Monthly Archives: August 2021

Opportunity: Seas of the Outer Hebrides project seeks creative practitioner

Creative Carbon Scotland

The MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides project is seeking a creative practitioner or creative team, to work with local residents to produce a powerful, community-led vision for marine stewardship in the Outer Hebrides. 

  • Eligibility: Open to experienced creative practitioner(s) of any discipline based in Scotland
  • Time commitment and fee: Â£7300 for 24 days’ work between September – December 2021, plus materials/expenses and translation budget
  • Application: 2 question online form; Equal Opportunities monitoring form
  • Deadline: 25th August at 11:59pm

Read summary details of the role below and download the PDF of the creative practitioner brief

MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides

The MarPAMM – Seas of the Outer Hebrides project aims to deliver a community-led vision and recommendations for the stewardship of the marine environment and Marine Protected Areas in the Outer Hebrides. Since 2019 Creative Carbon Scotland has partnered with the project to support creative engagement activities to explore communities’ relationship to the sea and their visions for the future marine environment.

We are now entering the phase of the project that will bring together community priorities and recommendations into a powerful message, which aims to inform future policy and action.

The project is delivered by a partnership of local and national organisations: Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Marine Scotland, NatureScot and the University of the Highlands and Islands and is funded by INTERREG.

Community-led vision for marine stewardship

We are seeking to work with an experienced creative practitioner(s), skilled in facilitation, to co-produce a visual and written creative work with local participants, reflecting a community vision for the future of marine stewardship in the Outer Hebrides. The vision will encompass the Outer Hebrides marine region, which extends to St Kilda, Sula Sgier and Rona.

The vision will provide an accessible, positive message for the future, addressing key concerns identified by communities in the Outer Hebrides to date including climate change and biodiversity loss, better involved communities and local decision making, sustainable marine jobs, and cultural and spiritual significance of the sea.

The opportunity

This role is an opportunity to contribute to a project seeking to deliver positive change for communities and the natural marine environment in the Outer Hebrides. The format and approach taken will be co-designed with the project team depending on the skills, experience and approach of the creative practitioner(s).

Creative practitioner specification

This role is imagined for an experienced and established creative practitioner(s), looking to use their creative skills to contribute to wider society. We anticipate practitioners with five or more years of experience in the cultural sector will be most appropriate for this role. It is possible to apply to the role as a partnership or collective.

The types of experience, skills and knowledge that will be beneficial for this project include:

Experience

  • Experience of working successfully with groups or communities from diverse backgrounds to produce creative work. For example, working in environmental, educational, social, healthcare, community contexts.
  • Experience of producing impactful, visual and written work, which can be shared digitally and appeals to a broad audience.

 Skills

  • Skilled in successfully facilitating non-arts groups in digital and in person contexts: ability to communicate concepts clearly and facilitate a creative process in an accessible and inclusive way.
  • Ability to generate participation from residents of the Outer Hebrides: ability to design and communicate about activities which appeal to a broad audience.
  • Project delivery: able to demonstrate effective partnership working, ability to plan and manage the delivery of key tasks on time and within budget, and adapt plans in line with COVID safety regulations and guidelines.

Knowledge

  • Knowledge of and a proven commitment to Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion, particularly in community engagement and island and rural contexts.
  • Knowledge of or demonstrable interest in learning about the marine environment and climate change.
Equalities, diversity and inclusion

Creative Carbon Scotland is committed to climate justice: addressing the climate emergency in a way which makes society fairer and more equitable, and which includes all parts of society in deciding this future. We recognise that a diverse and inclusive movement is critical to solving climate change and that we must ensure that those directly impacted – particularly those who have been excluded in the past – are at the centre of the movement for change. We therefore want to increase the diversity of our team to widen our range of views and experiences, and particularly encourage applications from disabled people, those who are D/deaf, Black/+ People of Colour, those from minority ethnic communities, or from a low-income background.

Creative Carbon Scotland is committed to actively promoting equality and diversity in all of our work. All applications will be anonymised during the initial shortlisting to guard against unconscious bias, and our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Survey is anonymous and completely separately from your application. You can read our Equalities policy on the Creative Carbon Scotland website.

How to apply

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Wednesday 25th August 2021

  • Please read the full creative practitioner brief carefully and then follow the instructions in the online application form [HERE]. The form will ask you to make clear why you are interested in this role and to demonstrate how your experience and skills match those outlined above. If you are not able to complete the online form, please get in touch to request a Word document version in good time before the closing date of 11:59pm on Wednesday 25th August.
  • As part of your application, please complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Survey. The application form will ask you to confirm that you have done so. NB: This is anonymous and the information provided will not affect your application in any way.
  • If you would like to discuss the role or have any questions, please contact Gemma Lawrence. Your interactions with us on accessibility will remain confidential and will not be shared with the recruitment panel.
  • Interviews will be held remotely between 2nd and 3rd September via MS Teams.

APPLY HERE

The post Opportunity: Seas of the Outer Hebrides project seeks creative practitioner 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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Conscient Podcast: e49 windatt

Conscient Podcast

Note: photo of Clayton Windatt courtesy of the National Gallery of Canada

What if you tasked the arts sector with how to make messages, not about the crisis, but on the shifts in behavior that are necessary on a more meaningful basis. When the pandemic began and certain products weren’t on the shelves at grocery stores, but there was still lots of stuff. There were shortages, but there wasn’t that much shortage. How much would my life really change if half the products in the store were just not here, right and half of them didn’t come from all over in the world? Like they were just: whatever made sense to have it available here and just having less choice. How terrible would that be: kind of not. How can we change behavior on a more holistic level, and have it stick, because that’s what we need to do right now, and I think the arts would be a great vehicle to see those messages hit everybody and make a change.

clayton windatt, conscient podcast, may 13, 2021, sturgeon falls, ontario

https://vimeo.com/572130047

Clayton Windatt is a curator, multi-arts performer and filmmaker living and working in Ontario who is current Executive Director of the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference. Clayton has an extensive history working in Artist-Run Culture and Community Arts and works in/with community, design, communications, curation, performance, theatre, technology, and consulting, and is a very active artist.

I first met Clayton Windatt at a national arts service organization meeting in Ottawa while I worked at the Canada Council for the Arts. Clayton always impressed me with his clarity of thought and vision. The slogan of his web site is ‘make things happen’. This has been my experience with him. 

As I have done in all episodes in season 2 so far, I have integrated excerpts from soundscape compositions and quotations drawn from e19 reality, as well as moments of silence, in this episode.

I would like to thank Clayton for taking the time to speak with me, for sharing his deep knowledge of art practice and rights, his values, his wicked sense of humour, his generosity and his sharp strategic mind. 

For more information on Clayton’s work, see https://claytonwindatt.com/cv/

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(traduction)

Imaginez, si vous chargiez le secteur artistique de faire passer des messages, non pas sur la crise, mais sur les changements de comportement qui sont nécessaires de manière plus significative. Lorsque la pandémie a commencé, certains produits n’étaient pas sur les étagères des épiceries, mais il y avait encore beaucoup de choses. Il y avait des pénuries, mais pas tant que ça. Dans quelle mesure ma vie changerait-elle vraiment si la moitié des produits du magasin n’étaient tout simplement pas là, et si la moitié d’entre eux ne provenaient pas du monde entier ? Par exemple, tout ce qui a un sens d’être disponible ici et avoir moins de choix. Ce ne serait pas terrible : pas du tout. Comment pouvons-nous changer les comportements à un niveau plus holistique, et faire en sorte que cela soit durable, parce que c’est ce que nous devons faire maintenant, et je pense que les arts sont un excellent véhicule pour voir ces messages toucher tout le monde et apporter un changement.

clayton windatt, balado conscient, 13 mai 2021, sturgeon falls, ontario

Clayton Windatt est un commissaire, un artiste multidisciplinaire et un cinéaste qui vit et travaille en Ontario. Il est actuellement directeur général de la Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference. Clayton a une longue expérience de la culture et des arts communautaires gérés par les artistes et travaille dans/avec la communauté, le design, les communications, la conservation, la performance, le théâtre, la technologie et la consultation, et il est un artiste très actif.

J’ai rencontré Clayton Windatt pour la première fois lors d’une réunion d’un organisme national de services aux arts à Ottawa, alors que je travaillais au Conseil des arts du Canada. Clayton m’a toujours impressionné par la clarté de sa pensée et sa vision. Le slogan de son site Web est “faire bouger les choses”. C’est ce que j’ai vécu avec lui. 

Comme je l’ai fait dans tous les épisodes de la saison 2 jusqu’à présent, j’ai intégré dans cet épisode des extraits de compositions de paysages sonores et des citations tirées de e19 reality ainsi que des moments de silence.

Je tiens à remercier Clayton d’avoir pris le temps de s’entretenir avec moi, de m’avoir fait partager sa profonde connaissance des pratiques et des droits artistiques, ses valeurs, son sens de l’humour, sa générosité et son esprit stratégique aiguisé. 

Pour plus d’informations sur le travail de Clayton, voir https://claytonwindatt.com/cv/.

The post e49 windatt appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.

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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.

I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.

The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.

Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.

Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.

my professional services

I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca

acknowledgement of eco-responsibility

I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.

a word about privilege and bias

While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.

Go to conscient.ca

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Babs Reingold: Palette of Materials

Artists and Climate Change

By Etty Yaniv

In her multilayered installations, Babs Reingold brings together drawing, sculpture, found objects, and at times, video, to create potent environments alluding to the body, the environment, and the passage of time. Equipped with a fine-tuned sensibility to materiality and an imaginative approach to spatiality, Reingold’s installations inhabit spaces as an alternate force of nature and take a life of their own.

Your earlier installations seem to explore different materials, such as fabric and light, and thematically they seem to relate directly to social issues, such as in Hung Out in the Projects. Can you tell me about that installation work?

Because of my life circumstances of a young Jewish girl growing up in a tough and unsafe environment in a project on the east side of Cleveland, my main concern at childhood was survival. Hung Out In The Projects relates to this experience. I must confess, however, that decades later, my thoughts on poverty are more complex, more subtle, and, although totally personal, more universal.

Poverty was the 900-pound bag in my life. One exists concealed, fearful of exposure, trapped in a project culture that turns inward on itself to survive, propagating the very issues from which one hopes to escape. It, in turn, engenders shame and secrecy. Skin and hair are the exterior layers of humanity, a fragile boundary between what exists to the outside and what hides away. Clothing further reinforces the boundary, and distances what is truly inside.

Hung Out in the Projects, 19w x 40d x 14h ft, scaffold, pieces on clothesline and floor made of rust and tea stained silk organza, encaustic, animal skins, canvas, and human hair. Old windows, old pails, and cages. Light control box fades lights on and off. A sound piece of city noises and other sounds by the artist Lin Culbertson plays continuously on a boombox inside of an old trash can. Projected text on wall – thoughts and statistics on poverty – scroll, zoom and fade, 2008-2010.

In the Hung Out In The Projects installation, clotheslines are strung between structures and populated with odd shapes made from rust and tea stained silk organza and skins, some of which are stuffed with hair. Many resemble everyday apparel, but misshapen and distorted. Washing on the line may bring forth nostalgia for days long past, but here the washing is a semaphoric path to a secret interior. The floor is littered with old pails and objects found and made. Along one wall, a video of text crawls across with words of statistics of poverty and project life.

Viewers observe Hung Out In the Projects from a scaffold platform – in essence, a societal vantage point of superiority and security, where exiting an uncomfortable situation is always an option. Additionally, I invited sound artist Lin Culbertson to create an audio track to present an inescapable in-your-face discordant resonance of urban culture and eerie sounds, which contributes yet another fabric to the experience. The soundtrack is played on a boombox inside an old trashcan.

Your latest series, Hair Nest, is made of 10 works incorporating 10 years of hair loss, bringing together drawings of tree parts, fabricated 3-D or actual branches, a field of stones and other materials, fusing themes you have been dealing with of beauty and the environment. Can you elaborate on that?

I have always loved drawing, the mark making. But it was not until 2005 that drawing took a central role in my work with the series Fallout: Beauty Lost and Found, which is related to The Hair Nest series – out of which three pieces are completed: Hair Nest ’01, Hair Nest ’15, and Hair Nest ‘16. I like the idea of documenting a decade of hair loss, what I thought of personally as my lost beauty. It’s a way of marking time and its passage. The series fuses my themes of beauty and environment. Each contains one 7-foot-high drawing of a tree part, and a cast or fabricated 3-D branch or actual branch. The branches are cast of glass, wax, or bronze, and fabricated of silk organza over wire mesh or paper. Each work contains a nest constructed from a year of my daily hair loss. It either sits on the branch or in a field of stones and other materials at the base of the drawing.

Elizabeth, 4w x 8d x 9h in., hair, encaustic, silk organza, wood, plywood, and copper wire mesh.

Aside from their aesthetic beauty, you may be interested to know scientists record 22 benefits trees provide related to air quality, climate change, erosion, and food, as well as numerous other comforts. Tree markings – scars and burns – and tree-ring dating provide yearly climate history. The markings speak of an existence affected by elements beyond their control, such as drought, fire, disease, and of course, humans. Yet, they endure. It is hardly a reach to blend tree drawings and limb sculptures with my signature component, human hair. Hair contains our complete DNA and lives beyond death. The perseverance of trees and the permanency of hair inspire the work and carry it forward.

Let’s dwell a bit longer on hair as it seems to be central in your work and you have been working with it since early on. How has the use of this material evolved for you from early sculptures such as Elizabeth (1998) to Hair Nest (2020)?

The use of hair began in 1995. I was looking for a way to simulate skin and came up with the concept of stuffing human hair into forms constructed of encaustic-coated silk organza. The hair protruded through the mesh of the organza, simulating the tiny hairs on the skin’s surface. Around the same time, I came upon a catalog for a wonderful exhibition on hair. Something about the pieces in that show inspired the box portrait series. Elizabeth is one piece from that series. The stuffed objects became larger, more complicated, and the staining process of the silk organza changed over the years as well.

I first began collecting my hair in 1998 because I was experiencing an unusual amount of hair loss due to a thyroid condition. At that time I had no idea how I would use it in my art, but that didn’t matter. Hair is a signature in my work and I use it to signify a number of ideas, including its intrinsic link to DNA. I think you’ll agree, hair is personal, endearing, and we identify with it.

Hair Nest ’16 (detail), 60w x 52d x 84h in., 2018-2020

You combine many forms of representation in your work which carry multiple layers of symbolism – tree stumps, roots stuffed with human hair. Curator Midori Yoshimoto stated that your work is “a cautionary requiem for humanity.” Let’s take a closer look at your installation The Last Tree from that material-symbolism perspective.

The stumps in this installation are a symbiotic link to hair living beyond death and perhaps, a collective binder for mortality. The stumps are scarred and stitched and contain multiple textures. They are made of transformed silk organza stained with rust and tea and stuffed with human hair. Metaphorically, surfaces mimic faults, whether human or natures.

The 193 pails holding the stumps are the recognized countries in the world. The lone tree among the enclosed stumps stands tall, but will it survive? That is the question facing us, isn’t it?

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The Last Tree, 40w x 25d x 15h ft, silk organza, cheesecloth, chiffon, rust, tea, human hair, encaustic, wool, string, thread, 194 pails, and a video of tree chopped by ax and chain saw with an original soundtrack by Lin Culbertson. Installed at Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY, 2013- 2016.
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The Last Sea, about 144w x 168d x 36h in., wood boat coated with paper mâché and modeling paste, graphite, and rust and tea stains. Animals and ladder: rust and tea stained silk organza stuffed with human hair, cheesecloth, leather, thread, yarns, and nails, plastic trash, 2018.

You mentioned that concerns about the environment have turned you from primarily painting to owning space via installations. Can you tell me more about that transition?

I am concerned about issues that focus on poverty as well as the environment. Both drove my work toward installation. My first room size installation was La Longue Durée at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2003. Once on this path, I didn’t look back. My largest installations to date are Hung Out In The Projects and The Last Tree. The transition began earlier though. I gravitated towards sculpture in the mid-90s. Up to that point I was making large paintings of women bodybuilders. The nineties was the height of installation art in New York. Women artist were creating monumental sculptures and installations. I thought it was the most exciting art happening within that milieu. It became the art for me.

In the early 90s, three-dimensional objects crept onto my paintings until, in an almost inexplicable yet irresistible momentum, installation and sculpture replaced painting. I believed this transformation allowed me to more fully occupy space and manipulate time. I became increasingly aware of contemporary female artists who were producing exciting and provocative three-dimensional and site-specific installations. Among them, were large cell sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, the incredible Light Sentence by Mona Hatoum, monumental pieces by Ursula von Rydingsvard, and the visceral wax pieces by Petah Coyne. Further, I delved back into the 60s and 70s and reacquainted myself with Eva Hesse, Ana Mendieta, and others. All these women artists were utilizing materials in new and different ways. It was experimentation that inspired new visions and I wanted to be a part of it.

Macintosh HD:Users:babsreingold:Documents:• Babs_Art:Art_Interviews:Art_Interviews_EttyYanav:Images for Etty Interview:BaggageLight_Hartford70hi.jpg
Baggage Light, 144w x 72d x 108h in., silk organza, hair, encaustic, string, rust, tea, wood, clear light bulbs, and light control box. Installed at Artspace Gallery in Hartford, CT, 2004.

I began experimenting with unique materials to create new spaces, moving far beyond my sculptural pieces constructed of fiberglass and dry pigments. I developed a unique signature, utilizing a bath of rust and tea combined with an encaustic process to stain silk organza and paper.

I continue this path today. It is an evolving process and experimentation continues with an expanded palette of materials – cast wax, iron, and glass, repurposed materials and recycled in the progression.

(Top image: Babs Reingold in the studio with Hair Nest ’01, Hair Nest ’16, and Hair Nest ’15. All photos courtesy of the artist.)

This interview is part of a content collaboration between Art Spiel and Artists & Climate Change. It was originally published on Art Spiel on March 2, 2021 as part of an ongoing interview series with contemporary artists.

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Etty Yaniv works on her art, art writing, and curatorial projects in Brooklyn. She has exhibited her immersive installations in museums and galleries, nationally and internationally. Yaniv founded the platform Art Spiel to highlight the work of contemporary artists through art reviews, studio visits, and interviews with artists, curators, and gallerists. Yaniv holds a BA in Psychology and English Literature from Tel Aviv University, a BFA from Parsons School of Design, and an MFA from SUNY Purchase.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog 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 the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Conscient Podcast: é48 danis

Conscient Podcast

C’est comme dire qu’on fait de l’art, mais c’est un art qui, tout d’un coup, juste comme ça, est déposé. On n’essaie pas de le montrer, mais plutôt, on essaie de vivre quelque chose et de faire vivre des choses avec les gens et donc, sans être dans la zone de médiation culturelle, mais d’être dans une zone d’expériences, d’échanges et donc que je ne contrôle pas, comme, par exemple, au théâtre, une bulle dans lequel je contrains le spectateur à regarder et à focaliser uniquement sur ce que je suis en train de lui raconter. Comment on peut se raconter la planète, comment on peut se raconter l’expérience terrestre quand on partage un lieu entre branches, glaise, pansement de réparation, des traces de la terre sur une toile ou soi-même couchée sur la terre? Peu importe, tous les éléments que l’on pourrait apporter comme traces possibles d’une expérience partageable et de là, tout d’un coup, naît des images de notre partage de l’écologie.

daniel danis, balado conscient, 4 juin 2021, Québec

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LMILo2wMqXyhe8k3ZdVL8?si=LbdSiUinTfCMIunkmGP8yg&dl_branch=1
https://vimeo.com/570950061

Daniel Danis est l’auteur d’une vingtaine de pièces de théâtre, dont sept pour le jeune public. Ses pièces de théâtre sont traduites en plusieurs langues et présentées dans le monde. Les textes Cendres de Cailloux, Le chant du Dire-Dire, Kiwi, Le langue-à-langue des chiens de roches, le roman-dit, Terre Océane, se méritent de nombreux prix au Québec, au Canada, en France et en Allemagne. Parallèlement à l’écriture, Danis a entamé des explorations en art multidisciplinaire et en art durable.

Un jour en 2019 Daniel me téléphone au Conseil des arts du Canada et me dit ‘il faut faire quelque chose, maintenant!’. Il me parle des problématiques tel les conflits entre les peuples et les désastres terrestres qui obligent les humains à repenser leur lien social entre eux et le partage du territoire redessiné par la nature, etc.  

Daniel m’invite à un panel sur l’art durable dans le cadre du festival Mois multi à Québec le 9 février 2020, avec, entre autres Loïc Fel et Benedicte Ramade. Je reconnais en Daniel un chef de fil en matière d’art et d’environnement au Québec. 

J’ai beaucoup apprécié notre échange, dont cet extrait sur les ondes (le son) :

Pour moi, une manifestation de l’art doit émettre des ondes et ça ne se voit pas, ça se ressent et donc ça demande à l’être – ceux qui participent avec moi dans mes projets ou moi-même sur l’espace que je vais manifester ces objets là – d’être dans une porosité de mon corps qui permet qu’il y ait des ondes qui se produisent et forcément, ces ondes-là, mélangé à la terre et que tout un ensemble, on est en coopération. C’est sûr que ça a un effet invisible qui est l’onde et qui est l’onde du partage, du partage, même pas du savoir, c’est juste le partage de notre existence sur terre et comment être des coopérants?

Je remercie Daniel d’avoir pris le temps d’échanger avec moi et de partager sa passion pour le théâtre, de l’art qui dure et le rôle grandissant de l’artiste dans la crise écologique. 

Vous trouverez de plus amples informations sur Daniel https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Danis

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(traduction)

It’s like saying that we make art, but it’s an art that, all of a sudden, just like that, is offered. We don’t try to show it, rather, we try to experience something and to make people experience things and therefore, without being in the zone of cultural mediation, but to be in a zone of experiences, of exchanges and therefore that I don’t control. For example, in the theatre, a bubble in which I force the spectator to look and to focus only on what I am telling them, how can we tell ourselves about the planet? How can we tell ourselves about our terrestrial experiences, where we share a place between branches, clay, repair bandages and traces of the earth on a canvas or ourselves lying on the earth? No matter, all the elements that one could bring as possible traces of a shareable experience are present, and from there, all of a sudden, images of our shared ecology are born.

Daniel Danis, conscient podcast, June 4 2021, Québec

Daniel Danis is the author of some twenty plays, including seven for young audiences. His plays have been translated into several languages and presented around the world. The texts Cendres de Cailloux, Le chant du Dire-Dire, Kiwi, Le langue-à-langue des chiens de roches, and the novel Terre Océane have won numerous awards in Quebec, Canada, France and Germany. In parallel to his writing, Danis has begun to explore multidisciplinary art and sustainable art.

One day in 2019, Daniel calls me at the Canada Council and says ‘we have to do something, now!’ He talked to me about the conflicts between peoples and earthly disasters that force humans to rethink their social ties with each other and the sharing of territory redrawn by nature, etc. 

Daniel invites me to a panel on sustainable art at the Mois multi festival in Quebec City on February 9, 2020, with, among others, Loïc Fel and Benedicte Ramade. I see in Daniel a leader in art and environment in Quebec. 

I really enjoyed our exchange, including this excerpt on the air (the sound) : 

For me, a manifestation of art must emit waves and it is not seen, it is felt and therefore it requires the being – those who participate with me in my projects or myself on the space that I will manifest these objects there – to be in a porosity of my body that allows that there are waves that occur and necessarily, these waves the, mixed with the earth and that a whole set, we are in cooperation. It is sure that it has an invisible effect which is the wave and which is the wave of sharing, of sharing, not even of knowledge, it is just the sharing of our existence on earth and how to be co-operators?

I would like to thank Daniel for taking the time to talk with me and share his passion for theatre, for art that lasts and the increasing important role of the artist in the ecological crisis. 

You can find more information about Daniel at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Danis

The post é48 danis appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.

———-

About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.

I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.

The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.

Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.

Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.

my professional services

I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca

acknowledgement of eco-responsibility

I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.

a word about privilege and bias

While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.

Go to conscient.ca

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Wild Authors: Neus Figueras

Artists and Climate Change

This month, I have an interview with author Neus Figueras, whose children’s book Lorac is beautifully illustrated and written. Inspired by the coral reefs near Myanmar, where Neus spent time doing restoration, this story is aimed toward the younger generation but immensely enjoyed by adults as well.

About the Book

Lorac didn’t set out to be the voice of the ocean, but when the future is at stake, being a hero is the only choice. Lorac, the youngest of a family of sea nomads, suffers a series of unfortunate events and has to seek refuge in the heart of the sea. The transition isn’t easy, and unexpected difficulties arise. But helped by his new friend Zoe, Lorac joins a family of centenarian creatures and discovers the secrets of the coral reef – his real home. A threat that affects the marine world, however, makes him depart to the place he once knew and now knows no more, in a daring mission to save the ocean – and the planet. Lorac will have to make difficult decisions, live in worlds where he doesn’t belong, and prove his worth for the good of all. Science and fantasy come together in an adventure of hope and courage that transmits an important message to protect our environment.

Chat with the Author

Tell us about yourself – your life so far and how you got started in writing. Have you published anything before Lorac?

I started writing at an early age because I am a highly sensitive person and crafting stories helps me to project the great amount of stimulus I perceived from my surroundings ― and as I grew up, from the world. I remember that I wrote my first “unofficial” novel at the age of ten and that my friends begged me to tell them stories that I improvised as I went along (yes, we grew up without mobile phones).

Since then, I have taken several courses in creative writing, won six local and regional literary contests, and only stopped writing when I went to the Canary Islands to study Marine Sciences. I must admit that it was difficult to choose science over the humanities, but my insatiable curiosity and passion for nature won out and I knew that I could always continue my career as a writer on my own.

To be honest, my scientific career has helped me as a writer because writers tell truths for the world and science has allowed me to know our world on another level.

Lorac is my first novel. Before it, I wrote countless short stories and one novelette.

Tell us something about your novel. Who is the intended audience, and what’s going on in the story?

The story follows the life of Lorac, which begins with the traditional way of living of an Indigenous community of sea nomads – I personally met them while I was restoring coral reefs in Myanmar. Then, Lorac suffers a series of unfortunate events and has to seek refuge in the heart of the sea along with his new friend Zoe, the book’s most fantasy character although “she” actually exists. Finally, climate change and pollution come into play, sending Lorac out into our world on a mission to restore the balance of his true home, the ocean.

It is recommended for adults and teens eleven and older as it deals with the value of family and friendship, death, growing up, and global Earth issues. But, as anything related to art, nothing is rigid, and so far I’ve heard of an 8-year-old girl who devours books and read Lorac in two days, and of a retired man who loves historical literature but gave Lorac a try and it got him so hooked that he read it in one sitting.

What sorts of ecological themes does your novel have, and how were you inspired to write about them?

It has very interesting information about marine life, deals with how our impacts on the ocean have increased over time, especially due to climate change, pollution, and overfishing, and shows what we need to do to reverse this.

I was inspired to write about these things because I was working with coral reefs. And unless there is global action on climate change, our reefs are projected to be almost completely lost at 2ºC warming, a threshold that will be reached within the lifetime of many of us.

So I wanted to create a story that would convey, in an exciting and clear way, the need to conserve our planet. For the first time in my life, I wrote not because I needed to, but because it was necessary. Everyone’s contribution, however small, is vital to maintaining the planet that sustains us – a message that the book supports in a positive and inspiring way.

After publication, did you do any book fairs or talks? How would you describe the reaction to your book? Is it hard to market during the coronavirus?

Yes, I have done many, until we had to stop because of the coronavirus, but I kept doing online events.

Marketing is difficult with or without the coronavirus. I am much better at and prefer to write, but for Lorac I make the effort to do marketing because all the proceeds go towards spreading awareness of the book to help the urgent task of preserving life on Earth.

Readers’ most common reactions to Lorac is that they find they can relate to the characters and they feel the need to protect our environment. Some even have gone “Wow!” and laughed at the bantering. It has even managed to capture the attention of one reader who is not into sea-based books. Others think it would make a nice animated film, and many point out how it highlights the issues around ocean conservation in a impactful and empowering way.

Personally, I have seen Lorac succeed in changing people’s attitude towards the environment – people who, after several years of trying, I thought would never change.

Are you working on anything else right now, and do you want to add other thoughts about your book?

I’m editing a novelette I wrote some time ago, and I’m “baking” the structure of a story (so I haven’t started yet, and I’ll just write it if it turns out the way I hope) that will use some “seeds” I scattered in Lorac to create a sequel: a second book whose theme will be how biodiversity loss makes us more susceptible to pandemics.

We are also translating Lorac into French and Portuguese (it is currently available in Spanish and English).

This all sounds so incredibly cool. Thanks, Neus!

(Top image: Detail of one of Lorac’s illustrations by Evan Piccirillo.)

This article is part of our Wild Authors series. It was originally published on Dragonfly.eco.

______________________________

Mary Woodbury, a graduate of Purdue University, runs Dragonfly.eco, a site that explores ecology in literature, including works about climate change. She writes fiction under pen name Clara Hume. Her novel Back to the Garden has been discussed in Dissent Magazine, Ethnobiology for the Future: Linking Cultural and Ecological Diversity (University of Arizona Press), and Uncertainty and the Philosophy of Climate Change (Routledge). Mary lives in Nova Scotia and enjoys hiking, writing, and reading.

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog 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 the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Conscient Podcast: e47 keeptwo

Conscient Podcast

n the work that I do and the book that I’ve just had published called, We All Go Back to the Land, it’s really an exploration of that Original Agreement and what it means today. So I want to remind Indigenous readers of our Original Agreement to nurture and protect and honor and respect the Earth Mother and all of the gifts that she has for us and then to introduce that Original Agreement to non-indigenous Canadians or others of the world that so that we can together, as a human species, work toward what I call the ultimate act of reconciliation to help heal the earth.

suzanne keeptwo, conscient podcast, may 14, 2021, gatineau, québec

https://vimeo.com/569459123

Suzanne Keeptwo, Métis from Québec, is a multi-faceted creative artist of Algonkin (Kitchesipirini)/French & Irish descent. She is a writer, editor, teacher, and experienced journalist who is a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights and cultural awareness. Her area of expertise is in bridging gaps of understanding between Indigenous and non – Indigenous Canadians – a role that brings her across the nation as a professional facilitator. The author of We All Go Back To The Land: The Who, Why, and How of Land Acknowledgments (2021), Suzanne promotes traditional peoples’ Original Agreement to respect and protect the Earth Mother. She adheres to traditional Values of Old and promotes the Indigenization of contemporary-world constructs. 

Suzanne and I were colleagues at the Canada Council for the Arts where I benefitted from her deep knowledge of Indigenous arts and culture and her passion for education. We’re both retired from the Council now and so I biked over to her home in Gatineau on the Ottawa river and recorded this conversation. 

As I have done in all episodes in season 2 so far, I have integrated excerpts from soundscape compositions and quotations drawn from e19 reality, as well as moments of silence, in this episode.

I would like to thank Suzanne for taking the time to speak with me, for sharing her insights about Indigenous rights, land acknowledgements and arts education for climate awareness. 

For more information on Suzanne work, see https://www.suzannekeeptwo.com/

Location for recording of e47 keeptwo on Ottawa River, Gatineau 
Lieu de l’enregistrement du e47 keeptwo sur la rivière des Outaouais, Gatineau

*

(traduction)

Dans le travail que je fais et dans le livre que je viens de publier, intitulé We All Go Back to the Land, il s’agit vraiment d’une exploration de cet Accord Originel et de ce qu’il signifie aujourd’hui. Je veux donc rappeler aux lecteurs Autochtones notre Accord Originel pour nourrir, protéger, honorer et respecter la Mère Terre et tous les dons qu’elle nous a faits, puis présenter cet Accord Originel aux Canadiens non autochtones ou à d’autres personnes dans le monde, afin que nous puissions ensemble, en tant qu’espèce humaine, travailler à ce que j’appelle l’acte ultime de réconciliation pour aider à guérir la terre.

suzanne keeptwo, balado conscient, 14 mai 2021, gatineau, québec

Suzanne Keeptwo, métisse du Québec, est une artiste créative aux multiples facettes, d’ascendance algonquine (Kitchesipirini)/française et irlandaise. Écrivaine, rédactrice, enseignante et journaliste expérimentée, elle défend avec passion les droits des Autochtones et la sensibilisation culturelle. Son domaine d’expertise consiste à combler les écarts de compréhension entre les Canadiens autochtones et non autochtones – un rôle qui l’amène à parcourir le pays en tant que facilitatrice professionnelle. L’auteur de We All Go Back To The Land : The Who, Why, and How of Land Acknowledgments (2021), Suzanne fait la promotion de l’accord original des peuples traditionnels pour respecter et protéger la Terre Mère. Elle adhère aux valeurs traditionnelles d’antan et encourage l’indigénisation des constructions du monde contemporain. 

Suzanne et moi étions collègues au Conseil des arts du Canada, où j’ai bénéficié de sa profonde connaissance des arts et de la culture Autochtones et de sa passion pour l’éducation. Nous avons toutes deux pris notre retraite du Conseil et je me suis donc rendue en vélo chez elle, à Gatineau, sur la rivière des Outaouais, pour enregistrer cette conversation. 

Comme je l’ai fait dans tous les épisodes de la saison 2 jusqu’à présent, j’ai intégré dans cet épisode des extraits de compositions de paysages sonores et des citations tirées de la e19 reality, ainsi que des moments de silence.

Je tiens à remercier Suzanne d’avoir pris le temps de me parler et de partager ses idées sur les droits des Autochtones, la reconnaissance des terres et l’éducation artistique pour la sensibilisation au climat. 

Pour en savoir plus sur le travail de Suzanne, consultez le site https://www.suzannekeeptwo.com/. 

The post e47 keeptwo appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.

———-

About the Conscient Podcast from Claude Schryer

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.

I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.

The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.

Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.

Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.

my professional services

I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca

acknowledgement of eco-responsibility

I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.

a word about privilege and bias

While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.

Go to conscient.ca

Powered by WPeMatico

Cherokee Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle Promotes Land Sovereignty and Indigenous Women’s Rights

Artists and Climate Change

By Peterson Toscano

Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She is a partner at Pipestem and Nagle Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. She is also a successful playwright who has been using the stage to raise awareness about land sovereignty issues and the epidemic violence against women. 

From 2015 to 2019, she served as the first Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Nagle is an alum of the 2013 Public Theater Emerging Writers Program. Productions include Miss Lead (Amerinda, 59E59), Fairly Traceable (Native Voices at the Autry), Sovereignty (Arena Stage, Marin Theatre Company), Manahatta (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre), Return to Niobrara (Rose Theater), and Crossing Mnisose (Portland Center Stage). She has received commissions from Arena Stage, the Rose Theater (Omaha, Nebraska), Portland Center Stage, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Yale Repertory Theatre, Round House Theater, and Oregon Shakespeare Theater. 

Many thanks to Climate Citizen’s Lobby volunteer Melissa Giusti for introducing me to Mary Kathryn Nagle.

Next month: Environmental engineer and game designer Katie Patrick reveals the Big Mistake many artists make when taking on climate change.

If you like what you hear, you can listen to full episodes of Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

This article is part of The Art House series.

______________________________

As host of Citizens’ Climate Radio, Peterson Toscano regularly features artists who address climate change in their work. The Art House section of his program includes singer/songwriters, visual artists, comics, creative writers, and playwrights. Through a collaboration with Artists and Climate Change and Citizens’ Climate Education, each month Peterson reissues The Art House for this blog. If you have an idea for The Art House, contact Peterson: radio @ citizensclimatelobby.org

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog 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 the Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Biocenosis21 exhibition at the World Conservation Congress of IUCN

news

Biocenosis21 is an international exhibition of contemporary art on the theme of biodiversity, organized by Art of Change 21 within the IUCN World Conservation Congress and at La Traverse, next September in Marseille.

Curated by Alice Audouin, founder of Art of Change 21, it brings together Marie-Sarah Adenis, Art Orienté Objet, Thijs Biersteker, Julian Charrière, Marcus Coates, Abdessamad El Montassir, John Gerrard, Jérémy Gobé, Caroline Halley des Fontaines, Camille Henrot, Janet Laurence, Lin-May Saeed, Tomás Saraceno and Michael Wang.

France is hosting from September 4 to 11, 2021 the next IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress at Parc Chanot in Marseille. Organized every four years, it is the world’s largest meeting on biodiversity. The Congress brings together the best international experts, countries, institutions and companies, to draw up a detailed inventory of biodiversity, raise public awareness and obtain ambitious international commitments. This highly anticipated edition incorporates contemporary art for the first time, commissioned by the French Office for Biodiversity, with the exhibition Biocenosis21.

This highly anticipated edition incorporates contemporary art for the first time, commissioned by the French Office for Biodiversity, with the exhibition Biocenosis21.

Biocenosis (the term was introduced into scientific language in 1877 by the German biologist Möbius) is an association of different organisms forming a closely integrated community. It corresponds to all living beings (animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc.) established in the same living space and linked by reciprocal dependence. At a time when biodiversity is collapsing in the face of the destruction of natural spaces and global warming, Art of Change 21 is activating an artistic biocenosis at the heart of Marseille’s biotope, around the challenges of the 21st century. Together, the artists form a community to provoke emotions, exchanges, ideas and engagement.

Biocenosis21 brings together 14 of the most inspiring French and international artists, committed to biodiversity, and gives a carte blanche to Photoclimat.

The exhibition allows visitors to see, feel and understand differently the challenges of biodiversity and global warming, and highlights a relationship between humans and non-humans, a bearer of hope. The selected artists are not only just inspired by nature, they are also researchers, activists and activators of solutions.

The Biocenosis21 exhibition integrates eco-design into its approach. Selection of artists is based on criteria such as: same geographical area, grouping of transport, more ecological printing solutions, movement of artists and teams by train… These are among the principles applied in the organization of the exhibition with the enlightened advice of the Karbone Agency, founded by Fanny Legros, also a member of Art of Change 21. An environmental assessment of the exhibition will be published, including its carbon footprint.

The different facets of biodiversity addressed in the artworks

Energy choices, demographic growth and economic activities, since the industrial era, generate pressure and are today destroying biodiversity, and yet humans do not change their behaviour and continue their course. The series Not Clean Yet by Camille Henrot highlights this with an element of humor.

However, a movement is emerging that brings hope. Artists are at the heart of this dynamic of reversing a world that has become counterproductive, denouncing it and opening the way to another relationship with the living, which is not only more ethical and responsible, but more cooperative and benevolent.

Artists place “care”, empathy and knowledge in a new relationship to non-humans. American artist Michael Wang takes care of species that no longer exist in the wild but only in human activities (laboratories, farming, aquariums…) in his series Extinct in the Wild. Object Oriented Art rescues a kangaroo wrecked by a car in Pieta Amazonia; German artist Lin-May Saeed frees an elephant from its chains and gives understanding and love to hyenas, a species often despised by humans; the Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno, along with Spider Cube, cooperates with spiders and reveals their connection to the living and the cosmos; Le Calendrier de la Nature(Nature’s Calendar), by Marcus Coates, delivers a daily nature scoop, a humorous way to understand how species live; and the artist Jérémy Gobé has given himself the mission of repairing the damage caused by human activities on corals, with his Corail Artefact project.

The impact of human activities on biodiversity, such as nuclear tests with Coconut Lead Fondue and Pacific Fictionby Julian Charrière, pollution of freshwater with (Flag) River by John Gerrard, or the devastating effects of deforestation with the monumental light and sound installation that lives to the rhythm of real-time data on deforestation in the Amazon, and Wither by Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker, promotes awareness. Among the natural disasters linked to human activities, the fires in Australia in late 2019 have decimated billions of species; Australian artist Janet Laurence has created the Requieum in video form in response. Abdessamad El Montassir draws a community of destiny between humans and plants in the desert, undergoing the same pressures, capable of the same resilience, with his video Galb’Echaouf.

Caroline Halley des Fontaines’ photographic work on the colors of nature from the Lighscapes series, diffuses a spiritual vibration, opening the way to a more harmonious Whole. This global view also includes viruses, which have now become the scapegoats for the health crisis. Artist, designer and scientist Marie-Sarah Adenis rehabilitates them with Le virus que donc je suis ( The virus that I therefore am), showcasing their major role in human evolution. The artist also reverses the hierarchical image of the phylogenetic tree (on the evolution of species) for a more egalitarian representation in Tousteszincs.

What if, beyond its relationship to living things through manipulation, illustrated by Leavis (John Gerrard’s SpaceLab), the human species, on the contrary, explored its place in a new paradigm, that of the biocenosis, of a community of interdependent living beings all now linked together in a community of destiny in the face of the ecological crisis?

Some prestigious partners

The French Biodiversity Office (OFB) mandated a grant to the Art of Change 21 association to organize a contemporary art exhibition in the Espaces Générations Nature (EGN) of the IUCN World Conservation Congress .

Biocenosis21’ main partners are the Schneider Electric Foundation, LVMH – as institutional partner, the French Biodiversity Office and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the support of Maison Ruinart.

Alice Audouin

July 2021Credits : Wither, 2019, Thijs Biertseker, photo courtesy of the artist / The Liberation of Animals from their Cages XVIII / Olifant Gate, 2016, Lin-may Saeed, photo by Wolfgang Günzel / Coconut Leaf Fondue â€“ First Light, 2016, Julian Charrière, photography, photo by Astrid Gallinat 

Find all the articles from Impact Art News n°32 – July / August 2021

To subscribe to Impact Art News (free) : here

Conscient Podcast: e46

Conscient Podcast

I think going forward, there’s a lot that the arts can do. Philosophically art is one of the only places that we can still ask these questions, play out politics and negotiate ideas. Further, art isn’t about communicating climate disaster, art is about creating space for people to think through some of these issues.

dr. marnie badham, conscient podcast, may 13, 2021, australia

https://vimeo.com/569441910

I first met Marnie when she was General Manager of Common Weal Community Arts in Regina. She was passionate articulate about community-engaged arts then and still is today. I have often turned to Marnie for advice on arts policy issues and was honoured when she accepted my invitation for a conscient conversation. 

As I have done in all episodes in season 2 so far, I have integrated excerpts from soundscape compositions and quotations drawn from e19 reality, as well as moments of silence, in this episode.

I would like to thank Marnie for taking the time to speak with me, for sharing her deep knowledge of community arts, her innumerable research projects and her insights about art as a collective space to think through complex issue. 

For more information on Marnie work, see https://www.marrniebadham.com

*

Je pense qu’à l’avenir, les arts peuvent faire beaucoup de choses. D’un point de vue philosophique, l’art est l’un des seuls endroits où nous pouvons encore poser ces questions, élaborer des enjeux politiques et négocier des idées. De plus, l’art n’a pas pour but de communiquer une catastrophe climatique, l’art a pour but de créer un espace pour que les gens puissent réfléchir à certaines de ces questions.

dr. marnie badham, balado conscient, 13 mai 2021, australie

Forte d’une expérience de vingt-cinq ans dans le domaine de l’art et de la justice sociale en Australie et au Canada, la recherche du Dr. Marnie Badham se situe à l’intersection de la pratique artistique socialement engagée, des méthodologies participatives et de la politique de mesure culturelle. Grâce à des formes esthétiques de rencontre et d’échange, son travail rassemble des groupes de personnes disparates dans un dialogue visant à examiner et à influencer les problèmes locaux. Elle s’intéresse actuellement à une série de cartographies créatives qui enregistrent les émotions dans l’espace public, à des projets de conservation élargis sur l’esthétique et la politique de la nourriture et à un projet de livre intitulé The Social Life of Artist Residencies : connecting with people and place not your own. Marnie est chargée de recherche à l’école d’art School of Art et co-directrice du groupe de recherche CAST (contemporary art and social transformation) research group (groupe de recherche en art contemporain et transformation sociale) et du CVIN Cultural Value Impact Network Ã  l’université RMIT de Naarm (Melbourne) en Australie.

J’ai rencontré Marnie pour la première fois lorsqu’elle était directrice générale de Common Weal Community Artsà Regina. À l’époque, elle s’exprimait avec passion sur les arts engagés dans la communauté et le fait encore aujourd’hui. J’ai souvent demandé conseil à Marnie sur des questions de politique artistique et j’ai été honoré qu’elle accepte mon invitation à une conversation sur conscient. 

Comme je l’ai fait dans tous les épisodes de la saison 2 jusqu’à présent, j’ai intégré dans cet épisode des extraits de compositions de paysages sonores et des citations tirées de la e19 reality, ainsi que des moments de silence.

Je tiens à remercier Marnie d’avoir pris le temps de me parler, de partager sa profonde connaissance des arts communautaires, ses innombrables projets de recherche et ses idées sur l’art en tant qu’espace collectif permettant de réfléchir à des questions complexes. 

Pour en savoir plus sur le travail de Marnie, consultez le site https://www.marrniebadham.com.  

For more information on Marnie work, see https://www.marrniebadham.com

The post e46 badham appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.

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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.

I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.

The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.

Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.

Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.

my professional services

I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca

acknowledgement of eco-responsibility

I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.

a word about privilege and bias

While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.

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An(other) Interview with Artist Katie Holten

Artists and Climate Change

By Amy Brady

In this month’s issue I have for you my second interview with artist Katie Holten. We first spoke back in 2019, when she created the NYC Tree Alphabet to draw greater attention to the threats that New York-area trees face. Now she’s created an alphabet for the trees of Ireland, her home country. In our interview below we discuss what inspired her latest alphabet, how she’s developed an accompanying tool for use in schools, and what to expect from Learning to be Better Lovers, her forthcoming exhibition about learning to love all creatures on the planet.

Last time we spoke, you had just completed the NYC Tree Alphabet. Now you’ve created the Irish Tree Alphabet. Please tell us about this project and what inspired it.
 
Love! The Irish Tree Alphabet is about love. It’s about sharing a love of language, landscape, and learning. The project had been germinating inside me for years, at least since 2005 when I made my first tree drawings. Ireland’s entwined language and landscape history is deeply entangled with layers of language invention (reaching back to the medieval Ogham, known as a tree alphabet, through Irish myths shared by Seanchaí’s) and language repression (British colonial forces banished Irish, inspiring the creation of hidden hedge schools). Activists like Manchán Magan are rewilding our words with a reappraisal of the Irish language/landscape.
 
When I was invited to have a solo exhibition at VISUAL Carlow, Ireland’s largest gallery space, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally make the Irish Tree Alphabet: there was funding for a research residency, curatorial support to connect me with the wider community, and a sense of urgency as Ireland had just declared a Climate Emergency. But obviously, everything was turned upside down due to the pandemic. I ended up quarantined in California. Developing the work there during lockdown wasn’t easy! But the need to make it felt even more urgent. There was so much fear and uncertainty. I wanted to create something beautiful that we could use to write love letters to the Earth.
 
I feel it’s my duty as an artist, as a human being, to create work that speaks to this moment. Our disconnect from the living world created the pandemic. Our species is literally gobbling the planet alive, devouring forests and mountains, damaging every biological system. We urgently need to think beyond the human. Trees can help us heal.
 
Your Irish Tree Alphabet comes with an “Explorer’s Guide.” What does this guide do, and what do you hope readers/users take away from it?
 
My heart is bursting for what we are losing. I offer the Irish Tree Alphabet â€“ a new ABC – as a way to reforest our imaginations, suggesting a way forward by looking backward through our branches of knowledge. Right now, I feel the most important thing that I can do is share my work with children. We need to create fruitful and fun ways to connect people with themselves and the land, ways to introduce kids (and adults) to the beauty of communicating across time and species. Translating thoughts into Trees lets us share our vulnerabilities in this time of extinction, while offering a simple way to engage with human-induced environmental change. It’s about helping children to be informed citizens of planet Earth.  
 
The Explorer’s Guide to the Irish Tree Alphabet is a simple teaching toolkit in the form of a coloring book. It offers the very youngest members of our communities, and their families, an introduction to the joy of exploring their local landscapes through drawing, collecting, coloring, making, and growing, while learning through play. Growing from earlier projects like Tree Museum and Tree School, it uses city streets, parks, gardens, and public space as a classroom, inviting individuals and communities to learn by living, looking, listening to the street trees. Children are natural explorers. It doesn’t take long to realize that everything’s connected. Trees breathe out, we breathe in. A coloring book seemed like a nice, easy way to quickly reach families during lockdown. I started with the first three letters/trees; A (Ailm), B (Beith), C (Coll). I hope to expand it to the complete A-Z. It’s vital kids learn truth and empathy; trees can teach us that. If 2020 has shown me anything, it’s that we are living, breathing, and writing a whole new story for our species. Children need to be part of that.

You’ve been so busy this past year. You’ve even developed a curriculum for schools! What age group will be using your curriculum, and what does it teach?

I felt compelled to make the Explorer’s Guide to the Irish Tree Alphabet as accessible as possible. COVID-19 restrictions have changed our ways of teaching, moving people online and outside. I don’t have kids myself, but my sister has seven-year-old twins, so I can only imagine the desperation for alternative home-schooling material. VISUAL shared the Explorer’s Guide with local primary schools and hopefully, the expanded version will be made available to all Irish schools. It’s for children aged 7-14. I also hope to make an A-Z for younger kids.

Coincidentally, while I was working on it I was invited to develop a few other courses for older children and adults, including a course for Stanford University based on my book About Trees. Stanford’s expansive campus will be our classroom – we’ll learn while walking, with lectures by guest speakers, tree tours, and an academic exploration of all things trees.

The New School of the Anthropocene in the UK invited me to develop a seven-week course. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to do something like this, so I decided to get straight to the heart of the matter! I’m calling it Learning to be Better Lovers: Forest Thinking for a Forest City. I’m excited to work with teenagers and young climate activists to explore what I believe are the urgent topics of our time: What is the language we need to live right now? How can we learn to be better lovers of the world? The city of London, a forest city, will be our classroom, our playground. I’m not sure where the trees will lead us, but I know it’s going to be a fruitful, exciting adventure!

Maynooth University has invited me to be a writer-in-residence to help develop a “Writing/Righting” project for Literature Declares Emergency. We’re working with Culture Declares Emergency on a few things, including a Letters to the Earth anthology for Ireland.

It’s about inviting people to slow down for the world’s most urgent issue! During this long year of COVID-19, haven’t we all seen how lovely – how important – it is to slow down? Let’s remember that. Our human heartbeat has been thumping too fast, at the speed of instantaneous text messages and emails; we need to breathe deeply and slowly, fall into tree time.

Your exhibition Learning to be Better Lovers opens in August. Please tell us about it, and why you’ll be handing out seeds!

I just love the idea of us all “Learning to be Better Lovers!” Honestly, it feels like the single most important thing that might get us through this dark time – learning to love ourselves, each other, and the creatures we share our home with. So this is the title for a few of my current projects. The show at Snug Harbor in Staten Island opens late August so right now I’m busy meeting people out there, visiting the Native Plant Center and the Heritage Farm. Their motto is to feed, inspire, and educate the local community.

In that spirit, and guided by my teaching/courses that I already mentioned, I’ll be sharing seeds – inviting visitors to PLANT LOVE and seed stories. Together, let’s reforest NYC with LOVE. I hope to give away care packages: seeds/seedlings of the four trees that spell LOVE in the NYC Tree Alphabet.

After 15 months of quarantine, it’s been wonderful to get on the Staten Island ferry and walk around the beautiful grounds at Snug Harbor and meet people working the land. At the heart of my project is a desire to look back at what was here before we (white people) came along. What was growing here? What stories can the land share? Will we listen? What will we leave behind?

You’re deeply involved in climate and environmental action beyond what you explore in your art. For example, I know you’ve been working to save a bog in Ireland. Why is the bog at risk, and what motivates you to try and save it?

Ardee Bog is a rare gem, the most easterly raised bog in Ireland. It’s at risk in the same way so many precious places around the world are – the government wants to build a road. I grew up there, on the edge of the bog. Bogs are Ireland’s rainforest, representing the largest store of carbon in the Irish landscape.

The plans for the road – if you can call them that: zero planning went into the project – date to almost twenty years ago. No Environmental Impact Assessment was ever carried out. It’s obvious they had no idea there was even a bog there; they thought it was just “empty” land – they drew a straight line with a ruler between point A and point B. But it’s a living, breathing ecosystem that entire communities call home, both human and non-human communities, including curlews which are in danger of going extinct in Ireland within the next five to ten years. The whole project stinks of corruption and petty politics. That’s why a group of us locals got together and formed Friends of Ardee Bog. We love the place, it’s our home and if we don’t protect it, no one will.

Ireland declared a climate emergency in May 2019. So why are we building a road through a bog? Eamon Ryan, the new Minister of Transportation (technically in charge of this road project) is also the Minister for the Environment, Climate, and Communications. The irony! If you’d like to help us protect Ardee bog, please sign our petition. I’ll be hand delivering it to elected officials when I get home. Hopefully we’ll have reached 10,000 signatures by then.

People cause great damage, but we can also create powerful change. We know the problems – and we also know the solutions. But we’re running out of time! A road can be relocated, but a bog can’t. The bog has been here for 10,000 years and is defenseless. How can we live with ourselves knowing the harm we’re causing? It eats at my soul.

What’s next for you? 

More of the same! Shouting in the streets! Demanding action! The Explorer’s Guide and Ardee Bog will keep me busy for quite a while yet, hopefully leading to real change in Ireland.

Work makes work so, of course, these projects lead to others. I’m currently developing This Was Once Forest / This Will Be Forest Again, a text-based work for the Irish Arts Center’s new building in New York City, opening in November. On June 10, I chatted via Zoom with the West Cork Literary Festival about the new anthology Women on Nature. During lockdown, I started making a series of drawings called Love Letters using inspirational quotes and calls to action from women through the ages. I think I might have to make a book. In fact, I’ve got ideas and sketches for about twenty book projects. Anyone want to make a book with me?

Then there are the projects that got put on hold last year. I was invited to Hamburg to work with printmakers, looking forward to that. I’ve been invited to develop work for a new project space in Dublin. I can’t say more about it just yet, but I can’t wait to get home and hug my mother and walk the bog road. 

This article is part of the Climate Art Interviews series. It was originally published in Amy Brady’s “Burning Worlds” newsletter. Subscribe to get Amy’s newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.

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Amy Brady is the Deputy Publisher of Guernica magazine and Senior Editor of the Chicago Review of Books. Her writing about art, culture, and climate has appeared in the Village Voice, the Los Angeles Times, Pacific Standard, the New Republic, and other places. She is also the editor of the monthly newsletter “Burning Worlds,” which explores how artists and writers are thinking about climate change. She holds a PHD in English and is the recipient of a CLIR/Mellon Library of Congress Fellowship. Read more of her work at AmyBradyWrites.com at and follow her on Twitter at @ingredient_x.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog 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.

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