Soil

Soil Culture Forum

May 15, 2014Cultura21Centre for Contemporary Art, Falmouth University?s RANE, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rane, Soil, Soil Culture Forum

This post comes to you from Cultura21

2-5 July 2014

â€œA Nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.â€ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Using the arts to revitalise ourÂ relationship with a resource weÂ take for granted.

Over four days at Falmouth Universityâ€™s Woodlane campus in July this year, the RANE research group in collaboration with The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW) invite you to join theÂ Soil Culture Forum.

Soil is a material on which â€“ even in the age of the internet â€“ the whole of civilization depends. Along with clean air and fresh water, it is one of the fundamental components that support life on this planet. Without a healthy layer of soil, life and human society as we know it would not be able to function. Along with most of Earthâ€™s natural resources soil can be considered finite; it is non-renewable on a human time scale.

Despite our knowledge of this fact, mankind continues to misuse and abuse this fundamental matrix of life. Climate change and pollution, erosion and desertification are all having a devastating impact. Although the word â€˜cultureâ€™ has its metaphorical roots in the improvement of soil, we have lost that fundamental connection, and healthy soil is disappearing fast.

Inspiring people through art and literature on environmental issues can do what conventional advocacy often struggles to do: kindle the imagination, open minds to creative possibilities and engage communities. The Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW), in collaboration with Falmouth Universityâ€™s RANE (Research in Art, Nature and Environment) research group and MA Art & Environment; and other national and international partnerships, is delivering a programme of events during 2013 â€“ 2016. These exhibitions, residencies, workshops and socially engaged activities, which include theÂ Soil Culture Forum, will re-examine the cultural and environmental importance of soil and the underlying issues.

For information about the Artist Residencies and Touring Exhibition please go toÂ www.ccanw.co.uk.

More Information on SoilCulture

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Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21â€²s 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 LÃ¼neburg, Germany) and Rana Ã–ztÃ¼rk (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 Celebrated Trees of Nashville: Ecological Performance Action

January 1, 2013newsAction Performance, Astr, Buckets, Ecological Action, Ecological Performance, Intersection, Maintenance Staff, Nashville Tennessee, Nourishment, November 1st, Onlookers, Praxis, Preece, Procession, Red Wiggler Worms, Red Worms, Remediation, Research Questions, Roundup, Soil, State Capitol

On November 1st,Â PlantableÂ (made up Meghan Moe Beitiks, Bronwyn Preece and Lisa Woynarski) performed an ecological action on the streets and state capitol of Nashville, Tennessee. As part of the American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR) conference, the performance began with a procession through the streets of downtown Nashville. Carrying large red buckets full of red wiggler worms, the performance proceeded to the grounds of the State Capitol where we surrounded a tree and “planted” the worms at the base. Red wiggler worms are prized for their fertilisation qualities and their ability to enrich the soil, providing nourishment for the tree.Â In conversation with State Capitol maintenance staff, we learned of previous, but not current, usage of RoundUp on these trees – necessitating furtherÂ remediation, and equally not jeopardizing the life of the worms.Â Amidst curious looks and questions from onlookers, the performance sought to bring the research questions of the ASTR Ecology and Performance Working Session to a form of praxis, asking what the intersection of an ecologically positive action, performance and intervention would look like.

See video of the performance action here:

First daffodil in Low Wood

February 6, 2012Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Blossom, Climate Change, Daffodil, Features Interviews, Flowers, Garden Cultivars, Interviews News, Latitude, Leaves, Metaphors, Old Apple Tree, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Soil, sustainability, Timeline, Two Kinds, Wild Ones

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Wallace Heim writes:

Today, the first daffodil is blossoming here in Low Wood, Cumbria (latitude: 54 degrees North). There are two kinds of daffodil here, the garden cultivars and the small wild ones that fill the woods. This one, a cultivar protected by an old apple tree, will be in full, open blossom in a day or two, unless the forecasts are correct and the nights are cold and the snow is heavy.

The wild ones usually blossom earlier than the cultivars, but their leaves are only breaching the soil. Last year, the wild ones blossomed on 18 March. This one today is 7 weeks earlier that that.

â€œashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UKâ€ (2020 Network)

ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.
The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.

The Directory has been live since 2000.

Go to The Ashden Directory

The Open : __

November 30, 2010newsCustom Software, Garment, Grass, Headphones, Intimate Environment, Mask, Microphone, Notion, Olfactory, Physical Act, Proximity, Quality Of Sound, Refrain, Rhytm, Sec Delay, Sensorial, Sensory Perception, Sod, Soil, Sound Of Breathing

wearable architecture, 2010

electronics, custom software, microphone, fresh sod

A sensorial wearable device forcing to smell grass and to hear your own breath. Equipped with fresh sod and headphones, this mask inhibit the visual system while enhancing the olfactory by the proximity with soil.
The device defines also a sensory territory constructed by the rhytm of the breath, which is diffused from the headphones with a 1.5 sec. delay.

The work plays with the Deleuzian notion of “ritornell” (refrain), and about the quality of sound to define a territory. The space defined by the sound of breathing is in a state of costant imbalance between the physical act and its sensory perception and traces an unstable relationship with the intimate environment the garment reproduces.

via The Open : __.

Mel Chin to speak at Farm Lab 2/11 7pm

February 8, 2010EcoLOGIC LAAgronomist, Being An Artist, Collaboration, Combining Art, Decades, Dollar Bill, Farmlab, Heavy Metals, Landfill Site, Mel Chin, Money, Natural Processes, New Orleans, Pioneer, Plants, Remediation, Revival, Soil

For those of us who have followed the art and ecology movement over the last two decades, Mel Chin is considered an influential pioneer combining art with brownfield remediation. His famous or infamous Revival Field (1989-ongoing) funded with NEA money that was rescinded then later reinstated, demonstrated the natural processes of removing heavy metals from soil using hyper accumulator plants. He did this project in collaboration with an agronomist at a landfill site in Minnesota.

Mel will be in Los Angeles next week to give a talk on his Fundred Dollar Bill Project in New Orleans. If you have never heard him speak, you should go, with the promise that you will be entertained and educated. Being an artist should be so much fun!

For more information go the FarmLab website HERE

Go to EcoLOGIC LA