction component of our new energy infrastructure is becoming increasingly important to the planning strategies required to attain zero-carbon sustainability goals.

The 2010 LAGI design competition was held for three sites in the UAE and received hundreds of submissions from over 40 countries. In 2012, in partnership with New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation the design competition was held for a site within Freshkills Park (the former Fresh Kills Landfill) and received 250 submissions from around the world.

More info here: http://landartgenerator.org/designcomp/

Download Design Guidelines here

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Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.

Go to Green Public Art

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Eco- Island Amager, under Sharing Copenhagen

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Cultura21 Nordic proposes the project Eco-Island Amager, under the auspices ofSharing Copenhagen – Copenhagen as European Green Capital in 2014 .

The 96 sq. km island of Amager is a polyvalent space imbued with ever-shifting meanings. It is also a part of Copenhagen, which could become a centre for culturally driven and sustainability-motivated change in an urban environment. Our vision is that, by observing the actual life of the island/city, with locally active agents of change, by mapping and conceptualizing potentials for a new identity, we can visualize paths and trigger points inviting Amager to creating a new life for itself, as an Eco-Island in a green city.

What is an eco-island? This is a question which Eco-Island Amager sets out to answer in Cultura21’s spirit of collaborative, creative and community-oriented interventions. The aim is that the project will give way to new learning, and to translate new insights into a number of specific innovative, transdisciplinary projects. All along the project, we will build on practice-derived knowledge and seek to develop new practices through creative reflection.

The project is divided into three stages, unfolding gradually from April to October, and is part of the official programme of Sharing Copenhagen .

The first step was a ‘mapping visions’ workshop, which took place on the24th-25th of April, in the beautiful Dome of Visions. This stage was dedicated to sketching the contours of the (intertwined, natural, social, economic, and cultural) eco-systems found on the island. The workshop has drawn on the varied experiences and knowledge of the diverse local actors, stake-holders of the island, and mapping experts, focusing on finding possible interactions and connections in and between the selected 9 zones of the project on Amager.

The second stage of our intervention consists of exploring the 9 transectsidentified in the mapping process. Each transect will last a day, with the 9 walks stretching from June to September 2014. The transect is a field-based method of investigation, grounded in the texture of the selected areas, which are approached on foot. The exploration of the transects will also be transdisciplinary events, learning from the knowledge and capacities of participants (as anthropologists, local citizens, artists, ecologists, entrepreneurs, etc). The explorations have as starting point the level of local realities. Therefore, each one will focus on some issues more than others: re-conceptualisation of a commercial street and main traffic ore(Amagerbrogade); refurbishment of post-industrial areas (Refshaleøen);interactions between population and nature in a new urban natural park(Naturpark Amager); crossing over of urban and natural life in a new residential area (Ørestad), and more. All transects will be open to the public, and all will include reflective symposiums, inviting also international action-researchers, scholars, artists – and Cultura21’s network and readers – to participate. A call will be issued within the next days.

Finally, building on the knowledge gathered during the first two stages, the project will end with the Eco-Creative Eco Island Camp, taking place onOctober 31st and November 1st, in an 18th century building by the sea, next to what used to be the active fishing harbour of Kastrup. The summit will be a creative encounter between stakeholders, a productive reflection on the Eco-Island Amager project, but also a starting point for developing projects strengthening the impact of Eco Island Amager in the future, an international hotspot for discussing urban mapping for sustainability, and a presentation and sharing of the prototype version of the Eco Island Amager Atlas. This event will also be in the call for participation. The nine concrete project proposals having originated in the mappings, transects and subsequent reflections, will be gaining shape and we hope these to be the first steps towards a new life for Amager as an Eco Island. Furthermore, by addressing the local issues in Amager, we invite to rethinking global issues and wish to spread the methods and the findings to all parts of the world where they would resonate.

Read more about the project here , and find our call for participation which is to be issued shortly.
Contact Oleg Koefoed (oleg [at] cultura21 [dot] dk) or Stine Avlund (stine [at] cultura21 [dot] dk), of Cultura21 in Copenhagen , for details or to inquire about potential collaboration.

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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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Living Symphonies

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Living Symphonies is a sound installation based upon the forest ecosystem. The piece will tour four of England’s forests in 2014 in partnership with Forestry Commission England, Sound And Music and with support from Arts Council England.

Locations

  1. Thetford Forest (24 May — 1 June 2014)
  2. Fineshade Woods (20 — 26 June 2014)
  3. Cannock Chase (26 July — 1 August 2014)
  4. Bedgebury Pinetum (25 — 31 August 2014)

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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Mel Chin at New Orleans Museum of Art

Cultura21, ,

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Mel Chin: Rematch
February 21–May 25, 2014

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The most expansive presentation of conceptual artist Mel Chin’s work to date, Mel Chin: Rematch, organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art, features the artist’s sculptures, video, drawings, paintings, land, and performance art, as well as rarely seen materials from the last four decades. The exhibition explores the themes that connect Chin’s diverse artistic practice, including violence, alchemy, memory, and empathy, and for the first time contextualizes his major site-specific installations within his broader oeuvre. On view from February 21 to May 25, Mel Chin: Rematch emphasizes Chin’s artistic process and conceptual approach and reveals how his engagement with social justice and community collaborations manifest in a complex and highly varied body of work.

The objects in the exhibition will be presented around thematic strands that underscore Chin’s broad range of subject matter, materials, and formal approaches. The exhibition includes major installations such as Operation of the Sun though the Cult of the Hand, 1987, which features a variety of materials through which Chin explored the origins of Eastern and Western alchemy; as well as the more recent installation: The Funk & Wag from A to Z, 2012, a surrealist large-scale arrangement of 524 collages culled from the Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia. The exhibition also includes documentation of his major land-based projects, from early works such as The Earthworks: See/Saw, 1976, to later ecological, science-based projects like Revival Field, begun in 1990. For this exhibition Chin will also create a new work, a 2013 conceptual diorama for Revival Field, an updated take on this artwork which played a seminal role in promoting the field of phytoremediation, or the use of plants in treating toxic soil.

His recent venture Operation Paydirt, which was conceived from his 2008 research in New Orleans, is an interdisciplinary project that is continuing to generate thousands of children’s drawings in an effort to garner funding and support for the development of an effective nation-wide method for the prevention of childhood lead poisoning. The project has led to collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency, and a major grant in 2011 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to scientists who are testing soil remediation methods in New Orleans.

Mel Chin: Rematch is organized by Miranda Lash, the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
New Orleans Museum of Art
1 Collins Diboll Circle
New Orleans, LA 70124
Hours: Fridays, 10am–9pm; Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays 10am–6pm;
Saturdays–Sundays 11am–5pm

More Info

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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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A cool look at climate | Red Pepper

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

“It is easy to focus on writing technical scientific papers, or argue that the situation is complex and therefore not so alarming. It is easy to think only about the details and not the big picture.”

Four leading UK scientists and five questions – it’s important to read this and share it.

Corinne Le Quéré is Professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of East Anglia and Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research,

Sir Robert Watson is the former Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1997-2002) who has worked on atmospheric science issues including ozone depletion and global warming since the 1980s,

Dr Simon Lewis is a Reader in Global Change Science at the University College London and the University of Leeds

Kevin Anderson is Professor of Energy and Climate Change in the School of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester and Deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

and the questions (and these are the critical questions),

What do you consider to be a safe temperature increase after which dangerous climate change occurs?

What chance do you think the world has of staying below 2°C of warming?

If adequate action is not taken on climate change, what will the world look like in 50 or 100 years in terms of global temperatures, environmental, social and economic impacts?

Can you give an idea of the level and speed of changes our governments need to make to avert catastrophic climate change?

As someone whose job gives them a deep understanding of the bleak future facing the planet and humanity, how do you personally deal with this on an emotional and psychological level?

A cool look at climate | Red Pepper.

A cool look at climate | Red Pepper. 

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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Cultures of Sustainability in the Age of Climate Crisis

Cultura21, , , , , ,

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Telemark University College

Bø, May 13.-15. (Tue-Thu), 2014 

The aim of the COST Action IS1007 meeting is to provide new perspectives and practical examples of the transformative role of culture for a sustainable future. The symposium will investigate the many ways of integrating perspectives on cultural change, social learning, experience-based training, innovation and creativity to grasp the role of culture in sustainable development, working with a dynamic concept of culture (culture as process and communication). Today, climate change and climate crisis roams high on the international agenda. At the same time, financial and economic crisis in many parts of Europe may overshadow the climate crisis. How to reconcile, and what role may art and culture represent in this respect?

Dr. Sacha Kagan, of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, who is on the board of Cultura21 Germany and active on the international level of C21, is also invited to speak.

Find out more about the program.

The meeting is organized by the Department of Culture and Humanities, Telemark University College.

Fee: 110 € covering the scientific program, conference materials, lunches and coffee breaks, conference dinner, and the extra-scientific program.

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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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