Hosts

My Copenhagen hostsâ€¦

December 13, 2009COP15, news, RSA Arts & EcologyCopenhagen, Danish, Ecology, Guest Book, Guest Host, Host Book, Host Families, Hosts, Initiative, Lars, Met, Openness, Partner, People, Politician, RSA Arts & Ecology, Stay Warm, Strangeness, Tea, Victim Of War, Wooloo

I met the family who have agreed to host my brief stay in Copenhagen. They were warm, and extremely welcoming. If the idea behind wooloo.orgâ€™sÂ New Life Copenhagen initiativeÂ â€“ which matches visitors to host families â€“ is to embody the a new openness, then it may well be working. They are not the sort of people whose paths would normally cross with mine; Lars is involved in local politics as a right-wing politician. Gitte, his partner, says the Danish rarely invite people into their homes. But that is the point. Last night, over tea, we talked, all thoroughly enjoying the strangeness of it.

I wonder if we will get around to completing the questions in the New Life Copenhagen Guest/Host book that was left by my bed for us all to fill inF?

Would you describe yourself as an argumentative person?

Have you ever discriminated against somebody?

Have you ever been a victim of war?

Find an item in the home of your host that you find strange.

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Wooloo.org | Call to artists

October 15, 2009Announcements, RSA Arts & EcologyArtist Groups, Artists, Climate Change Conference, Climate Problem, Collaborations, Collective Action, Copenhagen, Copenhagen Open, Curators, December 7th, Delegates, Ecology, Environmental Activists, Global Climate Treaty, Governmental Organizations, Hosts, Hotel Space, Kyoto Protocol, Last Chance, Life Happenings, Proposals, RSA Arts & Ecology, Signa, Substantial Problem, Tim Flannery, Wooloo

wooloo.org | PARTICIPATE OR DIE
Call to artists and curators

Deadline October 1 2009

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN
Wooloo.org is organizing the people of Copenhagen to open their homes to 5.000 environmental activists during the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Denmark this December.

Utilizing this large-scale human meeting as its exhibition platform, the NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN festival invites artists and curators to submit work proposals.

New Life Happenings. Propose a happening or event for the thousands of NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN hosts and guests during the UN Conference. Your concept should involve collective action and will be implemented alongside works by artist groups Superflex (DK), Signa (DK/A) and Raketa (SE) among others.

To learn more about NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN and to apply for participation, go to:http://www.wooloo.org/festival

PARTICIPATE OR DIE
From December 7th to 18th, 2009, representatives from 192 nations will gather in Denmark for the UN Climate Change Conference to reach an agreement on a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. In addition to the large number of official UN delegates, thousands of activists and Non-Governmental Organizations are bound for the conference which has been called: “Humanity’s last chance to combat a climate problem that is now all but overwhelming.” (Tim Flannery, Scientist and environmental activist).

However, there will not be enough hotel space to accommodate most of these visitors, as all hotels in Copenhagen and the surrounding area (including Sweden) have already been booked for the official delegates. Furthermore, even if they were available, many visitors from all over the world would not be able to afford them anyway.

In order to help solve this substantial problem, NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is running a volunteer-based campaign to get private Danish homes to open their door to the thousands of visitors. Through street campaigns and collaborations with local organizations, NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN aims to reach this goal by November.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE?
At the end of Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth”, Gore lists ten simple life rules to combat global warming. These include using less hot water, recycling more, etc. While Wooloo.org supports this sustainable thinking, we also believe that the real problem will not be solved by asking individuals to modify their behavior but only through addressing the wrongs of a global economic system that thrives on exploiting natural resources and people.

Seen in this way, the climate crisis is not just a threat but also an opportunity: The opportunity to create transnational commitment around radical re-thinkings of a destructive system. The first step to create such change, is to develop alternatives to the current system and our existing cultural codes.

That is our mission with NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN.

By asking artists to develop happenings and reflections for a new life – and then request that thousands of participants implement them – Wooloo.org aims beyond the traditional art exhibition to become an active organizer of experiments in civic engagement and social empowerment.

PEOPLE BEHIND
NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is organized by the artists-run community Wooloo.org.

Founded in 2002, Wooloo.org is today used by more than 13.000 artists from over 140 countries. Wooloo.org projects have been presented in such places as: Artists Space (USA), White Box (USA), Basel Kunsthalle (Switzerland) and the Third Guangzhou Triennial (China).

For more information, seeÂ http://www.wooloo.org andÂ http://www.wooloo.org/festival

For further questions about NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN or Wooloo.org, please contact Martin Rosengaard; email:Â contact@wooloo.org / phone: +45 6171 6101, Wooloo.org, Pastursvej 46, DK-1778 Copenhagen V.

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No place to stay in Copenhagen? Artists get Danes to offer their homes and host a festival

October 2, 2009Ashden Directory, Conferences, COP15, CSPA Convergence18 December, 192, Activists, Civic Engagement, Climate Change Conference, Climate Summit, Copenhagen, Denmark, Exhibition, friends of the earth, Hosts, Hotel Accommodation, Ngo, Organisations, Platform Artists, Residencies, Volunteer, Way Of Life, Wooloo, Wwf

From 7 – 18 December, representatives from 192 nations, as well as thousands of activists and NGO organisations, will gather in Denmark for the UN Climate Change Conference.

To help solve the problem of over-booked hotel accommodation, NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is running a volunteer-based campaign to get private Danish homes to open their door to the visitors.

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is organised by the arts collectiveÂ Wooloo.org, who are utilizing this large-scale human meeting as its exhibition platform. Artists and performers will be presenting events, happenings and performances as part of their ‘residencies’, for hosts and guests in Copenhagen.

The artists curated by Wooloo.org will develop projects that reflect a new, sustainable way of life, works that are experiments in civic engagement and social empowerment.

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is an official partner of both the UN Climate Summit and the Alternative Climate Summit. Friends of the Earth and WWF are co-partners.