Research Associate

Political Ecology

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Where is the politics in political ecology? is a follow-up discussion by the Political Ecology Working Group at the University of Kentucky.  Its an open discussion that anyone can participate in – artworks can be contributed, or short texts (max 300 words).  Deadline 13 December 2011.  There previous discussion, What is Political Ecology? is up on their site.

This way of working (calls for short position statements, with a simple editorial process, published to a blog) seems to me ideal as a means to build up understanding about a new or growing subject. 

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.
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Too Shallow for Diving

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Review of the exhibition Too Shallow for Diving: the 21st Century is Treading Water. The review contextualises current environmental and ecological arts practices across a wide range of media.  The review discusses in detail work in the exhibition by Tim Collins + Reiko Goto, Carolyn Speranza, Prudence Gill, Jim Denney, Richard Harned, Roger Laib, Jamie Gruzska, Wendy Osher, Ann T. Rosenthal and Steffi Domike, Vanessa German, Maritza Mosquera, Lisa Link, David Stairs.

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

Co-Producing PAR+RS

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Creative Scotland has just formally announced that I have, along with Trigger (Suzy Glass and Angie Bual www.triggerstuff.co.uk) been appointed as Co-Producers for PAR+RS www.publicartscotland.com, Creative Scotland’s public art development project.

So I’ve got a provocative question to start the ball rolling, is public art a subset of visual arts or is it everything across all artforms that takes place outside the temples of art?

Creative Scotland’s press release is here.

 

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

Transition Design

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The creative futures (cf.) research centre at the University of the West of Scotland presents an evening lecture by Gideon Kossoff titled: ‘Early Thoughts on Transition Design’. The event is chaired by cf. Associate Director Graham Jeffery.

14th November 2011, 19.30-21.30 at the University of the West of Scotland, Ayr Campus.

Gideon Kossoff is a social ecologist/social theorist whose research focuses on the relationships between humans and the natural environment and humans and the built/designed world as the foundation for a sustainable society. For many years Gideon was programme administrator and course tutor for the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College, Devon, an international centre for ecological studies, where he regularly continues to return to teach. 

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

We need hope through art

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I posted this to comment Facebook yesterday, and wanted to connect it to Alastair McIntosh’s piece in the Guardian on Saturday,

I was in Glorious Govan yesterday for Alastair McIntosh‘s Kandinsky and Spirituality event. What a difficult subject to tackle in the here and now. Ran into many friends and colleagues. I suppose I wanted more politics (constructivism), more discussion of the idea of art as service with a spiritual dimension (Mierle Laderman Ukeles), more in depth on I and Thou Martin Buber and the idea that there are two possible ways to think about the other – as ‘it’ or as ‘thou’. ‘It’ is objectification. ‘Thou’ is another being with agency with whom one can have a meaningful relationship.

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

Shell accused of fuelling violence in Nigeria

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PLATFORM continue to focus on the issues of corporate responsibility for oil conflict in the Niger Delta through their project Remember Saro-Wiwa.  The Guardian‘s extensive story on a new report by the social and environmental activists highlights the consequences of Shell paying off militia groups to stop them damaging pipelines.  This funds and stimulates conflict with other groups.  Shell periodically changes sides, thus exacerbating the situation.  But Shell are proud that none of this disrupts production, regardless of the number of people who die as a consequence: at least 60 in one incident. 

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

BLDGBLOG: Tar Creek Supergrid

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BLDGBLOG’s most recent post relates to a PhD focusing on re-purposing abandoned mines as renewable energy infrastructure.

 

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

Wasteland Twinning

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Glengarnock on a road trip, 2004

Wasteland and stalled spaces are important.  This new project connects wasteland in different places as well as offering some suggestions for ways to explore those on your doorstep – join in and be twinned with places in Indonesia, Australia, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Malaysia, India (interestingly there are no US or Canadian partners).

Glengarnock (all that's left) 2004

Most of the ideas suggested involve spending time with your own wasteland, making sound recordings, putting up signs, doing surveys, finding sit spots, discovering what’s edible, and then inventing your own responses. 

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

The Three Gorges, 3rd Edition « Artwork by Sonja Hinrichsen

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The Three Gorges, 3rd Edition « Artwork by Sonja Hinrichsen.

Sonja Hinrichsen makes ephemeral works of great beauty.  These include walking in snow to create patterns.

Sonja Hinrichsen, Snow Drawings, Chatham, NY, 2011

 

These are reminiscent of neolithic marks on stones near Kilmartin, Scotland.

image from www.themodernantiquarian.com (click on image for many more)

Her most recent work is also ephemeral, but is the result of working in the Three Gorges in China.  This is an area changing as a result of the widely reported hydro-electric scheme. Note how she positions the viewer such that they cannot avoid being present in the landscape.

Sonja Hinrichsen, Three Gorges, 3rd Edition, multi-screen video projection, 2011

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

Natural Rights

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Philosophically speaking ‘natural rights‘ is an element of an argument about the basis of the rights that individuals have in society.

What if nature had rights?  What if there was a Ministry of Mother Earth?  What if the experiences of people living with land were given priority?  Remember that capitalisms roots are in the extraction of value from land ownership.  The most fundamental challenge to capitalism is to challenge underlying historically based assumptions of nature’s use.  Give nature the same rights as humans.

That’s what the Bolivians are in the process of doing.  That’s provocative.  You can find a number of short pieces, including this one, and if anyone can point me to a longer discussion it would be appreciated.

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