Cultura21

Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia

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Berghahn-2012-SEAE.pdfBioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillages

Published in April 2013

Edited by Joshua Lockyer and James R. Veteto

In order to move global society towards a sustainable “ecotopia,” solutions must be engaged in specific places and communities, and the authors here argue for re-orienting environmental anthropology from a problem-oriented towards a solutions-focused endeavor. Using case studies from around the world, the contributors—scholar-activists and activist-practitioners— examine the interrelationships between three prominent environmental social movements: bioregionalism, a worldview and political ecology that grounds environmental action and experience; permaculture, a design science for putting the bioregional vision into action; and ecovillages, the ever-dynamic settings for creating sustainable local cultures.

Joshua Lockyer is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Arkansas Tech University where he is co-creating a bioregionally-based undergraduate anthropology program. James R. Veteto is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Texas. He is the director of the Laboratory of Environmental Anthropology and the Southern Seed Legacy project and is currently president of the Culture and Agriculture section of the American Anthropological Association and Research Associate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas

For more information: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/series.php?pg=envi_anth

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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New articles about energy alternatives

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The Museum of Fetishes, by Nicholas Hildyard and Larry Lohmann

Too often, discussions about energy alternatives resemble a visit to a 1950s world’s fair exhibition displaying exhibits of the wonderful technology of the future. Against one wall stand shiny replicas of new green machines – wind turbines, solar panels, fuel cells, hypercars, supergrids – alongside diagrams showing how environmentally benign they are. Against another are arrayed labeled bottles of new “substitutes” for oil, coal and gas – corn-based ethanol, rapeseed-based biodiesel, hydrogen cracked out of water, hydrocarbons extruded by algae.

Most of the politics and material realities associated with the various contraptions and conveniences on show, or with the energy they use and transform, are simply missing, as are the strategies of popular movements that might be considering and agitating for different futures.

How should these new visions of technological or economic salvation be read? What role do they play in the real-world politics of energy? How and what can we learn from them? And, if necessary, how can we change the subject? What is glossed over in such displays of “alternatives”is usually more important than what is in them, and there is work to be done in finding out what that is.There is little question that an “energy alternatives” discussion is at least as essential as any other regarding human futures, especially for the industrialised societies whose use of fossil fuels is threatening human survival. But if it is not to degenerate into an irrelevant show of magic tricks, an overdue debt of attention must be paid to voices which up to now have too seldom been heard.

Energy Alternatives – Surveying the Territory, by Larry Lohmann with Nicholas Hildyard and Sarah Sexton

What with a growing climate crisis and increasing uncertainty over the future of fossil fuels, it can be no surprise that the question “what’s the alternative to current energy systems?” is in the air. And there has been no shortage of answers competing for space and attention. In energy policy today, the main conflict is not between business as usual and “The Alternative”, but among the different proposed alternatives themselves. How are these alternatives to be evaluated against each other? The suggested solutions are diverse. The questions being asked are also different, as are the criteria for answering them, the vocabularies in which they are expressed, and the politics with which they are associated. The point of this introduction to the energy transitions issue is not to simplify this debate but to clarify how complex it is. What is on the table in the discussion? Is there a place for everyone there? If so, how will the discussion proceed?

To read more about :http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/sites/thecornerhouse.org.uk/files/The%20Museum%20of%20Fetishes.pdf

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/sites/thecornerhouse.org.uk/file/ENERGY%20ALTERNATIVES%20–%20SURVEYING%20THE%20TERRITORY.pdf

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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The 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art

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LOGO-U3June 20 – 29 September 2013, Resilience,

Organised by the Moderna galerija with Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova,Ljubljana,Slovenia

In recent years the concept of resilience has grown out of the global trend of developing sustainability in the societies of the global North. In natural sciences or physics, a resilient body is described as flexible, durable, and capable of springing back to its original form and transforming the energy received into its own reconstruction (a good example of this is the sponge). Resilience encompasses exploring reciprocal codependence and finding one’s political and socio-ecological place in a world that is out of balance and creates increasingly disadvantageous living conditions. Rather than trying to find global solutions for some indefinite future or projecting a possible perfect balance, resilient thinking focuses on the diversity of practical solutions for the here and now, and on the cooperation and creativity of everyone involved in a community or society.

The 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia gives prominence to practices that can be seen as analogous to the concept of resilience, i.e. community-oriented, site-specific, participatory, performative, architectural, social, civic and other discursive practices exploring new (or revived) community principles, such as the “do-it-together,” urban gardening, and co-working, as well as the fundamental social question of how we coexist. Blending work and everyday life forms the basis of new economic, ethical, and production principles that the younger generation of artists uses to transform the role of the creative subject in contemporary Slovenian society. On the one hand this opens dialogues with biotechnology, critical theory, and political activism, underscoring, on the other hand, the cyclic nature of time by reviving traditional knowledge and techniques. Occurring across many platforms—the exhibition, performative projects, discussions—the triennial also gives the young generations an opportunity to express their potential through addressing urgent local and global socio-political problems and contributing to the debate in and over existing Slovenian cultural policy.

For more information about the program : http://u3trienale.mg-lj.si/en/program/

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Land Arts Generator Initiative events

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Arsenal-Gallery-200x300June 27- August 30, Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York

“Our civilization has been built on non-renewable resources and an outmoded presumption that nature is limitless. Certainly art will continue to serve many purposes; however, for artists and designers who choose to engage in what Joanna Macy terms The Great Turning, what is the role of beauty?” —Ann T. Rosenthal

This opening event kick off the summer exhibition at Arsenal Gallery (in Central Park), NYC, is also act as the book launch to their latest publication “Regenerative Infrastructures,” which features 60 submissions to the 2012 LAGI design competition for Freshkills Park as well as several essays, including “Redefining Beauty within the Context of Sustainability” by Ann Rosenthal

Formerly a symbol of immense urban waste, the Fresh Kills Landfill is being transformed into an enormous parkland destined to exemplify the values of ecological restoration and environmental sustainability. In partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the Land Art Generator Initiative held an ideas competition for a site-specific public artwork designed to operate as a source of clean energy for the city utility grid, using Freshkills Park as the design site. This volume features many of the top submissions to that open call, each with the capacity to power hundreds of homes. The Land Art Generator Initiative creates sustainable design solutions that integrate art and technology into renewable energy infrastructure around the world. Regenerative Infrastructures draws a much needed connection between the two critical issues of sustainable development—energy generation and waste management—highlighting solutions that address both problems at once, thereby creating economically beneficial hybrid utility installations.

For more information : http://landartgenerator.org/newsevents/

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Call For the WEAD Magazine : DIRTY WATER

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WEAD_print_logoWEAD seeks proposals for the upcoming issue of the WEAD magazine from artists working with “dirty water” projects.

“Rainwater, stormwater, graywater and blackwater are being treated with increasing frequency as important resources. Designers and artists, together with engineers and agencies, are highlighting the presence of water reuse in our communities through creative expression, interpretation, and the visible additions of green infrastructure.”

The articles chosen will appear in the next WEAD Magazine Fall/Winter 2013, and authors will receive a complimentary one-year membership to WEAD and $100 honorarium.

For more information : http://weadartists.org/wead-magazine-call-out

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Ecology and cybernetics towards network society capitalism

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HKW_LogoJune 21-22nd,2013, The World Earth – Conference, in Berlin

The exhibition and the conference The Whole Earth are dedicated to the story of the image of the “blue planet”. The project takes its starting point in historical developments in California since the 1960s : using materials from cultural history and artistic works. Curated by Diedrich Diederichsen and Anselm Franke, the exhibition will critically explore the application of ecological-systemic concepts to society, politics, and aesthetics.

The conference will revolve around questions of the legacy of the California counterculture. Roundtable discussions will explore the historical sources of, and connections between, discursive and political issues such as the ecological movement, cybernetics, anti-conformist cultures, new artistic practices that dissolve boundaries, and the transformations in these areas right up to the globalist network capitalism of the 1990s.

For more information about the program :www.hkw.de/en/programm/2013/the_whole_earth/veranstaltungen_83124/veranstaltungsdetail_88180.php

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Dialogue on Peace

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r_Initiative_Formaat_StudioSterk_voorstelling-8052-1-300x198As part of the Grassroots Peacebuilding project, Formaat will organize the “Panel for Peace”, an interactive dialogue on the use of Participatory Drama for conflict transformation and peace building. The Panel for Peace will initiate and stimulate the dialogue on using wide ranging forms of interactive and participatory theatre for working in and around areas of conflict. The Panel for Peace will include Chen Alon (Combatants for Peace), working with polarized communities in Israel-Palestine, Hector Aristizábal (Imaginaction), Theatre of the Oppressed with torture survivors, Teya Sepinuck (Theatre of Witness), interactive theatre in Northern Ireland and Zhara Yagana (AHRDO) and Hadi Marifat (AHRDO), legislative theatre in Afghanistan.

The panel is hosted by Luc Opdebeeck, (artistic) director of Formaat. Opdebeeck is one of the world’s leading experts on using Participatory Drama in a wide range of settings, including conflict transformation. The panel will analyze and reflect on the strengths and opportunities, and the challenges and threats to community-based work using Participatory Drama to address and transform conflict.

For more information : http://www.formaat.org/nieuws/panel-for-peace-dialogue-on-peace/?cbg_tz=-120

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Dance, Touch and everything else

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

treeportisol_webJune 21st – 23rd 2013 in Barcelona – Natural Circus Lab

“The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity’s trying to accomplish something. Originally there was no reason to progress, and nothing that had to be done. They  have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a ‘movement’ not to bring anything about”, said Masanobu Fukuoka – Originator of Natural Farming.

This meeting will explore what it does if there is nothing to accomplish. Nothing to accomplish in dance, nothing to accomplish in touch, nothing to accomplish in meeting another. Nothing to accomplish in life. The workshop will see what it does, if we get ‘the one that needs to accomplish’ out of the way and let life have its course.

For more information : http://www.labs.naturalcircus.org/

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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The AWEinspiring Award 2013 to Platform

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372x521xAWE-inspiring-certificate-2013-620x869.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.oPzTg0xr8u-214x300The AWEinspiring (Art, Water & Environment) Award celebrates an artwork, project or artist, recognising their contribution to The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s (CIWEM) vision of putting creativity into the heart of environmental policy and action.Since its formation in 2007, the primary vision of CIWEM’s Art and Environment Network has been to put creativity at the heart of environmental policy and action. The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW) has joined CIWEM in creating the AWEinspiring (Art, Water & Environment) Award, giving it to The Harrisons in recognition of their unique contribution to public understanding of climate change through the vehicle of art and creativity, linked with science.

Formed in 1983, Platform have performed across the world, from the Tate to the Camp for Climate Action, from Glastonbury to Pittsburgh, and from Bristol to Nigeria. They hold exhibitions, write books, initiate research, and develop pioneering education programmes to promote radical new ideas that inspire change. About their work, they said : ”Platform, a London-based, innovative arts collective, was selected for its long-standing commitment to using the arts to open up spaces for transformation, inspiration and change in ecological and social justice. Platform aims to achieve long-term shifts that make alternative futures possible. They engage, support, challenge, and apply their art tirelessly to the most pressing issues of the day, notably focusing on the social, economic, environmental and cultural impacts of the global oil industry. Formed in 1983, Platform have performed across the world, from the Tate to the Camp for Climate Action, from Glastonbury to Pittsburgh, and from Bristol to Nigeria. They hold exhibitions, write books, initiate research, and develop pioneering education programmes to promote radical new ideas that inspire change.”

Platform is launching a new art work ‘Two Degrees: Oil City’, a piece of site-specific immersive theatre going deep into the underbelly of London’s oil economy, on 10 – 23 June 2013.

See also our earlier post : http://www.cultura21.net/activites/exhibitions/artsadmins-two-degrees-festival

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

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Enlivenment. Towards a fundamental shift in the concepts of nature, culture and politics

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Enlivenment_titleA new publication in the Ecology Series at Heinrich Boell Foundation, by Andreas Weber

“People often call for “changing the system” and seek to reform the “free market” approach that turns everything, including life itself, into a commodity. But it is impossible to alter our prevailing “operating system” for economics, politics and culture if the underlying “bios” – our unexamined, foundational assumptions about reality – remain the same. And that is literally our biggest problem today: our understanding of “bios”, the nature of life itself, is wrong” (Andreas Weber).

Read more: download link (free PDF file of the essay by Dr. Andreas Weber)

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Powered by WPeMatico