Kajsa

The Slave Business and Its Material and Moral Hinterlands in Continental Europe

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Conference at the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool (UK), April 20-22, 2012

The history of transatlantic slavery is one of the most active and fruitful fields of historical research worldwide. As scholarship in this field is increasingly global, it opens up unique possibilities for international collaboration. More particularly, the most recent research which looks beyond the familiar Atlantic axis and the principal slave-trading nations has made clear the scope for new kinds of comparative and trans-regional studies.

The conference revisits a number of key themes relevant to the relationship between slavery (outside Europe) and the dynamics of (European) metropolitan society, giving specific attention to developments in Continental Europe and in particular to the German-speaking regions. These themes include the impact of the slave business on capitalist development and the development of discourses around slavery and abolition in the public sphere. Behind that there lie questions about private conscience – in the first instance about what was known and knowable about the implication of individual economic actors in one of the earliest globalised businesses.

By focusing our attention on regions which were physically and politically distant not only from the mines and plantations of the Americas but also from Europe’s ‘slave capitals’ like Liverpool, London, Nantes and Bordeaux, we hope not only to assemble new data and thereby better understand the material ‘reach’ of transatlantic slavery, but also to address wider questions about the ways in which location/space structures knowledge, values and interest by applying them to the particularly dramatic case of slavery in what are still seen as marginal places. How does the geographical status of ‘hinterland’ relate to conditions of economic and moral/discursive interchange?

The conference begins with a keynote lecture by Catherine Hall, Director of the UCL/ESRC project on British stakeholders in slavery and post-abolition compensation, and ends with a session on memory work in teaching, public art and public and community history.

Confirmed speakers

  • Sabine Broeck (University of Bremen): Bremen and the slave business: Notes on a Hermeneutics of Absence, and a Pedagogy of the Trace
  • Peter Haenger (Basel): Basel and the slave trade: from profiteers to missionaries
  • Dan Hopkins (University of Missouri at Kansas City): Julius von Rohr, an Enlightenment scientist of the plantation Atlantic
  • HMJokinen (Hamburg): The Slave Trader Heinrich Carl Schimmelmann and Cultures of Remembrance in Wandsbek: Vestiges, Myths and Protests
  • Craig Koslofsky (University of Illinois at Urbana): A German Diary of a Slaving Journey in the 1690s
  • Jochen Meissner (Humboldt University Berlin): Southern European and Latin American Responses to British Abolitionism
  • Kwame Nimako (University of Amsterdam): The Peace of Westphalia, Slavery and the Berlin Conference: A Continuum
  • Anne-Sophie Overkamp (Viadrina University, Frankfurt a.d.O): The German backcountry and the Atlantic exchange: The participation of textile merchants from the Wupper valley in the Atlantic trade, 1760-1810
  • Allan Potofsky (University of Paris-Diderot): Paris as Atlantic Hinterland, from the Ancien Régime to the French Revolution
  • Alan Rice (University of Central Lancashire): Chair / comment
  • Barbara Richiger (Cooperaxion – Bern): A Swiss database of slave-trade stakeholders
  • Alexandra Robinson (University of Liverpool): A case study of the Earle family’s Leghorn business 1751 -1808
  • Klaus Weber (Viadrina University, Frankfurt a.d.O): ‘All the Negroes cloathed with German Linen’: Central European Implications with the Atlantic Slave Trade, 15th-19th Centuries

Art Installation

  • HMJokinen, Gordon Uhlmann:  projection posthum: Heaven above Wandsbek – Guinea – St. Croix

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

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Two essays published at the Heinrich Boell Foundation

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In parallel to the “Radius of Art” conference, the Heinrich Boell Foundation published 2 essays dealing with art and cultural transformations toward sustainability.

Both essays can be obtained (in print versions) from the foundation and (in electronic PDF versions) from the website of the foundation:

Sacha Kagan. Toward Global (Environ)Mental Change: Transformative Art and Cultures of Sustainability.

Berlin: Heinrich Boell Stiftung, 2012. (For more information and the free pdf version: click here)

 

 

Adrienne Goehler. Conceptual Thoughts on Establishing a Fund for Aesthetics and Sustainability.

Berlin: Heinrich Boell Stiftung, 2012. (For more information and the free pdf version: click here – Goehler’s essay is also available in German version here)

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

Call for submissions: Next idea grant

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The Ars Electronica Linz GmbH in Linz/Austria welcomes submissions for the “next idea grant” 2012.
Every year Ars Electronica awards prizes to artistic works in the field of media arts in the following seven different categories:

  • Computer Animation / Film / VFX
  • Interactive Art
  • Digital Musics & Sound Art
  • Hybrid Art
  • Digital Communities
  • u19–Create Your World
  • [the next idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant

The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the most important awards for creativity and pioneering spirit in the field of digital media.
The aim of “THE NEXT IDEA” grant is to honor new and extraordinarily promising ideas and to support the process of developing them further. This year Ars Electronica looks especially for projects that deal with three themes of key importance to humankind’s future: energy, mobility and access.

For detailed information about the grant see http://www.aec.at/prix/en/

Everyone is invited to submit new projects/concepts or prototypes here: http://prix.aec.at/
The deadline for submission is March 2nd, 2012.

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 (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

Invitation to participate in an Earth Forum with Shelley Sacks

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Within the framework of the Citizen Art Days Shelley Sacks offers twice a day the possibility to take part in an Earth Forum „Social Sculpture“ Process at the Freies Museum_öffentlicher Raum Berlin. From February 20th to 24th, in each case from 11 am to 2 pm and 3 to 6 pm, people are given the opportunity to create a humane and ecologically just future in groups of 8 to 12.

Artist and former scholar of Joseph Beuys, Shelley Sacks, invites people of every age and background to a process of creative imagination and exchange in order to bring room for new approaches of thought and action into being. After building an awareness in the group, the focus shall be put on questions directly related to the environment, the neighborhood, the city of Berlin and even the world.

Everyone is invited to participate in the Earth Forum process, whether as an individual or as a network of individuals and organisations who have diverse interests or as an organisation or group of individuals who have similar aims and views of sustainable development, but may have different ideas of how to achieve these aims.

Possible languages are English and German.

Background: The Citizen of Art Days from the 19th to the 24th of February 2012, offer the possibility for citizens to participate directly in the designing of their city by means of workshops, lectures, discussions and city excursions.
Registration and further information here:
www.citizenartdays.de / earthforum [at] citizenartdays [dot] de / 030-49 914 661
———————————————
Further projects of Shelley Sacks:
www.social-sculpture.org
www.universityofthetrees.org
www.exchange-values.org
www.ortdestreffens.de

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

Plasticities Sciences Arts

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“Plasticities Sciences Arts” is an association based in France, operating at the transdisciplinary crossroads of art and science. As expressed by its president, Marc-Williams Debono, “the PSA research group aims at opening new fields of interaction between sciences, arts and humanities. The group has its origins in 1994 when it established a Transdisciplinary network of researchers focusing on the nature of evolutionary processes. The identity of the group is founded on both knowledge and human experience as on the suggestion of the concept of plasticity. The latter is considered to be the basic principle underlying the organization of any life form, art or idea.”

The group’s website contains valuable online resources including news items, activities and publications, and the online Journal  Plastir, which is on open access (i.e. freely accessible). The latest issue of Plastir (25) was released in December 2011.

The website (in English and in French) of “Plasticities Sciences Arts” and Plastir is accessible at: http://plasticites-sciences-arts.org/

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

Workshop/Conference: Volunteering in times of crisis

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RECREATURA is a non-profit organisation supporting innovative and creative art projects in order to support an active European citizenship. The two-day conference concerning “Volunteering in times of crisis” takes place on March 2 and 3, 2012 and aims to promote volunteering in European cities. Against the backdrop of the consequences from the recent crisis and high unemployment especially among young people in Spain, the conference will discuss the effects of the crisis on active citizenship and volunteering.

The event will be in English and Spanish and a variety of experts, representatives of NGOs, local governments and others will take part in the conference. If you are interested in participating – either as participant or speaker – please get in touch with Dorothee Fischer, Vice-President RECREATURA_arts&culture, dorotheefischer [at] gmail [dot] com. Participants need to sign up by e-mail by 28 February at the very latest.

Information on the schedule can be found in the PDF file Draft Agenda here.
For details about the background of the project see www.recreatura.com and www.alda-europe.eu

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

AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver – discussing “Science, Sustainability, and the Arts”

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The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international non-profit organization and the world’s largest general scientific society. Its mission is to “advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people” by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association.

Read on for more information about the themes of the 2012 AAAS Meeting and about a specific session on Science, Sustainability and Art…

In order to fulfill this mission, AAAS promotes cooperation among scientists and the public, defends scientific freedom, encourages scientific responsibility and supports scientific education. Furthermore, it is the publisher of the well-known scientific journal Science.

The AAAS Annual Meeting, scheduled for February 16-20 in Vancouver, is a multi-disciplinary gathering of international leading scientists. Its leading theme is “Flattening the World: Building a Global Knowledge Society”. For this occasion an array of speakers will gather in Vancouver, B.C. for four days of symposia, lectures, seminars, workshops, and poster sessions that cover every area of science, technology, and education.

One of the symposia will bring together three panelists who work at the intersection of science, sustainability, and art. They will focus in their discussion on the question how artistic work engages with leading issues in sustainability science, including preservation of biodiversity, the human ecological footprint, climate change, and contemporary urban life.
For more details on this session, see: http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2012/webprogram/Session4478.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

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