Climate Change

Call for Papers â€“ Climate Change, Sustainability and an Ethics of an Open Future

February 22, 2013Cultura21, Open CallsCall For Papers, Climate Change, Current System, Economic Institutions, European Science Foundation, European Science Foundation Network, Freedom Of Movement, Future Generations, Global Population, Goal Worth, Moral Action, Moral Responsibilities, Personal Liberties, Political Agenda, Political Institutions, Precaution, Reproductive Autonomy, Science Foundation, Social Relationships, Soesterberg, Sustainable Politics

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Societas Ethica, the European Society for Research in Ethics, in cooperation with theÂ ESF(European Science Foundation) networkÂ A Right to a Green FutureÂ is calling for papers for their Annual Conference, this year held inÂ Soesterberg, NetherlandsÂ on August 22-25, 2013. It will be the 50th Societas Ethica conference.

â€œClimate change, dwindling resources, and growth of the global population have emerged as challenges for all areas of political action in modern societies. These challenges have been on the political agenda since the â€œLimits to Growthâ€ report was released in 1972. While the challenges are well known, and while there appears to be some form of consensus that sustainability is a goal worth striving for, there is little discussion of how the changes necessary to achieve this goal will affect our political institutions, our social relationships, our moral responsibilities, and our self-understanding in general. The more far-reaching the necessary changes are, the more pressing the following questions will become: To what extent are political and economic institutions â€“ national as well as global â€“ capable of realizing sustainable politics and what is its ethical basis? To what extent will personal liberties, such as freedom of movement, property rights, and reproductive autonomy, need to be limited in order to realize sustainable politics? How could we extend the current system of human rights to incorporate the rights of future generations? Can we expect human beings to take responsibility for the living conditions of future generations, and how do such responsibilities affect philosophical and eschatological theories? An ethics of an open future must develop criteria for moral action under conditions of uncertainty. A developed theory of the principle of precaution in ethics and law is, however, lacking.â€

Paper channels:

Climate change and scarcity of resources as ethical challenges
Sustainability, future generations and human rights
Democracy, global governance and political ethics
An open future; philosophical and theological responses
Reflections from different cultural and religious perspectives
Open channel

Authors are invited to submit an abstract ofÂ max. 4,000 characters. Abstracts should be suitable for blind review.

Deadline for submissions:Â March 31, 2013

For more information on the call and the conference visitÂ www.societasethica.info

The form is the story with telematic climate opera

February 17, 2013Ashden DirectoryArt Dance, Audience Members, Climate Change, Dance And Music, Dramatic Account, Geographies, Instrumental Soloists, Intricate Structures, Matthew Burtner, Media Artist, Melting Snow, Musical Elements, Narrative Content, Political Perspectives, Scientific Information, Simultaneous Performances, Snow Ice, Superstorm, Testimonials From People, Washington Virginia, Winter Storm

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Wallace Heim writes: Superstorm Sandypostponed the simultaneous performances of the climate change opera Auksalaq in two of its seven world-wide venues. Winter storm Nemo may make travel challenging, but tonight, performances in Washington, Virginia and New York are scheduled to go ahead.

The form of the opera is the story. Composer Matthew Burtnerand media artist Scott Deal, created a system of telecommunications and informatics, a ‘telematic’, they say reflect the geographies of distance and interconnection. Performers play live in different venues. By video and audio these performances are mixed in one location and sent out via the Internet to the other locations. Audiences contribute via their laptops or cell phones using NOMAD technology.

Audience members in any one space will see and hear the live performance happening immediately before them and see the content created in another city. In no single location will the audience perceive the full work. Like an ecosystem, these musical elements create interacting layers that transform into new intricate structures.

â€˜Auksalaqâ€™ is the Inupiat word for â€˜melting snow/iceâ€™. The narrative content is held together with a dramatic account of a boyâ€™s journey, and incorporates testimonials from people in the region, social and political perspectives and scientific information along with characters personifying wind, sun, shifting ice, and clouds. These are layered with visual art, dance and music. Burtnerâ€™s score incorporates sung and spoken voices, instrumental soloists and ensembles, computer-generated sound, video and sonifications, including that of data on ice melt.

From auksalaq.org:

Explanations of how the opera works are here and here.

Jennifer Monson live, indoors, at The Kitchen

February 13, 2013Ashden DirectoryArt Nature, Bird Brain, Brain Dance, Climate Change, Collaborative Art, Environmental Projects, Grey Whales, Improviser, Interdisciplinary Laboratory, Interviews News, Migratory Pathways, Monson, Outdoor Experiences, Project Bird, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Southern Hemispheres, Theatr, Twitter, Video Installation, Water Log

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Wallace Heim writes: Tomorrow, at The Kitchen in New York City, the movement artist Jennifer Monson starts Live Dancing Archive, a week of live performances, video installation and a digital archive.

One of the first stories on the Ashden Directory in 2000 featured Jennifer’s project BIRD BRAIN Dance, a dance touring project following the migratory pathways of birds and grey whales in the northern and southern hemispheres. Jennifer’s work in the UKcontinued with Water Log, an outdoor movement project across the sands of Morecambe Bay. She returned to America and now is director of iLAND (Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance), developing collaborative art and environmental projects.

The New Yorker previews her show:

Sanitation is culture

January 31, 2013Ashden DirectoryArchitects, Artist In Residence, Associate Editor, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, City Planners, Climate Change, Debeer, Department Of Sanitation, Endless Hours, Features Interviews, Floor Sweepers, Interviews News, Maintenance Staff, Metaphors, New York City Department Of Sanitation, Peggy Johnson, Robert Butler, Security Guards, Twitter

talking with
Brooklyn Museum employee Peggy Johnson

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Wallace Heim writes: In New York last week, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, artist in residence since 1977 for the New York City Department of Sanitation, conducted a series of live interviews with Brooklyn Museum’s daily maintenance staff, window washers, floor sweepers, security guards, and told them what they do is “the first kind of culture”.

In her performance, which also included architects and city planners, she asked each person a series of questions: How do you personally survive? What do you need to do to keep going? What happens to your dreams and your freedom when you do the things you have to do to keep surviving? What keeps New York Cityalive? What does the city need to do to survive after Sandy?.

Ukeles told the workers, “Here’s the museum with all this stuff, and then there’s what you do. You are culture, and your work is culture. And the endless hours that will never be done, that’s what enable us to be in an institution like this. Mopping up the garbage from yesterday. It’s safe. And the things in here are taken care of. That’s culture.”

Full interview with Ukeles on Gallerist NY.
photo: Carole DeBeer, courtesy Brooklyn Museum.

h/t to ecoartscotland.net

From six seasons to two

January 16, 2013Ashden DirectoryArtistic Director, Associate Editor, Central India, Climate Change, Excessive Heat, Features Interviews, Gutman, Hardware Store, Interviews News, Monsoons, Nature Watch, Puppeteers, Puppetry, Puppets, Reck, Robert Butler, Short Transition, State Of Orissa, Summer Winter, Twitter

Bronze-winged jacana. Â Photo: India nature watch

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Kellie Gutman writes:

The state of Orissa, located in east-central India, was once known for having six seasons. Â Not only were there six, Grishmar (summer), Barsha (rainy), Sarata (autumn), Hemanta (dew), Sisira (winter), and Basanta (spring), each two months long, but the people in the area could forecast the onset of each one by the behaviour of certain birds. Â For instance, the bronze-winged jacana would lay its eggs during the monsoons, so its mating calls signaled the arrival of the rains.

But climate change has brought excessive heat to Orissa, and now people say there are only two seasons: rains and summer. Winter is just a short transition between them.

The Glass Half Full Theatre in Austin, Texas, which crafts “Environmental Puppetry” is putting on Once There Were Six Seasons, opening February 13, 2013. Â Environmental Puppetry uses very small puppets on large landscapes with visible puppeteers. Â The puppetry focuses on the changing landscapes more than on the actual puppets. Â Their earlier work, Bob’s Hardware, about a small family-owned hardware store being pushed out by a big-box store can be seen here:

Once There Were Six Seasons is based on the story of Orissa’s seasons, as told to the artistic director, Caroline Reck, on her visit to India.

See: WhatÂ happened to the seasons

Peace on earth

December 31, 2012Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Astronauts, Climate Change, Continuum, December 7th, Earth From Space, Features Interviews, Gutman, Interviews News, Metaphors, Peace On Earth, Philosophers, Prelude, Robert Butler, Sense Of The World, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter, Word Overview

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Kellie Gutman writes: OVERVIEW is a short documentary with near-constant views of the earthÂ from space interspersed with comments form astronauts, philosophersÂ and writers. The word “overview” is used to refer to the astronauts’Â views of the earth. It was released December 7th, 2012 and is aÂ prelude to a film in the making, CONTINUUM. Â OVERVIEW gives a strongÂ sense of the world being one environment, and a very fragile one, thatÂ needs to be protected.

The tide could turn with ‘Ten Billion’

December 23, 2012Ashden DirectoryAbbott, Associate Editor, Audiences, Climate Change, Energy Power, Features Interviews, Fossil Fuels, Green Energy, Intellectual Questions, Interviews News, Metaphors, Michael Billington, Robert Butler, Six Ways, sustainability, t-shirt, Theatre Critic, Timeline, Turn Of The Tide, Twitter

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Wallace Heim writes:

Theatre critic Kate Abbott in today’s Guardian joins Michael Billington in reporting a life-changing experience watching Ten Billion at the Royal Court.

Like the facts that Stephen Emmott presented, Abbott can recite the well-polished instructions to “help us out of this hole”:

“Never buying a car, iPod, or cotton T-shirt again â€¦ stopping our addiction to fossil fuels, starting a mass-desalination programme, building green energy power points on every strip of land, harnessing every scrap of wind, and every turn of the tide â€¦”

But one change is missing. What about demanding that theatre itself changes? What about demanding that mainstream theatre no longer turns away from the compelling emotional, moral and intellectual questions of how humans can continue to live in a time of climate instability? Theatre is more than science, more than facts, more than an instruction manual. What about demanding that theatre takes on its full life-changing role, somewhere between fiction and fact, and becomes the place where audiences wrestle with their future?

See ‘Ten Billion’ from another side.

‘Ten Billion’ changes Billington

December 19, 2012Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Features Interviews, Human Overpopulation, Interviews News, Katie Mitchell, King Lear, Lion King, Metaphors, Michael Billington, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, sustainability, Theatrical Performance, Timeline, Twitter, Upstairs, Water Shortages

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Stephen Emmott in Ten Billion

Wallace Heim writes:

Michael Billington in today’s Guardian nominates Ten Billion as the ‘mostÂ momentous theatrical performance’ of 2012. The show was a lecture by StephenÂ Emmott, at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, on the consequences of human overpopulation and climate change.

Billington writes:Â ‘I came out shaking with fear, but also moved by theatre’s capacity toÂ confront the emergency facing our planet.

‘This was theatre doing what it does best: confronting us with unpalatableÂ facts about our very existence. This doesn’t mean that there is no room forÂ invented stories or that King Lear and The Lion King have suddenly becomeÂ redundant. But Ten Billion, directed by Katie Mitchell, shocked us into aÂ new awareness of the future, and even the existing present, with ecosystemsÂ being destroyed, the atmosphere polluted, temperatures rising and a billionÂ people facing water shortages.

‘I don’t know a single person who saw it whoÂ didn’t feel it was a life-changing experience. If enough people, especiallyÂ those in positions of power, could see Emmott’s lecture, it might, justÂ might, help to save our planet from destruction’.

A Climate Change in the Art World?

December 18, 2012Cultura21Art Project, Art World, Barry Bergdoll, Berlin Germany, Chief Curator, Climate Change, Collective Movement, Copenhagen Denmark, Harrisons, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Level Of Effectiveness, Moma, Radical Art, Resettlement, Rising Water, Sacha, Urban Planners, Water Levels

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An interesting article onÂ www.artnews.com, written byÂ Robin Cembalast, gives insight about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the art community in New York and shows that Sandy could have been the wake-up call for the community to realize that action against climate change is required on their part.

Barry Bergdoll, MoMAâ€™s Chief Curator of Architecture and Design is thinking about reshaping New York in a collective movement of architects, designer, officials and others:

â€œI donâ€™t want to have yet another panel discussion, I want something that takes it to yet another level of effectiveness. Iâ€™m trying to figure out what that is.â€

A more radical art project concerned with Global Warming is theÂ Greenhouse BritainÂ by theHarrisons, as it addresses resettlement as the final consequence of climate change and shows how artists can work with architects and urban planners to redesign cities and neighborhoods. Of course this proposes a more drastic approach to the reaction to climate change and artsâ€™s role in it, as it asumes that rising water levels are inevitable and that the then displaced population will need a differently designed civilization. But maybe adaption to climate change will require this kind of transformation?

For the whole article atÂ artnews.com, clickÂ here.

ANTENNAE CFP: Art, Environment, Sustainability

December 15, 2012Open CallsAcademic Essays, Ambiguities, Antennae, Art Environment, Climate Change, Destroyer, Economic Structures, Environmental Activism, Extinction Of Species, Forefront, Gmail, Human Relationship, Maximum Length, Modern Environmentalism, Modernity, Social Issues, Societal Questions, Submission Deadline, Sustainability Debate, Sustainable Future

ANTENNAE CFP

Art, Environment, Sustainability

Submission Deadline: 1st of September 2013

At the forefront of today’s social issues are questions related to the human relationship to nature and the environment, the meaning of a sustainable future and the relationship of environmentalism to modernity and today’s economic structures. While the sciences have, until recently, dominated the debate, the arts are making an increasingly important contribution. Antennae is seeking submissions to an issue focused on Art, Environment, Sustainability. We are seeking contributions that go further than being a mere rehashing of the narrative of environmental activism (the human as destroyer of nature; the dangers of climate change; extinction of species; etc, etc.) to address more fundamental meanings, explore ambiguities and engage with the complex societal questions that arise from the environmental and sustainability debate – and the role of the arts in that debate. We encourage potential contributors to be bold and creative in generating and exploring perspectives that move beyond the apocalyptic and often “preachy” culture of modern environmentalism.

Academic essays = length 6000-10000 words

Artistsâ€™ portfolio = 5/6 images along with 500 words max statement/commentary

Interviews = maximum length 8000 words

Fiction = maximum length 8000 words

www.antennae.org.uk

antennaeproject@gmail.com