Social Transformation

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Database of Eco Public Art

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Curating_Cities

The Curating Cities Database maps the increasingly important and emerging field of eco-sustainable public art. It is developed as a resource for researchers, academics, artists, curators, educators, commissioning agencies and sponsors working in the field as well as those interested in promoting sustainability via public art. In addition to descriptive information, the database evaluates the aims and outcomes of each project as well as the external constraints (and subsequent negotiations) that influence the production of public artworks. eco-publicart.org

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Jill Bennett, Felicity Fenner, Lindsay Kelly and Veronica Tello. Sustainability Consultant: Jodi Newcombe.

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

T.J Demos (University College London); Ian Garrett (York University/Director, Center for Sustainable Practice); Natalie Jeremijenko (New York University/Director of Environmental Health Clinic); Sacha Kagan (Leuphana University Lüneburg/Founder of Cultura21, Network for Cultures of Sustainability and the International Summer School of Arts and Sciences for Sustainability in Social Transformation); Adrian Parr (University of Cincinnati).

We invite submissions from curators, researchers, academics and creative practitioners.

PURPOSE

Our intention is to develop a resource that will be of value to all those interested in public art, including specialists and the broader community. The database entries are concise but designed to go beyond the short profiles readily available on other sites. To that end, we have developed a template and guidelines designed to elicit key information regarding the sustainability (as conceived within the particular project), legacy, engagement and circumstances of an artwork’s production. Recognising that public art is not always well served by bureaucracies, entries may also record useful information on external constraints and how these were negotiated.

SCOPE

We are looking to achieve expansive coverage and are open to suggestions for inclusion (geographic remit is global). Generally, we interpret public art as a creative art form produced for non-gallery contexts (exceptionally, it may include gallery exhibitions with an explicit external engagement focus). We define “eco-sustainability” to signify an evident interest in ecological, sustainable and/or environmental concerns. It is not our intent to ‘police’ the definition of eco-sustainable public art: we are keen to include work that challenges definitions and expectations. As a general indication, we are interested in substantial work that actively engages with its environmental context (rather than in work that merely represents or symbolises an environmental concern).

SUBMISSION and REVIEW PROCESS

Submissions are peer-reviewed. Each submission should focus on a particular public art project, which must be proposed to the Editorial Committee in advance. Contributors are welcome to profile their own work, either by evaluating their own project or by referencing a larger study or thesis written by them on the same subject. We also invite academics that research and teach in this area to encourage student submissions. We are happy for the template to be used for course assessment exercises and can confer with lecturers regarding the process by which a batch of entries from a class can be peer reviewed/considered for inclusion in the database.

For the template and sustainable evaluation framework and to discuss a potential submission please email v.tello@unsw.edu.au

International Conference:“Popular Culture and Social Transformation”

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

What can we learn about social transformations from popular culture?

The two- day conference, entitled “Popular Culture and Social Transformation”,  will be held in Oslo on 4-5 October 2012.

The aim of the conference is through a variety of sessions and topics to address how popular culture is not only a mirror of society, but also a crucial element of power; the keynote speakers are Simon Lindgren and Jason Dittmer.

For those interested in joining the conference, the deadline for abstracts is May 15th, 2012.

The call for papers is available here.

For more information about the conference, please visit:

http://www.uio.no/kultrans/aktuelt/konferanser/popular/

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

Conference: Radius of art

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Berlin

8th – 9th of February 2012

The international conference „Radius of art: Creative politicization of the public sphere /Cultural potential forces for social transformation“ takes place in Berlin on the 8th and 9th of February. It puts artistic and cultural projects into the focus of of the political discourse. The purposeful choice of speakers and creative artists from all over the world as well as the contribution of renowned cultural foundations, promoters of culture and innovative approaches promise an inspiring exchange.

On behalf of Cultura21, Dr. Sacha Kagan collaborates with the Heinrich Böll foundation in the conception and coordination of the conference stream  “art toward cultures of sustainability”.

On the 8th of February 2012 at 7.30 p.m. an event open for the public takes place at the HBS Berlin.More information: click here

Furthermore, some sessions at the conference will be made available for the public at large through a live stream.

Further information can be found on the conference website: http://www.radius-of-art.de/conference/

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

Publication: Harvest in Times of Drought

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Harvest in Times of Drought – cultivating pedagogies of life for sustainable communities

Voices of the country

In the following lines, the book Harvest in Times of Drought is presented and offered for download (please find the download link at the bottom of the post). This publication is about creative education in Brasil that can generate social transformation and sustainability.

Brasil is one of the countries that is hit hard by the consequences of the industrialization in form of sharp inequalities, uprooting communicide and ecological upheaval. It has reached a threshold between a terrifying drought and a reflexive dawn. The task is to create on time a global project capable of cultivating a new paradigm of cooperation and sustainable community instead of competition.

Children and young people are seriously affected, because it is their future that is at stake. They already seek refuge in industrialized foods, virtual communities and paradises of self-consumption. Their parents feel powerless and can not point out alternative, aware that these will not resolve our crisis of civilization. A way must be found in order to create a new human performance of care, co-responsibility and solidarity, not just with others, but with ourselves, and with the future.

Every intervention and learning method must be based on pluricultural respect and transcultural care. Alternative experiences of social beauty and ethical self-respect can be offered and inspired by new as well as ancient pedagogies.

The aim is to create self-confidence to intervene in all human spaces and enable people to read and transform our cultural reflexes and political imagination. In order to avoid the reproduction of the violating past in the future, Harvest in Times of Drought roots the educative and transformative potentials of the artistic languages in the wisdoms of the land, the forest and the rivers of the Amazon to contribute to a proposal adaptable to any neighborhood, school and social organization.

The outcome after a seven years collaboration of Dan Baron (author of Cultural Literacy and co-founder of the World Alliance for Arts Education) and Manoela Souza (co-founder of the Brazilian Network of Arteducators) is this  pedagogic resource and collective artwork. Fifty rural pedagogues and community leaders from the Federal University of Pará, Marabá, contributed their share to book in form of life stories, poems, songs and visual as well as pedagogic narratives.
The book is dedicated to Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, eco-pedagogue, popular educator, extractor, grandmother and co-author of this collective book, who was assassinated with her partner, José Ribeiro da Silva near their forest settlement in northern Brazil, where they were fighting for the protection of the forest and cultures of the Amazon.

Outline

Part 1 is a collection of poems and short-stories. This collection introduces and contextualizes the book’s pedagogic proposal.

Part 2 presents this proposal, based on a dialogue between knowledges, accompanied by a photo-narrative, and includes reflections from the participants who tested, refined and developed the proposal.

Part 3 records a dual process of transition. It dramatizes the challenge of sustaining this pedagogic proposal inside a university, in response to the key questions about complicity and resistance to the new. It lays the foundations of an artistic-pedagogic (aesthetic) project.

Part 4 is the pedagogic proposal in action, education as a transformational aesthetic project and it also contains a pedagogic Charter of Principles.

The final Part 5 contains the lyrics of the CD that accompanies this book.

Download the online version of the book (PDF file) for free:

Harvest in Times of Drought – Colheita em Tempos de Seca

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

Radius of Art Conference

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Creative politicization of the public sphere – Cultural potential forces for social transformation

February 8th and 9th 2012 – Heinrich Böll Foundation, Schumannstr. 8, Berlin

The registration for the international conference „radius of art“ by Heinrich Boell Foundation has been opened: The number of places is very limited, and a selection process will take place.  If you wish to participate, please fill out the online registration at http://www.radius-of-art.de/conference/index-e.php (click on “registration”). The website has also more information about the conference.

Cultura21 is a partner of this event. Sacha Kagan is advising the Heinrich Boell Foundation for the conference’s thematic window “Art toward Cultures of Sustainability”. The conference’s other thematic windows are: “Art for Social Transformation”, “Public Art” and “Cultural Policy Strategies and Funding Structures”.

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 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

2010 Power of Words Conference: Call For Proposals

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The 8th Annual Power of Words conference will be held Sept. 23-26, 2010 at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT and we’re looking for workshop proposals!

One way or another you’ve been connected and in touch with the Transformative Language Arts Network and we thought you and yours might be interested in the event again this year. Please consider the Call for Proposals yourself and give thought to forwarding this along to those for whom this might spark some interest. If, instead, you’d like to discontinue your communications with the Network you will find means to do that at the bottom of this message.
The 8th Annual Power of Words conference brings together writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, educators, activists, healers, health professionals, community leaders, and more. All participants are united in the common exploration of how the written, spoken, and sung word can catalyze individual and communal liberation, celebration, and transformation.

We invite your proposals for experiential, didactic, and/or performance-based workshops that focus on writing, storytelling, drama, film, narrative medicine, songwriting, and other forms of Transformative Language Arts (TLA). We support proposals that focus on social change, the spoken or sung word, and how to make a living using transformative language arts in service to our communities. Because we are strongly committed to including individuals from diverse backgrounds, we encourage proposals from people of color and from presenters of many ages.

To submit a workshop proposal, visit the TLAN 2010 Call for Proposals Page.

The 2010 conference will feature four thematic tracks. Particular consideration will be given to workshop proposals that forward one or more themes:

  • Right Livelihood, finding a work life that is an expression of your gifts and makes a contribution to the world.
  • Social Transformation, using the power of word to deepen engagement with social issues and transform self and society.
  • Engaged Spirituality, writing / employing spiritual pathways challenging deeply-embedded structures of injustice to cultivate a sustainable, just, and peaceful world.
  • Narrative Medicine, using the power of narrative to help patients discover their own stories of illness and create ones of healing that pull toward recovery.

The conference will feature the following keynote speakers:

  • Greg Greenway – Singer and poet who works with the social awareness of Woody Guthrie
  • S. Pearl Sharp – Writer/actress/filmmaker/broadcast journalist focusing on cultural arts, health and healing, and Black history
  • Kayhan Irani – An artivist using the the arts to deepen engagement with social issues and societal transformation. A writer, director, performer, and facilitator of Playback Theater
  • Katherine Towler – Poet, author, teacher – writes lyrical novels of family and place

To submit a workshop proposal, visit the TLAN 2010 Call for Proposals Page.

For further information, please contact the TLAN Coordinators.

Callid & Kristina Keefe-Perry
TLA Network Coordinators
coordinator@tlanetwork.org
877-303-TLAN (8526)

[Please note that (a) presenters are not paid for their presentations and must register for, pay for, and attend the conference, (b) conference fees begin at $200 with reasonable room and board available, (c) a limited number of partial scholarships are also available, and (d) no individual should submit more than three proposals.]

Lima and LA

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Although Los Angeles is not quite the desert that Lima, Peru is, this event at the MAK center in Hollywood still looks interesting. More at www.makcenter.org

THE MAK URBAN FUTURE INITIATIVE (UFI) PUBLIC FORUM SERIES PRESENTS:

Los Angeles + Lima: Probing the Urban Desert
A conversation between UFI Fellow Alexia Leon and Christian Stayner

For the MAK UFI Public Forum, Leon and Stayner discuss their ongoing project on the “urban desert” (developed in collaboration with Peruvian art curator Jorge Villacorta). Leon and Stayner shall critically consider the role of the architect in shaping the future development of arid lands. They will also present their observations on the points of intersection between Lima and Los Angeles, both places that have sprung up from the desert. Leon and Stayner’s subject will take them into issues of urban settlement, population density, social transformation, and the use of history by architects and urban planners.

Tuesday, April 7
Reception at 6:30 pm
Presentation at 7:00 pm, followed by Q & A

MAK Center for Art and Architecture, L.A.
Schindler House
835 North Kings Road
West Hollywood, CA 90069

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