Interplay

SURVIVAL OF THE BEAUTIFUL (USA)

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An All-Day Wonder Cabinet

On Saturday, February 25th, 2012 from 10:45 am till 9:30 pm, the New York Institute of the Humanities and The New Jersey Institute of Technology present SURVIVAL OF THE BEAUTIFUL at the NYU’s Cantor Film Center in New York.

David Rothenberg talks with scientists and artists about his new book Survival of the Beautiful, which examines the interplay of beauty, art, and culture in evolution.

In it the philosopher and musician Rothenberg deals with the questions, why animals have innate appreciation for beauty and why nature is beautiful.

On the 25th of February the question of how art has influenced science is investigated by him and his guests.
Above that it is asked what we can learn from the amazing range of animal aesthetic behaviour about animals and about ourselves. The event is topped of with music by David Rothenberg and Jaron Lanier and free and open to the public.

For further information about David Rothenberg see http://davidrothenberg.com

Background: David Rothenberg recently published a book, Survival of the Beautiful (www.survivalofthebeautiful.com). Many of the protagonists he encountered will join him on stage at the Cantor Film Center to debate the question of whether nature’s beauty is actual, imaginary, useful, excessive, or perhaps even entirely beside the point.

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

Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution (UK)

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with David Rothenberg and Jay Griffiths

Watershed, Bristol (UK)
16 February 2012, 19.30-20.30

On the 16th of February 2012 David Rothenberg talks with scientists and artists about his new book Survival of the Beautiful, which examines the interplay of beauty, art, and culture in evolution. In it the philosopher and musician Rothenberg deals with the questions, why animals have innate appreciation for beauty and why nature is beautiful.

On the 16th of February the question of how art has influenced science is investigated by him and his guests. Above that, is asked what we can learn from the amazing range of animal aesthetic behaviour about animals and about ourselves. David Rothenberg will be in conversation with writer and commentator Jay Griffiths, whose books include Wild: An Elemental Journey. The event is topped of with music by David Rothenberg and Jaron Lanier and free and open to the public. For further information about the event or in order to book tickets, see http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/?p=2500

For more information about David Rothenberg: www.davidrothenberg.net and about Jay Griffiths: www.jaygriffiths.com

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

The Art of Improvisation – Call for Papers ASA 2012

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Calendar Variations - Experiment at Woodend Barn, 2010, Photo: Chris Fremantle

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The call for papers for the ASA Conference 2012, which will be held in Delhi on 3-6th April, is now open.

The deadline is the 6th of December, 2012.

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract for our panel ‘The Art of Improvisation’.

We are interested in securing contributions from a broad range of perspectives, e.g. anthropology, the visual arts, music and performance. We are hoping to develop a dedicated journal issue as a result.

Full details can be found here.  Queries should be directed to Amanda Ravetz.

Convenors:

  • Amanda Ravetz (Manchester Metropolitan University);
  • Kathleen Coessens (Vrije Universiteit, Brussel);
  • Anne Douglas (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen).

The panel is driven by an interest in understanding embodied, experiential knowledge through the lens of experimental arts practice. Taking an expanded notion of improvisation as a state of ‘being alive’ (Ingold 2011), the panel will explore trajectories between improvisation in life and improvisation in art as follows:

In life, asserts Tim Ingold, there exists no script. The primacy of experience is a form of ‘trying out’. We might think of this then as a movement from an indefinable and undifferentiated state to one of feeling our way through creating direction.

In art we cast a critical eye on the ‘givens’, the predetermined structures of social, cultural, material experience while recognising that freedom and constraint are profoundly interrelated. Improvisation in art across cultures is a specific approach to form making that centres the imagination (of the creator/ performer/spectator) precisely on managing the interplay between freedom and constraint.

In artistic research, the artist/researcher places him/herself at the sharp point of the inquiry, re-imagining, re-configuring, intensifying and scrutinising practice to create insights within and beyond the arts.

  • How might a revisiting of improvisation as a condition of life open up approaches to improvisation in art, challenging its current formulation as a specific formal approach?
  • In what ways might such an inquiry inform new understandings of embodied knowledge within and beyond artistic practice?
  • How might such knowledge sit beside anthropological formulations of improvisation and creativity?

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