Dialogues

Welcome to Engage by Design

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Engage by Design is our newest knowledge network partner. You will find all of their posts syndicated here, or you can head right over to their site here: Engage by Design

Engage by Design is a social enterprise developed through the final Master research of Rodrigo Bautista and Zoe Olivia John in sustainability and design. As a consultancy they specialize in strategic interventions that aim to support the transformation of your product or service into a more sustainable one.

Engage by Design’s research arm intends to act as a platform which enables dialogues and actions between a diverse range of disciplines around sustainability and design.

Rodrigo Bautista – Rodrigo is an Industrial Designer and has worked in many different industries including media, products, services and telecommunications. Today his work focuses on strategic interventions and tools to apply sustainability and design instruments within a company.

Zoë Olivia John – Zoë’s background in Fashion & Textiles has lead her into the research and development of better ways to integrate learning about sustainability for Higher Education students and tutors, particularly within the F&T programme. She is interested in finding new ways to readdress our value structure from one of linear economic quantity to one of circular quality.

City of Pieces – an urban festival of creative practices

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Bangalore

22nd to 30th of October

Maraa, a media and arts collective, invites to City of Pieces, an urban festival of creative practices:
City of pieces is a nine day festival that interrogates the violence of the everyday transformation of the city from the perspective of creative practice. This festival marks the third anniversary of Theatre Jam, a monthly forum to trigger dialogues about art and media in the public space through practice, performance and expression. It travels across different public and semi-public spaces, committed to reclaim dead, found and empty spaces in the city. City of pieces brings artists and creative practitioners to respond to the city we inhabit.
The city transforms and we continue to experience it in fragments, in the debris of what once was and the flash-forwards of its future in fresh grey concrete. And we move through it refracted in fragments with every contact with it. But as this city of pieces forms us it is formed by us in turn- a disjointed tapestry of multiple stories, desires and memories. As the week unfolds, urban pieces and fragments are gathered and re-combined to tell a different story that acknowledges the creative modes of negotiating this city shaped by the violence of transformation. Through storytelling, films, performance, poetry and conversations we hope to make sense of an ever changing Bangalore.

Reposted from: http://maraa.in/arts/city-of-pieces/

Be part of the last two events and register today:

Middle of somewhere | Theatre Workshop 29 Oct | Cubbon Park Band Stand | 10 am-3 pm

Middle of Somewhere was a performance done last year, set between scaffolding in a dilapidated house on Rest House Street. This performance used personal stories that were interwoven with anecdotes of the city with the story of Akeli, a fictional story. The performance is a never ending project. It grows with people’s stories and fantasies. We invite you to a theatre workshop to re-narrate fears, aspirations, and memories experienced in your life in the city through short improvisations and street performances around Cubbon Park.

To register mail pallavichander [at] gmail [dot] com or call 98869-28582

Bangalore Talkies | Video Art and Music |30 Oct | Jaaga, Double Road | 6 pm onwards

When you live in a city, your encounters with roads, friends, and strangers are all in pieces of images and sounds. What can you interpret of a city that you experience everyday in pieces? Bangalore Talkies a forum to see Bangalore through different eyes, through different lenses. How do YOU connect to Bangalore -  bus rides/auto rides, pubs, darshinis, your neighborhood, street dogs, trees, the weather, street food,  construction and deconstruction – it could be about any creature, thing, space or feeling in the city. Collect your stories on anything that can shoot image and record sound. All videos must play on VLC and should not be longer than 5 mins. Submit your entries on DVD OR mail it, upload it and send us a link on ekta [at] maraa [dot] in by tomorrow latest. Your stories will be screened for the public at the Bangalore Talkies at Jaaga, Double Road, on 30th October, 6:30 pm onwards. Remember it’s about the story, not so much about making a perfect film. This will be followed by a music jam between independent musicians in Bangalore. If you are a musician and want to play, get in touch with us today!

To register mail ekta [at] maraa [dot] in or call 96328-31275 before 29th October

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

Sensory Worlds: Environment, Value and the Multi-Sensory

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

7th-9th December, 2011; Edinburgh

“What contribution can sensorially-engaged Humanities make to environmental thinking and action?“

The conference “Sensory Worlds“ wants to examine the multi-sensory and will reflect upon the historical, contemporary and possible future relations between the senses (from balance to taste to the haptic and beyond). It aims to allow generously for both formal and informal discussions and dialogues. David Abram and Iain Borden will hold keynote presentations which are also open to the public.

Call for Papers: This call invites responses to the main theme, and asks that these are submitted to one of the following elements: Paper Sessions, Panel Sessions or Installations.

For more information on the conference and the call for papers, check the website:
http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/Sawyer/Conference.html

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

Traffic Jams, Mired Talks, and Glimmers of Hope | Inhabitat #COP16

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Good Summary Article from Friend of the CSPA, Moe Beitiks on Inhabitat:

The first week of talks is over at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico, and my brain is mushy. It’s not from margaritas — what’s spinning me around is the political web of the talks, the freakishly high stakes, and how long it takes to get to the conference from downtown Cancun. The logistics of the conference are both frustrating its progress and creating new dialogues, while the world waits with bated breath for real solutions that will stem the onset of catastrophic climate change.

Read on for our exclusive report straight from Cancun!

Find the rest here:  COP16: Traffic Jams, Mired Talks, and Glimmers of Hope | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.

The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Environmental Guidelines | ArtBabble

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The Plus/Minus Dilemma was the third roundtable discussion in the ongoing IIC series Dialogues in the New Century; events that explore emerging issues in the modern world and their relationship to heritage conservation. The event took place at the Midwest Airlines Convention Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 13, 2010 as part of the AIC annual conference. The IIC is pleased to have collaborated with the AIC to have brought together experts to discuss environmental guidelines, advances in environmental research, and the way forward to solve the plus/minus dilemma. This collaborative event has been made possible by the generous support of: The Booth Heritage Foundation, the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

via The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Environmental Guidelines | ArtBabble.

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL Of Arts and Sciences for Sustainability in Social Transformation

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Call for participants

in the framework of:

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL

Of Arts and Sciences for Sustainability in Social Transformation

1. Overview

The International Council for Cultural Centers (I3C: www.international3c.org), the International Network Cultura21 (Cultural Fieldworks for Sustainability: www.cultura21.net) and the Latin American Network of Art for Social Transformation (Red-LATS: www.artetransformador.net/) are organizing, in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS: www.cscsarchive.org) the first international summer school of arts and sciences for sustainability in social transformation. The event is planned for early August 2010 in Bulgaria, in the beautiful Balkan mountains (Gabrovo).

We are seeking participants in the summer school! As the number of participants will be limited to a total of maximum 30 persons, you are encouraged to apply as soon as possible!

Are you an artist, a practitioner or an academic working for or interested in the advancement of sustainability and social transformation (i.e. goals of social justice, ecological awareness and environmental action, human rights and self- determination, cultural and biodiversity, among others)? Are you looking for inter-or trans-disciplinary methodologies, and for inter-cultural dialogues? Are you interested in the relationships of bodily movements and/or of other sensuous/sensorial relationships to local places? Do you want to explore how movement also relates to place and community development?

If you replied yes to one of the previous questions, the international summer school may be the right place for you! Read further:

The detailed program of the Summer School’s workshops, will be announced in early 2010 (at the latest on March 15) on the project’s wikipage: http://www.cultura21.net/dokuwiki/doku.php/orange:sumschool

Information about inexpensive accommodation near the location of the summer school will be provided to the selected participants.

The application procedure and conditions are described on the following page.

2. Application

To participate in the summer school, you must apply, providing us with the following documents:

  • Personal data: please indicate your name, gender, age, full address and contact details, country of origin, country of current residence, and educational/professional background (in a few words).
  • A Résumé or CV
  • A letter of motivation where you explain why the summer school appeals to you, what you are expecting to benefit from it (for your research, your art, your activities, etc.). Please mention what you hope to learn at the summer school, and what you may be able to bring/teach yourself, based on your prior experience.

Applications shall be sent by email to: sacha.kagan@cultura21.org

Deadline for application: March 20, 2010 (please apply as early as possible; preferably, do not wait until the date of the deadline!)

Selection procedure: The selection of participants will be made by the organizers (Cultura21, I3C, Red-LATS) according to the following criteria:

  • Date of application (the earlier, the better)
  • Country of origin (to ensure an international mix of participants)
  • Professional/educational background (to ensure an interdisciplinary mix of participants)
  • Personal motivation and relevance of the applicant’s domains of interests to the general field of the summer school, i.e. sustainability in social transformation through action-research
  • Notification of final decision: April 5th, 2010

3. Conditions

All participants at the summer school are required to participate to the entirety of the summer school.

No scholarships are available from the school’s organizers, but we can provide cover letters upon request (in case you are applying for financial support from a third party).

Accommodation and travel costs will be covered by the Summer School only for a very limited number of participants from non-European countries. If you are requesting support for your accommodation and travel costs, please include a request letter, with a costs evaluation. Please note that we recommend that you also look for funding near third parties, as we will be able to support only a very limited number of participants.

Call for participants assist2010

Call for Workshop Proposals Sumschool2010

Art Nature Dialogues: a review.

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Ideas are a bit like oxygen. The right amount allows us functionality;  too much and we get all high. Such is the feeling you get after a read of Art Nature Dialogues, wherein John K. Grande interviews a series of environmental artists.  There’s a spectacular array of materials and viewpoints, from the manure sculptures of Jerilea Zempel to the interventions of Betty Beaumont. What emerges is not only a concise study of environmental artists and their motivations, but an opportunity to examine the way artists describe their work.

When asked what brought them together as artists, for instance, Gilles Bruni and Marc Babarit , known for such works as The Stream Path, reply:

“The face of working as a pair, in situ and outside brings a fundamental social dimension to our work, firstly about ‘minimal ethnic unity,’ . . . Being two, we develop the minimal conditions of collaboration and codependance, of synergy, of respect of the sharing, of conflict and contract . .”

To be blunt: What? Not every artist is quite so over-articulate, but the language of the interviews ranges from the simple and practical to the etheral and other-worldly. I’d love to be able to draw a parallel here between the quality of an artist’s work and the words they use to describe it, but that parallel would be nothing but gaudy bauble-words.

That same lung-opening high you might get from The Stream Path is present in Spin Offs by Patrick Dougherty, or Mario Reis’ river paintings. It’s what makes the artists particularly relevant and exciting (despite, not because of, their habit of comparing themselves to Andy Goldsworthy). These artists have struck a chord, gone beyond the Land Art movement of the 70s (which, they will tell you, was limitied in its true connection to place), and articulated relationships, feelings and memes that speak to where we are now(-ish).

It’s all summed up very well in a quote from Hamish Fulton, an artist of long walks:

Art is essential in a healthy society. As they say, art is like oxygen. Whether we say art is profound, or worth investing in, sexy, or a rip-off and and rubbish, it doesn’t matter, because all those crazy and insulting and wonderful qualities all go to make up what we call contemporary art.

Go to the Green Museum