This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Professor Paul Younger invited me to meet him in his office at the University of Glasgow after he found the blog post. We had exchanged some emails resulting from the sequence of events triggered by 350.org’s ‘Do The Math’ and the wider divestment campaign.

We discussed the reasons for the letter to The Guardian (of which Prof Younger was a co-signatory) challenging the University of Glasgow’s recently announced commitment to divestment from investments in the fossil fuel industry. From what I understand this was at least in part driven by the University’s decision to make the commitment on the basis of the student petition without recourse to any advice from the Schools or Departments which have expertise in the subject.

Prof Younger’s response to the Do The Math poster was that he agreed with all of it, apart from where on the right hand side it says, “we have the tools that we need.”

Detail of Do The Math by Rachel Schragis

Although we see a lot of wind farms and increasing numbers of domestic rooftop solar voltaic installations, electricity is only a relatively small part of the fossil fuel generated energy we use. Further these forms of renewables provide neither baseload nor dispatchable capacity to the grid as it is currently configured ie they create more grid management challenges. In addition renewables development is impacting on issues of heating more slowly and on the transportation of goods at an even slower rate.

Asked the question, “How long is now?” I.e. if we are now in this transition process, how long will it take to move to a low carbon economy, Prof. Younger suggested 30 years between areas still requiring innovation such as energy storage, as well as innovations moving through development and commercialisation phases. It would be interesting to understand from his perspective where the key obstacles are and what could speed the process. I can imagine another one of Rachel Schragis’ images visualising the developmental edge, the relationships, the obstacles and the opportunities.

Reflecting on the University’s reaction to the student petition led to an interesting discussion around decision-making in different disciplines. Prof Younger offered a comparison with medicine where policy decisions are not made exclusively in response to petitions. We discussed the relationship between medical research and medical ethics (and perhaps also medical humanities). This prompted the question as to whether such a thing as a Chair in Engineering Ethics should exist? This is distinct from the existing positions focused on ‘the public understanding of…’ just as it is probably distinct from positions focused on sustainability (sustainability is already an iteration of one mode of ethical analysis, utilitarianism, rather than a primary inquiry into the grounds of thinking).

We also discovered that we had a colleague, Lucy Milton, founder director of Helix Arts in Newcastle, in common. Prof Younger had invited Helix Arts to work with him on the Seen & Unseen (1997-99) project developing a bioremediation solution to acidic run-off from mine workings focused on the Quaking Houses settlement in County Durham.

Prof Younger kindly gave me a copy of his recent publication Energy which appears in the All That Matters series. It’s a primer on current issues in energy engineering. He starts with food. It is the form of energy we consume bodily, and our discovery of cooking has increased the energy value of food to us, that most likely being one of the key contributory factors in our social cultural evolution. He doesn’t shy away from the parallel between our overconsumption of food and our equally unconstrained use of other forms of energy. Nor is the book a marketing exercise for the energy industry. Where it might be limited is in its exclusive focus on the technology of energy. The book doesn’t address the financial dimension of energy or particularly on alternative modes of ownership, both ultimately key factors in any transition to a low carbon economy.

I was able to give him copies of two of the Land Art Generator Initiative publications (New York and Copenhagen).

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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The Society for Ecological Restoration annual conference is in Manchester 23-27 August and James Brady has put together an outstanding Arts Programme.

“During the conference, two internationally renowned cultural venues in the city of Manchester will host GAIA – Resonant Visions: an exclusive cultural programme consisting of UK and world premiere artists’ film screenings, accompanied by public talks (with artists, ecologists, activists and scientists, etc.) associated with the conference theme of ecological restoration and resilience.

The events will be artistic co-ordinates and complimentary to the conference. Both responding and acting independently of the conference, they will expand and explore restoration and resilience from the neighbourhood to international scales, and from political, ecological and aesthetic perspectives.

How environmental activism, creative resistance and grassroots/indigenous movements can operate (both as a powerful metaphor and a real-world agency) for ‘resilience and restoration’ towards a post-fossil fuel world, are core themes which these events will also address.
Manchester is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution: the unprecedented human technological shift which changed Planet Earth and crucially brought about the evolution of this Anthropocene age. It is therefore meaningful and poignant that a collection of moving image ‘visions’ of our changing planet are brought into the heart of what is one of the world’s first Post-Industrial cities.

The core cultural venues pledging their support for SER 2015 in the city are The Whitworth Art Gallery and HOME. A special suite of eco-artist films will also be hosted at Manchester Central during the conference itself, providing an integrated cross-disciplinary aesthetic engagement for delegates.”

More about the Programme

Introduction:

During the conference, two internationally renowned cultural venues in the city of Manchester will host GAIA – Resonant Visions: an exclusive cultural programme consisting of UK and world premiere artists’ film screenings, accompanied by public talks (with artists, ecologists, activists and scientists, etc.) associated with the conference theme of ecological restoration and resilience.

The events will be artistic co-ordinates and complimentary to the conference. Both responding and acting independently of the conference, they will expand and explore restoration and resilience from the neighbourhood to international scales, and from political, ecological and aesthetic perspectives.

How environmental activism, creative resistance and grassroots/indigenous movements can operate (both as a powerful metaphor and a real-world agency) for ‘resilience and restoration’ towards a post-fossil fuel world, are core themes which these events will also address.

Manchester is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution: the unprecedented human technological shift which changed Planet Earth and crucially brought about the evolution of this Anthropocene age. It is therefore meaningful and poignant that a collection of moving image ‘visions’ of our changing planet are brought into the heart of what is one of the world’s first Post-Industrial cities.

The core cultural venues pledging their support for SER 2015 in the city are The Whitworth Art Gallery and HOME. A special suite of eco-artist films will also be hosted at Manchester Central during the conference itself, providing an integrated cross-disciplinary aesthetic engagement for delegates.

Monday 24th August 2015

2 Tony Wilson Place, First Street Complex, M15 4FN
Box office: 0161 200 1500
Time: 17.45 – 20.30 hours
Ticket price: £8.50 (HOME cinema is offering all SER delegates a special discount on tickets for the END Trilogy film on 24th August.  Tickets are £6.50 (instead of £8.50) for online booking only.  The discount code is ser2015)

^{_{Carlos Casas, Hunters Since the Beginning of Time (2008)}}

Carlos Casas
END Trilogy
156 min
UK premiere

UK premiere screening of Carlos Casas’ complete, multi award-winning END Trilogy. Accompanied by an exclusive introductory talk by SER 2015 Arts Curator, James Brady.

Comprising the three films:
Solitude at the End of the World (2005)
Aral: Fishing in an Invisible Sea (2004)
Hunters Since the Beginning of Time (2008)

A trilogy of films dedicated to extreme and inhospitable environments on the planet. From the whale hunters of Siberia, to fishermen of the Aral Sea, and to hermits of Patagonia, these films are anthropological portraits of indigenous peoples and lands on the distant peripheries of civilization. The END Trilogy is a lasting cinematic testimony to ways of living which are quickly disappearing in such remote places on Earth. These are places where humanity and the environment are deeply connected. Carlos Casas’ epic work engages us in a timely and sensitive exploration of the imagery and imagination of the ‘end of the world’.

Thursday 27th August 2015

The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, M15 6ER
Enquiries: 0161 275 7450
Grand Hall
Time: 15.00 – 21.00 hours
FREE event

Session 1 (15.00–16.45 hours)

^{Oliver Ressler, Leave It In The Ground (2013)}

Oliver Ressler
Leave It In The Ground (2013)
UK premiere
18 min

In recent years, countless extreme weather events clearly indicate that climate change is not only a future phenomenon but is already taking place. In the Global South, climate change aggravates the crises of poverty, violence, and unrest that result from the legacies of colonialism and neoliberal capitalism. Leave It In The Ground describes the climate crisis not as a technical and scientific problem, but as a political problem. The film discusses how ecological and humanitarian disasters caused through global warming might topple old orders and open up possibilities that could lead to long-term social and political transformations, both positive and negative.

^{Aviva Rahmani, Blued Trees (2015)}

Aviva Rahmani
Blued Trees (2015)
World premier
5 min

In February 2015, some New York State residents, angered by the abuse of eminent domain in service to fossil fuel corporations, enlisted eco-artist Aviva Rahmani to create the Blued Trees Symphony installation. The Blued Trees film documents the June 21, 2015 launch of an innovative, creative strategy to contest fossil fuel proliferation.

Creative Resistance? Resilient Futures?
Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion / Q&A
75 min

A public discussion led by a panel, including members of both the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s Arts and Environment Network, and the International Eco-Art Network: Dave Pritchard (Chair), Wallace Heim, David Haley, Jane Trowell, Basia Irland, Aviva Rahmani, Margaret Shiu and James Brady.

Questioning what we really understand by ‘restoration’ and ‘resilience’ – ecological, social, economic and cultural – facilitating an open social space where interdisciplinary exchange, debate and broadening of that understanding can emerge. This event will unite the worlds of arts, culture and ecological science, allowing the mutual exploration of the practices, philosophies, concepts, languages, ethics and aesthetics of the subject. A core focus of this discussion will be how various forms of creative activism and grass-roots social solidarity movements become effective agencies for resilience and restorative change.

Session 2 (17.30–21.00 hours)

^{Basia Irland, Ice Receding/Books Reseeding (2007 – 2015)}

Basia Irland
Ice Receding / Books Reseeding (2007–2015)
European premiere + artist’s talk*
16 min

The devastation we humans cause rivers is extraordinary and the need to educate and activate local communities is vast. A green future cannot be mapped without healthy watersheds. The cartography of the next generations must include communities working together to insure clean, viable river systems. The documentary film, Ice Receding / Books Reseeding emphasizes the necessity of communal effort, scientific knowledge, and poetic intervention to deal with the complex issues of climate disruption and watershed restoration through the release of seed-laden ephemeral ice sculptures into rivers, creeks, and streams.

*The screening of this film is followed by a rare and exclusive public talk by the eminent ecological artist.

Deeper Roots
Artists/Curators discussion
60 min

An informal discussion session led by a group of artists and curators, working in the field of interdisciplinary socially-engaged arts practice in the North West of England. They will open-up a conversation about the ethics and values of collaborative work with urban communities, with the vision of nurturing creative roots for socio-ecological resilience. Issues of urban regeneration, social cohesion, and radical place-making will be key points of reference in this dialogue.  This discussion will feature representatives from three projects in particular: Guild, Tearing Stuff Apart, and A Tale of Two Cities.

^{Ursula Biemann, Forest Law (2014)}

Ursula Biemann
Climate Quadrilogy (2012–15)

Comprising four video works:
Egyptian Chemistry (2012), Deep Weather (2013), Forest Law (2014), Subatlantic* (2015)

World premiere
92 min

In a series of research-based, videographic investigations, this quadrilogy presents a planetary perspective on the complex ecological dynamics and consequences of humanity’s colonisation of Earth’s life-sustaining, natural matter. From Egypt, Canada to India, Amazonia, and the Shetland Isles to Greenland and to the Caribbean Isles, these video works take us on a global, geo-political journey across contested lands and oceans.

*This event also marks the official European premiere of Biemann’s new video work, Subatlantic.

Film screenings at Manchester Central Conference Centre, 24 –27 August:

Ursula Biemann
Climate Quadrilogy (2012–15)
Comprising four video works:

Egyptian Chemistry (2012), Deep Weather (2013), Forest Law (2014), Subatlantic (2015)
92 min

In a series of research-based, videographic investigations, this quadrilogy presents a planetary perspective on the complex ecological dynamics and consequences of humanity’s colonisation of Earth’s life-sustaining, natural matter. From Egypt, Canada to India, Amazonia, and the Shetland Isles to Greenland and to the Caribbean Isles, these video works take us on a global, geo-political journey across contested lands and oceans.

Basia Irland
Ice Receding / Books Reseeding (2015)
16 min

This documentary about Irland’s work, emphasizes the necessity of communal effort, scientific knowledge, and poetic intervention to deal with the complex issues of climate disruption and watershed restoration through the creation and release of seed-laden ephemeral ice sculptures into rivers, creeks, and streams.

Aviva Rahmani
Blued Trees (2015)
5 min

In February 2015, some New York State residents, angered by the abuse of eminent domain in service to fossil fuel corporations, enlisted eco-artist Aviva Rahmani to create the Blued Trees Symphony installation. The Blued Trees film documents the June 21, 2015 launch of an innovative, creative strategy to contest fossil fuel proliferation.

Check it out here http://www.ser2015.org/arts-programme

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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Rachel Duckhouse was Associate Artist engaging staff at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art around issues of climate change, in response to Ellie Harrison’s Early Warning Sign that the gallery has been hosting.

The image above, part of a suite of images in SYSTEMS BREAKDOWN is the result of conversations with staff about their relationships with each other and with the institution.  She says,

I became aware of patterns, relationships, connections, disconnections, motivations, hierarchies, agendas, preoccupations and passions that shaped each individual’s perception of the institution and how it related to wider environmental and social issues inside and outside its walls.

I attempted to map out and draw the infinitely dynamic, multi layered and intangible relationships between people and the systems they work, live and think within.

In the process of making the drawings, I better understood the difficulties in addressing a community of individuals each with their own relationship to that community and ultimately to climate change; and I’m beginning to understand how they act as a metaphor for the challenges we all face as a global community.

It’s worth looking at these drawings and this process in relation to the irational.org project The Status Project.   That also used visual methods to explore individual’s relations with bureaucracies in a social context. 

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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Absolutely fascinating webminar organised the Ecosystems Knowledge Network on the Aberdeenshire Land Use Strategy Pilot undertaken by Aberdeenshire Council and James Hutton Institute. You can access the presentation online here.

This two year exercise was one of two pilots funded by the Scottish Government to take the national Land Use Strategy and ‘translate’ it down to a local authority level and below that to a more local level. Scottish Government expected GIS to be central to this work. One key output is a new tool which utilises existing data relevant to ecosystems services assessment and integrates it into one interface. The speakers recognised the limitations of spatial data, that some things are not easily translated into spatial data.

The core data in the model is based on ecosystems services assessment across three categories:

• Provisioning Services
• Regulating Services
• Cultural Services

(I don’t quite understand why Supporting Services aren’t included, though in a sense they are perhaps ubiquitous?)

Cultural Services were broadly represented by areas identified for recreational use, areas adjacent to core path networks and judgements such as not prioritising woodland within two miles of coastlines.

The model, which is publicly accessible at xxx allows some key overarching issues eg prime farmland, forestry, water, biodiversity, flood risk, to be prioritised within the model so you can see areas where you might increase tree planting to promote biodiversity by linking up existing areas of woodland, or where you might prioritise farmland over woodland if you want more arable.

It immediately triggered a series of thoughts about where artists are working in ways that directly speak to the challenges described.

The Collins and Goto Studio has been working with Forest Research, the Forestry Commission and the local communities looking at the Blackwood of Rannoch in Perthshire – access the report here. This is a futures modelling exercise seeking to understand how different ways of thinking about priorities including cultural dimensions to do with both woodland character and also Gaelic culture might inform management. Their report can be accessed at . The Collins and Goto Studio have extensive experience working with GIS (as do some other artists working with ecological systems such as Aviva Rahmani in the US).

The artists Hodges and Coleman worked with Dr Claire Haggett, University of Edinburgh, to explore ways to integrate cultural dimensions into the conventional Environmental Impact Assessment process. Aspects of their process lend themselves to the spatialisation of inhabitants’ perception and value of their landscapes in interesting ways. You can access documentation here.

Hurrel and Brennan have demonstrated ways to spatialise traditional knowledge in their project Mapping the Sea – Barra looking at the waters around Barra in the Outer Hebrides and have also explored the biological, economic and cultural dimensions of the Firth of Clyde in their more recent project Clyde Reflections with a good overview here.

These three all benefited from Creative Scotland’s Imagining Natural Scotland programme developed in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage – Imagining Natural Scotland specifically supported artist scientist collaborations.  You can read the review Dr Wallace Heim wrote for us here.

Professor Pete Smith and John Wallace’s Cinema Sark directly sought to undertake ecosystems services assessment through the medium of film, offering a distinct form of analysis.

Another potentially relevant recent development is the Pinning Stones project which mapped culture across Aberdeenshire. François Matarasso’s brief was to produce “…a portrait of the the shire’s culture, highlighting the role of creativity in place making, identity, quality of life and prosperity.”

Clearly one of the challenges for the arts is to understand how to engage with land use strategy development both in terms of effective intervention, perhaps as evidenced by the Collins and Goto Studio work, as well as supporting understanding cultural ecosystems as demonstrated by the art science collaborations of Hodges, Coleman and Haggett, Hurrel and Brennan and Smith and Wallace.

The integration of the cultural dimension in meaningful and robust ways into GIS to contribute to land use policy and strategy is not new, but its also far from ubiquitous.  But even the list of examples we’ve cited covers Perthshire, Dumfries and Galloway, the Western Isles, the Firth of Clyde – only one example is in Aberdeenshire.  For useful artists work to be integrated into local GIS based Land Use Strategy there needs to be a lot more artists work commissioned.

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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* PNAS is The Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences

Brandon Ballangee’s work is at once good art and good science. This review draws out both the credibility and context of the work as science as well as the works’ existence as art. It also highlights some of the anxieties for artists if their work is understood as just “science communication”. This anxiety is most notable when the artist is brought in and handed ‘finished’ science with which to work (obviously this doesnt apply when you are both scientist and artist).
The curious legacy of CP Snow is that artists and scientists appear to be in opposition when both are in fact seeking to understand the world, albeit through different means and with different values. If there is a common opposition it might be more rightly understood to be with those who seek to obscure the truth. Not all scientists or artists’ work is involved in contentious areas like pollution (and many artists are providing a feel good escape from the everyday) but the artists we value the most are involved in truth just as the scientists are.
Given that Ballangee isn’t the only artist working with science and scientists it would be good to see more reviews of this sort. 

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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Thanks to Anne Douglas for alerting us to this exciting development in Brighton. It’s great to see ACE commiting support to an ambitious arts & ecology programme.

Following receipt of a £75,000 award from Arts Council England, Brighton’s ONCA Centre for Arts and Ecology will be launching eleven new projects over the next two years that explore how society and culture can respond to environmental change. read on here… https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/onca-awarded-75000-from-arts-council-england 

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

Go to EcoArtScotland

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