Ian Garrett

ashdenizen: wanted: a portrait of the climate scientist as a real person

March 10, 2011Ashden DirectoryAlexander Herzen, Climate Change, Climate Scientist, Climate Scientists, Coast Of Utopia, Conceit, Flesh And Blood, Heretic, Playwrights, Political Influence, Political Subject, Preface, Real Person, Serfdom, Sportsman, Tippingpoint, Tom Stoppard, Tsar Alexander, Turgenev, Twentieth Century History

In his preface toÂ The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard makes the point that writers can have real political influence. His example is Turgenev’sSportsman’s Sketches, which Stoppard writes,

“were plausibly said to have done more than anything else to turn the ‘Reforming Tsar’ Alexander 11 towards abolishing serfdom.”

But the writing has to be precise and observant. Earlier in the preface, when discussing Alexander Herzen, Stoppard writes,

“What he detested above all was the conceit that theoretical future bliss justified actual present sacrifice.”

Twentieth-century history was on Herzen’s side. It’s easy to imagine, today, that many playwrights’ resistance to climate change as a political subject comes from this idea that it deals with a “theoretical future” and that it is being used to justify “actual present sacrifice”. Playwrights like to write about real situations, flesh and blood characters, the here and now. And they like jokes.

In some ways, then, the most interesting characters to put on stage right now are climate scientists: not a climate sceptic disguised as a climate scientist (as happens in The Heretic), but the climate scientists who are simultaneously appalled and fascinated by what they are discovering.

AtÂ last year’s TippingPoint conference in Oxford, climate scientists spoke candidly and wittily about how their work had altered their lives and their world views. If caught accurately, that kind of portrait might have real political influence.

via ashdenizen: wanted: a portrait of the climate scientist as a real person.

Welcome The EcoMuseum to the CSPA Knowledge Network

March 9, 2011Announcements, ecomuseumAesthetics, Archive Page, Category Archive, CSPA, Ecomuseum, Exhibition Manager, Knowledge Network, Museum Professional

The CSPA wants to welcomeÂ the EcoMuseum, a project of Carole Hammond, Exhibition Manager and museum professional: combining the complex ideologies of aesthetics, culture, objects, entertainmentâ€¦and environment.

You’ll be able to find and link back to her writing here as part of the CSPA knowledge network. Her first post is already up here:

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/2011/03/09/identity-exhibition-eco-installation-begins/

You can also find a record, as it builds, at this category archive page:

https://www.sustainablepractice.org/category/ecomuseum/

Stay tuned for more!

Performing Ecology

March 7, 2011newsArrow Street, Brunel University, Burko, Cleveland Rd, Clive Adams, David Haley, Drama Studio, Ecological Art, Environmental Psychology, Falmouth Cornwall, German American Heritage, Gmail, Graduate Center Cuny, Heritage Museum, Html Nbsp, Joan Mitchell, Life Patterns, Middlesex Uk, Mitchell Center, Pierre Menard, Point Theory, Rahmani, Rd Time, Santa Fe Art, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe Nm, Senior Lecturer, Sfai, Society Colloquium, Street Cambridge, Uxbridge Middlesex, Woodlane

Image: Oil & Water #6 mixed media seen in Oil & Water for One of a Kind, an exhibition of unique artist's books curated by Heide Hatry at Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge MA and HP Garcia Gallery, New York, NY.

Trigger Point Theory as Aesthetic Activism, a workshop on restoring degraded environments

March 10th, time: 12:00-1:00pmÂ 2011

The Culture of Climate Change, The 10th Annual Nature Ecology Society Colloquium

CUNY Graduate Center, CUNY New York, NY

Hosted by the Environmental Psychology PhD Program

Contact Person: Shawndel Fraser,Â SFraser@gc.cuny.edu

Ecological Art, March 10th, time: 4:00-5:00pm 2011

Panel Session organized by: Diane Burko and Aviva Rahmani

Moderated by: Amy Lipton, Panelists: Sam Bower, Beth Carruthers, David Haley and Shai Zakai

The Culture of Climate Change, The 10th Annual Nature Ecology Society Colloquium

CUNY Graduate Center, CUNY New York, NY

Hosted by the Environmental Psychology PhD Program

Contact Person: Shawndel Fraser,Â SFraser@gc.cuny.edu

HALF LIFE: Patterns of Systemic Change. March 25^th, time: 6:00pm, 2011

Panel Discussion and Live Webcast

Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA and Santa Fe Institute of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Telephone 505-424.5050

Contact Person: Diane R. Karp, Ph.D. Executive Director Santa Fe Art InstituteÂ dkarp@sfai.org

One Of A Kind,Â an exhibition of unique artist’s books. March 3-March 27^th, 2011

Reception Thursday March 17th Â 6:00 – 9:00 pm

Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge MAÂ Â 02138

Telephone 617-868-2033

Curated by Heide Hatry, h.hatry@gmail.com

One Of A Kind,Â an exhibition of unique artist’s books. April 19 – May 21^st, 2011

HP Garcia Gallery, 580 Eighth Avenue, 7th Floor (between 38th & 39th Streets)

New York, NY 10018-3080

Telephone (212) 354-7333

Curated by Heide Hatry,Â h.hatry@gmail.com

One Of A Kind,Â an exhibition of unique artist’s books. Dates: TBA, 2011

German-American Heritage Museum,Â 719 6th Street NW,Â Washington, DC 20001

Telephone (866) 868-8422

Curated by Heide Hatry, h.hatry@gmail.com

Designers Accord “Town Hall’ Brighton UK

March 6, 2011newsActivists, Architects, Brighton Group, Brighton Uk, Business Product, Communication Business, Economists, Eventbrite, Fashion Textiles, Food Wine, Graphic Communication, Interior Landscape, Learners, Manifestations, Methodologies, Peers, Social Issues, Sustainable Future, Town Hall, Would Like Further Information

What actions can we take to design a more sustainable future?’

We are educators, learners, architects, economists, ecologists, activists, filmmakers, photographers, graphic, communication, business, product, fashion, textiles, interior, landscape, systems and thinking designers.

Come and join us to discuss how we can all take actions to design a more sustainable future together.

The evening will start with a selection of short presentations.Â Followed by food, wine and discussion in small break out groups. Finishing with feedback and action to be taken forward!

Places are limited, please only register for a ticket if you can make the event, or if circumstances change please let us know asap.

The Designers Accord provides a participatory platform with online and offline manifestations so that members have access to a community of peers who share methodologies, resources, and experiences around environmental and social issues in design.

If you would like to know any more about the Designers Accord please click hereÂ or if you would like further information about the Brighton Group please feel free to contact us at the address below.

designersaccord.brighton@gmail.com

via Designers Accord “Town Hall’ Brighton UK – Eventbrite.

Creative Review – What does a ton of CO2 look like?

February 26, 2011newsArtists, Atmosphere, Berlin, Carbon Dioxide, Chimney, CO2, Condensation, Diameter, Flue Gases, Fossil, Gas Clouds, Pollution, Realities, Shape, Smoke Rings, Vortex, Waste Gases

BIG VORTEX is the idea of Berlin-based artists realities:united. Waste gases will leave the chimney of the plant (which will turn waste into energy) as revolving gas clouds in the shape of smoke rings. The rings become visible due to the condensation of water in the flue gases as they slowly rise and cool, before resolving into the air. The rings produced in this way will, the artists estimate, be 30 metres in diameter and three metres thick and “constitute exactly one ton of fossil carbon dioxide, which is added to the atmosphere”. “[In] this way the rather abstract pollution aspect gets somewhat more graspable and understandable, something you can see and relate to,” the artists say.

via Creative Review – What does a ton of CO2 look like?.

Mediterranee / e-flux

February 25, 2011AnnouncementsArt And Science, Cuttlefish, Flexible Material, Free Thinker, French Artist, Gallery Space, German Biologist, Huang Yong Ping, Hybrid Animal, Lying On The Floor, Maritime Disasters, Maritime Objects, Mediterranean Sea, Metal Frame, MusÃ©E National De Monaco, Oceanographic Museum, Prince Albert, Rich Biodiversity, Space One, Vacuum Cleaner

“MÃ©diterranÃ©e”
20 November 2010 â€“ 20 May 2012

www.oceano.mc

The Oceanographic Museum unveils a site-specific commission by Huang Yong Ping as part of a major exhibition dedicated to the Mediterranean Sea
The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco hosts a unique exhibition dedicated to the Mediterranean Sea, bringing together contemporary art and science. The exhibition presents a monumental installation by the celebrated Sino-French artist Huang Yong Ping and features an exceptional collection of maritime objects that illustrate the rich biodiversity of the Sea. The exhibition, which is on view from 20 November 2010 to 20 May 2012, is presented with the Nouveau MusÃ©e National de Monaco.
Huang Yong Ping’s 25 metre installation, “Wu Zei”, is a site specific commission for the Museum’s Salon d’honneur and alludes to the 9 metre octopus from the Museum’s collection that is exhibited on the floor above (1st Floor).

“Wu Zei”, a gigantic hybrid animalâ€”an octopus and a cuttlefishâ€”is inspired by the sea and refers to the maritime disasters caused by man. While its head is suspended around the Medusa chandelier, designed by the German biologist, philosopher and free thinker Ernst Haeckel, its tentacles invade the gallery space. One of the tentacles circles around the column, another stretches out towards the first room of the exhibition, and others reach out towards the sea and the statue of Prince Albert I.

The hybrid animal’s head is red like that of an octopus; its tentacles are black like those of a cuttlefish. One of the tentacles looks set to suck in, like a vacuum cleaner, the different objects and blackened animals lying on the floor.

Wu Zei’s body and tentacles are made of a flexible material around a metal frame. The bulb-like head is slightly transparent to allow for the light of the chandelier to shine through in the evening.

By calling his installation “Wu Zei”, Huang Yong Ping creates ambiguity in the meaning of his work. The title “Wu Zei” (ä¹Œè´¼) is the Chinese name for a cuttlefish. “Wu” (ä¹Œ) is the character for the colour black and “Zei” (è´¼) is the symbol for stealing. Huang Yong Ping plays with language and semiology juxtaposing cuttlefish ink to oil spill and corruption to regeneration.

The Mediterranean is a major reservoir for the world’s biodiversity. The increasing urbanization of the coast, overfishing, exploitation of the natural resources, proliferation of invasive species, maritime transport and pollution of different kinds such as toxic waste are daily dangers facing the Mediterranean Sea and can lead to biodiversity impoverishment, with irredeemable cultural, economic and ecological consequences.

“MÃ©diterranÃ©e” is accompanied by an illustrated book, produced by the Oceanographic Institute, Albert 1st Foundation, Prince of Monaco and published by Les Editions Rocher.

An artist’s book is co-edited by Galerie kamel mennour and the Nouveau MusÃ©e National de Monaco including a text by Jessica Morgan, Daskalopoulos Curator International Art at the Tate.

Huang Yong Ping: Biography

Born in 1954, Huang Yong Ping participated in the seminal exhibition “Magiciens de la Terre” at Centre Pompidou, Paris in 1989, and represented France at the 1999 Venice Biennale. In 2006, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis organized and premiered his retrospective “House of Oracles,” which travelled to Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts; Vancouver Art Gallery; and Ullens Center, Beijing. Other solo exhibitions include: CCA Kitakyushu, Japan; De Appel, Amsterdam; Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris; Atelier d’Artistes de la Ville de Marseille; Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo; Barbican Art Gallery, London; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and MusÃ©e des Beaux Arts, Paris. In 2007, Huang Yong Ping participated in the exhibition “Why Sculpture, Why Here?” at the Tate Modern, London.

Huang Yong Ping is represented by Galerie kamel mennour, Paris, and Gladstone Gallery, New York.

For further information, please contact:

Roya Nasser/MaÃ¯wenn Walter
Roya Nasser Communication
rn@royanasser.com
Tel : + 33 (0) 1 42 71 25 46
Mobile : + 33 (0) 6 24 97 72 29

Pauline Herouan
Institut ocÃ©anographique,
Fondation Albert 1er, Prince de Monaco
p.herouan@oceano.mc
Tel +377 93 15 36 39 /+ 33 (0) 6 27 33 71 6

via Mediterranee / e-flux.

Greening Western Queens Fund | North Star Fund

February 24, 2011news, Open CallsCommunity Gardens, Con Edison, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education, Environmental Programs, Environmental Projects, History Of New York, History Of New York City, North Star Fund, Power Outage, Public Accountability, Public Service Commission, Queens Community, Request For Proposals Rfp, State Of New York, Sunnyside, Urban Neighborhoods, Visible Improvements, Western Queens, Woodside

Greening Western Queens Fund

In the fall of 2009, North Star Fund launched theÂ “Greening Western Queens Fund,” a new $7.9 million initiative to invest in energy-efficiency and environmental projects in the Western Queens community affected by a July 2006 electric power outage. This program is supported by funds from the community’s settlement with Con Edison. The Public Service Commission of the State of New York selected North Star Fund to administer the project because of our expertise in facilitating community led grantmaking processes.

According to Hugh Hogan, Executive Director of North Star Fund, “This is a story of a community that stood up to demand public accountability from a public utility that failed them. It’s provided an opportunity unique in the history of New York City to invest in an environmentally conscious and economically robust future of the affected neighborhoods. The community-driven process will serve as a model for the next generation of urban neighborhoods.”

Funded Projects

Western Queens will soon see an infusion of trees, green jobs and youth environmental programs thanks to $3.39 million in grants distributed by North Star Fund. Fifteen projects have been funded with one- to three-year grants that will result in up to 850 trees, support environmental education and recycling programs, and help fund community gardens and green jobs training programs.Â Click here to download a pdf of the projects.

Request For Proposals (RFP)

The Greening Western Queens Fund seeks to support projects that will result in tangible, physical and visible improvements to the Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside, and Astoria areas. We are not currently accepting applications for the Greening Western Queens Fund. The next RFP will be released in July 2011 and the deadline will be in September 2011.

Click here for common questions about applying for a grant from the Greening Western Queens Fund.

Advisory Board

We have developed a Greening Western Queens Fund Advisory Board of local stakeholders and environmental experts to distribute grants to local groups for tree planting, energy efficiency, job training and open space enhancement projects. The projects will incorporate conservation education and replicable models that will have a lasting impact in the neighborhood and beyond. All of the advisory board members provide unique and important expertise which will be utilized throughout the grant program. PleaseÂ click here for more information about the Greening Western Queens Fund Advisory Board.

Visioning Sessions

In March 2010, North Star Fund hosted two community visioning sessions for residents of Sunnyside, Astoria, Woodside, and Long Island City. Over 120 residents, organizers, community members, and experts came together to share their vision, goals, and ideas for a greener Western Queens. Visioning Session participants actively engaged in large group and small group conversations and shared their ideas for the outcomes of the three-year grants.

The outcomes of the informative visioning sessions, as well as additional outreach and landscape research and scans of current greening programs and projects in the area were used by the Advisory Board to finalize the overall vision, grant criteria, priorities, and guidelines for the Fund.

Impacted Area

Click here for an interactive map indicating the boundaries of the prioritized areas impacted by the blackout.

via Greening Western Queens Fund | North Star Fund.

warning signs

February 23, 2011newsAbbie, Air Pollution, Car Exhaust, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Monoxide Levels, Change Colors, Coursework, Culture Section, Fentress, Grad Students, New York University, Nyu Tisch School, Nyu Tisch School Of The Arts, School Of The Arts, Second Hand Smoke, Swanson, Tisch School Of The Arts, University Grad, Warning Signs, Wnyc

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/17869877?byline=0&portrait=0 500 281]

Two New York University grad students have created prototype sweatshirts that change colors upon exposure to pollutionâ€”â€œanything from car exhaust to second-hand smoke,â€Â reported Abbie Fentress Swanson forÂ WNYC’s culture section. One shirt dons a set of lungs, the other a heart. â€œVeinsâ€ running through the organs turn blue when a censor in the fabric detects high carbon monoxide levels, notes Swanson.

The studentsâ€”Nien Lam and Sue Ngoâ€”designed the shirts for a project they call â€œWarning Signs,â€ part of their masterâ€™s coursework for NYU Tisch School of the Arts. “Air pollution is kind of one of these things that’s all around us,” Lam says in Swansonâ€™sÂ piece. “You don’t see it, but it exists, and it’s invisibleâ€”and we wanted to bring that to light.”

From Hypercolor’s Back (Sort of), and It’s Pointing Out Pollution

tele-present water 2011

February 22, 2011newsAdministration Data, Buoys, Distant Location, Globe, Grid Structure, Intensity, Mechanical Structure, National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, Real Time Data, Relationship, Sculpture, Tele, Time Simulation, Wave Data, Wind Speed

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WEQme9O2rg

This installation draws information from the intensity and movement of the water in a remote location. Wave data is collected in real-time from a selected National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data buoy station. These buoys are located on the surface of the ocean at different locations all over the globe. They collect and transmit real-time data about water temp, wind speed and direction as well as wave heigh and frequency. The wave intensity and frequency is transferred to a mechanical grid structure. This installation will be a unique method of representing data in physical form creating a contrast between the organic movements of the water and the movements of mechanical structure. The resulting sculpture will be a real-time simulation of the physical effects caused by the movement of water from a distant location creating a relationship between two different locations.

H20: The Art of Conservation â€“ Green Public Art

February 21, 2011Announcements, newsBuilding Bridges, Cajon Ca, Cuyamaca College, De Wit, Fine Art Society, Five Acres, Garden Spaces, Group Exhibition, Iwasaki, John Manley, Matthew Hebert, Natural Context, Natural Habitats, Removing Barriers, Ruth Wallen, San Diego Artists, Sdfas, Traditional Materials, Vegetable Garden, Water Conservation Garden

H20: The Art of Conservation

May 6 â€“ November 12, 2011

atÂ The Water Conservation Garden

12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West, El Cajon, CA 92019

This unique exhibition, curated by Green Public Art, offers San Diego homeowners an artistic alternative to incorporate water conservation into their own garden spaces. The exhibition challenges fourteen established and emerging San Diego artists to reflect on water conservation, to consider the natural context in which the artwork is being created and to explore working with recycled, re-purposed or non-traditional materials. This group exhibition, hosted by the San Diego Fine Art Society, will include art works that are an aesthetic manifestation of water conservation, providing another lens with which to view our role in Southern Californiaâ€™s efforts to act sustainably, conserve energy and preserve natural habitats.

ARTISTS scheduled to participate in the exhibition include:Â Dia Bassett,Â Bociek & Bociek,Â Lea de Wit,Â Rebecca Goodman,Â Matthew Hebert,Â Terri Hughes-Oelrich,Â Miki Iwasaki,Â Benjamin Lavender,Â Omar Lopez,Â Collective Magpie,Â Adam John Manley,Â Christopher Puzio,Â Fritize Urquhart andÂ Ruth Wallen.

ABOUT THE WATER CONSERVATION GARDEN: The Water Conservation Garden has nearly five acres of displays that showcase water conservation through a series of beautiful themed gardens, such as a native plant garden and a vegetable garden, as well as how-to displays such as mulch and irrigation exhibits. Admission is free, and the Garden can be viewed on a self-guided tour, or through one of their programs. Located at 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West, El Cajon, CA 92019.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO FINE ART SOCIETY: San Diego Fine Art Society (SDFAS) is strengthening the art pulse of the community through education and collaboration. By removing barriers and building bridges, SDFAS is helping San Diego reach its potential as a top arts destination in the country. Its mission is to strengthen the art pulse of the community through education and collaboration.

GREEN PUBLIC ART