Berlin Germany

Call for Papers: Under Western Skies 2: Environment, Community, and Culture in North America

January 14, 2012Cultura21, Open CallsAcademic Proposals, Activist Communities, Berlin Germany, Calgary Alberta Canada, Call For Papers, Community Outreach, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Culture And Change, Environment Community, Environmental Devastation, Environmental Economies, Environmental Fields, Environmental Racism, Forests And Forestry, Francesca, Geographical Scope, Historical Perspectives, Inaugural Conference, Indigenous Land, Interdisciplinarity, Kagan, Kajsa, Keynote Speakers, Koefoed, Mexico City, Neo Colonialism, Ngos, Oleg, Paris France, Perimeter Security, Profit Organizations, Rana, Sacha, Social Sciences North, Transportation Infrastructure, Western Skies

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Building on the success of Under Western Skies: Climate, Culture, and Change in Western North America in October 2010, Under Western Skies 2 welcomes academics from across the disciplines as well as members of artistic and activist communities, non- and for-profit organizations, government, labour, and NGOs to address the environmental challenges faced by human and nonhuman actors across North America.

From October the 10th to 13th 2012UWS 2 will take place on Mount Royal University campus in the LEED Gold-certified Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning.

The six keynote speakers can be found listed here.

With its mandate for both interdisciplinarity and community outreach, UWS 2 broadens the geographical scope of the inaugural conference but retains its wide call for contributions from all environmental fields of inquiry and endeavor, including the humanities, natural and social sciences, North American studies, public policy, business, and law. Â Artistic, creative, and non-academic proposals are also welcome. Â Possible directions may include, but are not limited to

agriculture, food, and food security
alpine and glacial change
animal rights and commodification
automobility/transportation/infrastructure
borders and transnational issues
climate shock
collaboration between scientific and non-scientific communities
continental â€œperimeter securityâ€
direct action and activism
ecology or nature?
â€œecoterrorismâ€
environmental catastrophe and community
environmental devastation as neo-colonialism
environmental economies
environmental humanities
environmental racism and justice
environmental technologies
feedlots and runoff
forests and forestry
fracking
the Great Lakes
historical perspectives
human and nonhuman migration
indigenous environmental kinship
indigenous land, air, and water rights
indigenous worldviews and sovereignties
interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity
invasive species
the Keystone Pipeline and continental integration
law and public policy in North America
literary, filmic, and new media representations
marine ecosystems
national and regional parks
new continental weather patterns
North American bioregions
North American nuclear culture and power after Fukushima
North American studies
oil culture
the politics of meat
resilient communities and solidarity
restoration, reclamation, reparation
the rights of nature
seeds and seed patents
senses of place
technology as social construction
tourism and amenity migration
urban biodiversity
water rights, watersheds, and river systems
the â€œwildingâ€ of North American cities like Detroit
wildlife and animality
womenâ€™s, gender and/or sexuality studies
youth, education, and activism

A selection of papers will go forward for an edited book publication or special journal issue following UWS 2. Â (The collection of edited papers stemming from UWS 2010 is forthcoming from Wilfrid Laurier University Press as a part of its Environmental Humanities Series.)

Proposals should run no more than 250 words in length and be attached to an email as a .doc or .docx file. Proposals for readings, panels, screenings, displays, and workshops are also welcome.

Direct all proposals, together with brief bio and contact information, to Dr. Robert Boschman atand to Dr. Mario Trono at.

Check for regular updates regarding UWS 2 at the conference website: www.skies.mtroyal.ca.

Closing Date: Monday, January 23, 2012

Reposted from www.skies.mtroyal.ca/cfp/

The Call for Papers is now also available in French on the homepage http://skies.mtroyal.ca/frenchcfp/

Ecocultures 2012: Transitions to Sustainability

January 10, 2012Cultura21Adaption, Berlin Germany, Climate Change, Community Actions, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Current Status, Development Practitioners, Disciplinary Perspectives, Ecological Change, Enhancement, Francesca, Global Transition, Individual Behaviour, International Governance, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Level Responses, Mexico City, Oleg, Paris France, Rana, Resilience, Resilient Communities, Resource Degradation, Sacha, Stresses, sustainability, Sustainable Lifestyles, Traditional Lifestyles, Traditional Practices, Transitions, University Of Essex, Vitality, Wellbeing

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The conference Ecocultures 2012 takes place at the University of Essex from the 17th to the 18th of April.

The aim of Ecocultures 2012 is to show, how communities can adapt successfully to social-ecological change and thus reach the maintenance of resilience and the enhancement of wellbeing. Ecocultures live sustainable and we can learn from them regarding our lifestyle and in order to deal with the changes we are about to encounter e.g. climate change and resource degradation. These immanent problems need to be faced on the level of individual behaviour, community actions and state-level responses as well as international governance.

Multi-disciplinary perspectives of the barriers and bridges encountered by Ecocultures and how they can contribute to a global transition to sustainability will be presented at the conference. Furthermore the potential of concepts for creative and sustainable adaption to the new conditions will be discussed.
At the University of Essex the Ecocultures research program has the task to examine the responding of traditional and newly emerging communities to these challenges. Sustainable lifestyles and possible ways for transition are analysed.

Ecocultures 2012 is supposed to bring together members of Ecocultures, researchers and policy makers in order to develop alternative ways of development.

Submissions from academics, policy makers as well as from development practitioners engaged in work on resilience and sustainability are invited. Possible themes for Papers are the following ones:

Case studies on communities successfully adapting to social-ecological change;
Historic examples of highly resilient communities and their current status;
Analyses of the â€˜traditionalâ€™ practices contributing to sustainable lifestyles, the stresses to which these provide resilience, and the barriers and bridges to the continued practice of such traditional lifestyles in todayâ€™s world;
The emergence of â€˜newâ€™ Ecocultures, such as cultural revitalisation initiatives, â€˜back to the landâ€™ initiatives and the transition movement; the barriers and bridges to sustainability within these initiatives, the potential for their spread, their contribution to well-being and to social-ecological resilience at community level and beyond;
Critical analyses of current and alternative notions of â€˜developmentâ€™, â€˜sustainabilityâ€™ and â€˜resilienceâ€™;
Analyses of struggles for resources: how do, for example, the extractive industries and multi-national corporations affect the sustainability of communities;
Conflicts between different notions and practices of â€˜sustainabilityâ€™;
Meta-analyses of the social, economic, political and cultural barriers and bridges to sustainability;
Analyses of the role played by current policies, economic and corporate initiatives for â€˜sustainabilityâ€™, including the potential for sustainable governance, the links between international trade and sustainable growth, and the potential role played by consumer awareness, environmental regulations, new methods of environmental valuation and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Deadline for paper proposals is the 16th of January 2012. They should be sent to Prof. Steffen BÃ¶hm (steffen [at] essex [dot] ac [dot] uk) and Zareen Bharucha (zpbhar [at] essex [dot] ac [dot] uk) with the subject â€˜Ecocultures 2012â€™. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 30th January 2012.
For general inquiries, please email Zareen Bharucha (zpbhar [at] essex [dot] ac [dot] uk)

Aardwerk: PDC course in 2012

January 8, 2012Cultura21April 2007, Berlin Germany, Collective Intelligence, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Creative Teaching Methods, Detai, Ecosystem Services, Energy Security, Environment, Essential Services, Eustatius, Francesca, International Organizations, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Local Food, Management Projects, Mexico City, Municipality, Nature Management, Netherlands, Oleg, Organic Farm, Paris France, Participants, Rana, Resilient Community, Sacha, Social Cohesion, Social Organisation, Statia, Strenghts, Term Challenges, Traditional Culture, Vitality, Volunteer Positions, Water Security

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Netherlands (Special Municipality of Sint Eustatius)
Aardwerk: PDC course in 2012

For the time from the 1st of May to the 21st of May 2012, Aardwerk offers an international PDC course in a remote place, so that participants are able to see their environment in a new way. Instead of offering ready-made solutions, the course enables its participants to face the everyday challenges as well as the long term challenges they are faced with through their own strenghts and the collective intelligence of the group. The courses aim is to provide a new way of thinking: Rather than seeing problems, participants will be able to see opportunities.
Creative teaching methods and lots of practical field work will be part of the course. In the end graduates will receive the internationally recognised PDC certificate, which opens all possibilities for further work concerning permaculture.
There is the offer of several volunteer positions at local organic farm and nature management projects, for participants who would like to stay longer.
Benefits for participants is the development of skills throughout the course, among others the following ones:

greater food sovereignty
food and drinking water security & quality assurance
more efficient use of natural resources
energy security
more sustainable an resilient community life
practical community development & social cohesion
teaching traditional culture, knowledge & skills
more autonomy and security in essential services, products and materials
ways of social organisation that suit your own communityâ€™s needs and abilities

Participants will learn that following the patterns of Nature isÂ more satisfying and rewarding than e.g. switching Nature off and taking on the burdens of providing ecosystem services.
Furthermore the participants will contribute their share for Statia in terms of climate forest, local food security, healthy economic development and cultural enrichment.
The detailed programme, information about the location and the teachers can be found on http://aardwerk.org/school/international-pdc-2012/
Registration will be open from 1 December 2011 till 1 April 2012.

Call for Papers: Beyond the Creative City

December 25, 2011Cultura21, Open CallsArchitecture Research Group, Berlin Germany, Call For Papers, Ces, City Initiatives, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Creative City, Democratic Governance, Fields Of Sociology, Francesca, Human Sciences, Impacts Of Tourism, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Last Decade, Mexico City, Oleg, Paris France, Peer Reviewed Journal, Portuguese English, Rana, Rccs, Sacha, Social Equity, Social Studies, Socioeconomic Conditions, Sociology Anthropology, Submission Deadline, Sustainable Environment, University Of Coimbra, Urban Development, Urban Futures, Urban Lifestyles, Urban Space, Vitality

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Special Issue: Beyond the Creative City
Portugal

The â€œCities, Cultures, and Architecture Research Groupâ€ of the Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra is going to publish a special journal issue called â€œBeyond the Creative Cityâ€ in December 2012. Therefore it calls for papers on the topic of urban development and its effect on local cultures and heritage. Creative city investments and initiatives play an important role in this field, but they get into the focus of heavy critique. Thus the editors search for alternative approaches to urban futures, with a sustainable environment, society and economy and attention payed to inclusion and social equity, to make it short: approaches with a higher cultural sensivity.

The call for papers is not only directed to architects and cultural politicians, but also aims at researchers from the fields of sociology,Â anthropology, arts, cultural studies, as well as other disciplines confronted with urban space. Possible topics for investigation are:

urban lifestyles and means of resistance, socioeconomic conditions and empowerment of residents through artistic/cultural initiatives, the impacts of tourism and â€˜creative cityâ€™ initiatives on cities over the last decade, affirmations of cultural expressions, and the democratic governance of cities.
Revista CrÃtica de CiÃªncias Sociais (RCCS) publishes the results of advanced research in all fields of social and human sciences in four issues per year. As Revista CrÃtica de CiÃªncias Sociais is a peer-reviewed journal, all submitted works are graded by three reviewers, and ranked in terms of quality for this special issue. 6-8 articles will be chosen for publication as well asÂ 4-5 book reviews.

The submission deadline for articles is 31 March 2012. Articles can be sent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish to the following email address: rccs [at] ces [dot] uc [dot] pt

For more information please visit: http://www.ces.uc.pt/rccs/index.php or download the Call for Papers as PDF file here: CFP Beyond the Creative City

Lillian Ball: Waterwash ABC

December 24, 2011Cultura21Abc, Abc Carpet, Activist, Anthropology, Berlin Germany, Bronx River, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Educational Signage, Francesca, Infrastructure Model, International Exhibitions, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Lillian Ball, Mexico City, Multidisciplinary Background, Native Plants, Nature Experience, Oleg, Paris France, Permeable Pavement, Public Outreach, Rana, Retail Facility, Rocking The Boat, Sacha, Sculpture, Storm Runoff, Stormwater Issues, Vitality, Waterfront Areas, Watershed Initiative, Watershed Issues, Wetland Habitat, Wetland Park

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Lillian Ball works in New York as an environmental artist and activist. She has a multidisciplinary background in anthropology, ethnographic film, and sculpture, which influences her work. Furthermore she has received numerous awards and has traveled widely due to her international exhibitions.

Her latest project Waterwash ABC includes the construction of a wetland park, improvement of habitat as well as increase of public access to Bronx River. Its aim is to filter storm runoff and create consciousness among the community for watershed issues by means of an aesthetic nature experience.Â The need for restoration and revitalization of areas challenged by stormwater issues is widespread in waterfront areas worldwide.

The vision of Lilian Ball was a vegetated swale with native plants, permeable pavement, and educational signage explaining the need for non-point source stormwater management in private as well as public places.Â The transformation of a neglected space into a public outreach park is supposed to inspire community commitment to stormwater issues.

The runoff from the parking lot and the roof of the ABC Carpet and Home retail facility at 1055 Bronx River Ave was emptied unfiltered into the Bronx River. Ballâ€™s project aims to alter this fact. Rocking the Boat is the fiscal agent for this Bronx River Watershed Initiative in order to construct a wetland habitat that stabilizes theÂ shoreline to detain and filter the outfalls before they enter the river.

Rocking the Boat students will plant a variety of salt-tolerant native species and help theÂ ABC personnel in planting the community vegetable garden and maintain the site. Above that a hydrologic monitoring will be carried out by Rocking the Boat environmental apprentices.

In that way the project creates a permanent, publicly visible remediation, habitat restoration, and educational site. Above that it acts as a green infrastructure model.
For more information see http://lillianball.com/waterwash/index.html andÂ www.rockingtheboat.org

Call for Papers: CONTEMP ART â€™12

December 23, 2011Cultura21Academic Research Center, Answers To The Questions, Berlin Germany, Call For Papers, Contemporary Art Conference, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Cultu, Eastern Mediterranean, Ecological Art, Francesca, Institutions, International Artists, Istanbul Turkey, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, New Agenda, New Materials, New Millennium, Oleg, Paris France, Rana, Sacha, Tendencies, Vitality

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From the 11th to 14th of April 2012 the Contemporary Art Conference takes place in Istanbul, Turkey. It is open to the approaches of institutions and history of contemporary art as well as to styles generated by various international artists with different tendencies. Contemporary art has contrary characteristics and constantly renews itself and its environment whether from new materials or ways of communicating with the audience. It gets into the focus of criticism, too.

â€œContemporary art, with all its wrapped dimensions, confronts us every day with new agenda and disputes.â€

The Contemp Art â€™12 tries to give answers to the questions that appear in the rise of the new millennium given this complex motion. Artists as well as institutions are welcomed to follow the call for papers. There are different suggestions on themes, a very interesting one for ecological art is the tendency of place, city and nature as well as material and environment.

The event will be arranged by the Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Center.

Enquiries: info [at] contempartconference [dot] org
Web address: http://contempartconference.org

Artists & Environmental Change: The Elusive Power of Contemporary Art

December 17, 2011Cultura211980s, 21st Century, Art And Culture, Berlin Germany, Contemporary Art, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Curator, Dilemma, Ecological Artists, Enormity, Environmental Change, Francesca, Human Health, Joseph Beuys, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, New Insights, New Ways, Oleg, Paris France, Public Welfare, Rana, Sacha, Social Engagement, Treading Water, Urban Landscapes, Vitality

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Too Shallow for Diving: the 21st Century Is Treading Water

The â€œLandâ€œ artists in the 1970s as well as artists like Joseph Beuys and Agnes Denes in the 1980s paved the way for the ecological artists today and for art to act as an agent for social change.

Today environmental art includes various approaches and issues. Artists employ urban landscapes as well as other environments in order to serve as a platform to show their concepts to their audience. Sustainability has found its way to art and culture and artists see new ways of enacting change and of collaborating e.g. with scientists.

The exhibition Too Shallow for Diving: the 21st Century Is Treading Water contributed to this process and the artistsâ€™ desire for social engagement. This wide-ranging show supported this trend, which has been the theme of numerous films, writings and exhibitions over the past decade.

Too Shallow for Diving put the focus on problems surrounding water and its impact on our natural world, human health and public welfare. The Curator Carolyn Speranza stated, that â€œâ€¦the sixteen artists aim to provide viewers with new insights and perspectives about our existing world and the enormity of the dilemma facing our water supply.â€

More information about the artists and the exhibition can be found in a review in the Artes Magazine here.

U-N-F-O-L-D in New York

December 12, 2011Cultura21Aviva, Berlin Germany, C Johnson, Cape Farewell, Climate Change, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Creative Agency, Creative Interventions, Da Cunha, Events And Performances, Exhibition, Expeditions, Francesca, John Moores University, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, Mosher, Oleg, Oppositions, Paris France, Parsons School, Rahmani, Rana, Sacha, Sheila, Sjdc, Vitality, Wnsr

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New York

30 September â€“ 15 December 2011

The Exhibition U-N-F-O-L-D exhibition continues until 15 December in New York City at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) at Parsons The New School for Design. It shows the work of twenty-five artists who took part in Cape Farewell expeditions 2007 and 2008 to the High Arctic and 2009 to the Andes, where they were able to witness the consequences of climate change and global warming. Their work is an innovative response to these processes and explores the role that human activity plays in it. In this way the artists aim to raise awareness and create a cultural shift through their work.

The programme of public events and performances can be downloaded here.

A series of exciting lectures, panels and special events are broadcasted on newschoolradio.org.
One of these broadcasts is â€œWhat Ifs: Climate Change and Creative Agencyâ€œ, in which Architect and planner Dilip da Cunha and artists Aviva Rahmani and Susannah Sayler as well as artist Eve Mosher talk about their creative interventions and debate oppositions and collaborations between science and art. The webradiocast can be found on http://wnsr.parsons.edu/2011/10/19/what-ifs-climate-change-and-creative-agency/

In February 2012 the U-N-F-O-L-D heads to Liverpool, where it opens at John Moores University.

Call for Submissions: Horizons â€“ Arts in Nature

December 12, 2011Cultura21, Open CallsApplication Form, Art Event, Art Piece, Art School, Art Workshops, Artistic Experience, Berlin Germany, Call For Submissions, Contemporary Art, Copenhagen Denmark, Countryside, Cozzolino, E Mail, Francesca, Horizons, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Le Mont Dore, Lieutenant, Massif Central, Mexico City, Nature, Oleg, Paris France, Professional Artists, Rana, Rencontres, Sacha, Theme Park, Tourist Office, Tourists, Vitality, Website Www, Works Of Art

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France -Â The Horizons â€“ Arts in Nature event will take place between the 16th June and 16th September 2012. It is the 6th of a contemporary art event based on short-lived visual works of art.

Managed by the Sancy Tourist Office, the call for projects involves the creation of 11 works of art in the Sancy Massif located in the heart of the Massif Central in France and exceptionally within the theme park Vulcania.

The works of art will be put up in places where they highlight the surrounding countrysideâ€™s qualities. Discovery trails and Art workshops for children are held around the art piece in order to mediate their content.

The event aims at developing contemporary art in the area, allowing professional artists to contribute their sensitivity to the area. Furthermore it is supposed to reinforce the growth of tourism in the Sancy Massif by addressing so-called cultural tourists as well as people passing through.

The event is open to artists with a strong national or/and international artistic experience and to young talents, who just or recently â€“ less than 2 years- graduated from art school.

To download the application form for 2012, description of the territory and listing of the sites please go to the website of the event:
www.horizons-sancy.com (section: ESPACE PRO)

For further information about the territory, please visit the Sancy website: www.sancy.com
Contact:
Magalie Vassenet
E-mail: m [dot] vassenet [at] sancy [dot] com

Deadline for reception of the applications: Monday 19th December 2011, to the address below:
Horizons â€“ Rencontres Arts Nature â€“ Office de Tourisme du Sancy
AllÃ©e du Lieutenant Farmont â€“ 63 240 LE MONT DORE

Call for Papers: The International Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change

December 11, 2011Cultura21, Open CallsBerlin Germany, Call For Papers, Climate Change, Climate Politics, Consumer Culture, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Culture Politics, Culture Studies, Documentary Feature Film, Environmental Journalism, Francesca, Global Level, International Climate Negotiations, Journalism Studies, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, National Elections, Oleg, Paris France, Policymakers, Political Communication, Political Processes, Rana, Sacha, Science Media, September 13, Social Movements, State Actors, University Of Colorado, University Of Colorado Boulder, Visual Culture, Well Communication

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USA

September 13-15 2012

The Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change is an event of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, that takes place from the 13th to the 15th of September 2012.

Which obstacles and opportunities are U.S. climate policymakers and scientists confronted with? Current issues of climate change will be focused at the International Conference on Culture, Politics and Climate Change. This will happen in a cross-disciplinary way, in order to look at the topic and at intersections between culture, politics and science from different viewpoints.

The political and cultural discourse generates many questions concerning climate change:

How can climate change be addressed on a national scale? Or should climate change rather be addressed on a global level? How is policy made and what is the role of state and non-state actors? How is meaning is derived from our shared culture?

Especially in the U.S. the topic is relevant, all the more facing the national elections and ongoing international climate negotiations.

The Call for Papers is addressed to presenters, who look at the communication of climate change in public and its effect on other cultural and political processes. Comparisons, with papers and panels on culture, politics and climate change in the U.S. and other countries are welcomed.

The following questions may be considered as suggestions for papers and panels,but can be enhanced by other ideas as well:

Communication of science
Media and environmental policy
Social movements/activism
Political communication of climate change
Mediated representation
Non-state actors in climate politics and communication
Journalism studies
Visual culture
Consumer culture studies
Spiritualities of globalization
Religions and the environment
Documentary/feature film

For more information, contact:

Deserai A. Crow, Associate Director, Center for Environmental
JournalismÂ deserai [dot] crow [at] colorado [dot] eduor have a look at the homepage of the conference www.climateculturepolitics.org
The Call for Papers can be downloaded as PDF file here:

Sept 2012 CU-Boulder conference â€“ media, culture & climate change CFP

The deadline for submissions and abstracts is January 10, 2012.