Visual Culture

New Red Stables Art & Ecology Summer School publication

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This post comes to you from An Arts and Ecology Notebook

Image: A meeting of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club at the Giant’s Causeway, 11 June, 1868. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum

Image: A meeting of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club at the Giant’s Causeway, 11 June, 1868. Photograph © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum

I gave a presentation of my theory and practice research, and my video experiments to date (see video at top of my homepage), the Hollywood Diaries: screen reel 2008-12. There were contributions from many other diverse fields that were part of significant projects undertaken by Seoidín O’Sullivan and Geraldine O’Reilly. My video was shown along with films and videos by Seoidín O’Sullivan, Grace Weir, David Nash, Andy Goldsworthy, Christine Mackey, Toon.ie animations.A great legacy of the Dublin Red Stables Art & Ecology summer school, in which I took part in August, has now been produced. The series of events and projects have been reviewed and collated into a new publication created by the Dublin City Arts Office, edited by  Seán O Sullivan with an essay by invited curator and cultural geographer, Dr Karen E. Till.

All are welcome to attend the book launch, details below. I will putting a copy of the book into the National College of Art & Design for those that are interested. My thanks to Denise and the staff at Red Stables for creating such a important project and to Karen Till for reviewing what is becoming an important new area in fine art/visual culture and cultural geography.

The book  launch was this Saturday 15 December 2012.

The Red Stables Summer School: Jul – Aug 2012
St. Anne’s Park, Dublin 3

Edited by Seán O Sullivan

This Saturday, Dublin City Council Arts Office will launch a book entitled The Red Stables Summer School: Jul – Aug 2012, which details two major projects, Seoidín O’Sullivan’s Field Work and Geraldine O’Reilly’s Weeds Are Plants Too!. This year’s summer school included a rolling series of talks and field trips with invited artists, geographers, botanists and architects and an art & ecology summer school.

Alongside more than sixty full-colour illustrations, the book includes essays by Seán O Sullivan, Dr. Karen E. Till [Cultural Geographer, NUI Maynooth], and Dr. Declan Doogue, [Botanist, Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club]. It is printed lithographically on high quality book paper in an edition of 250 copies, and it is available free of charge.

This book which highlights art and ecology projects that took place in St. Anne’s Park will be launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Naoise Ó Muirí, who will also switch on the Christmas tree lights.

Following on from The Red Stables Summer School and the theme of art and nature, there will be a ‘Winter Walk’ in the park with Botanist, Dr. Declan Doogue.

This project is supported by Dublin City Council Arts Office and the Arts Council of Ireland.

  Screen Shot 2012-12-12 at 21.33.02

Related links:

My talk online and video works at Red Stables Art & Ecology summer school,  17 July 2012

Art and Ecology at the Red Stables Summer School Dublin

Stories from the Field and Forest seminar at Red Stables Dublin

Please note:

Due to time demands, I am now posting a lot more regularly on my new phd website www.ecoartfilm.com which you are also welcome to follow. Just add your email to bottom of homepage. Here you will find info on experimental ecocinema practice and theory, my work and others in this small field.

An Arts & Ecology Notebook, by Cathy Fitzgerald, whose work exists as ongoing research and is continually inspired to create short films, photographic documentation, and writings. While she interacts with foresters, scientists, and communities, she aims to create a sense of a personal possibility, responsibility and engagement in her local environment that also connects to global environmental concerns.
Go to An Arts and Ecology Notebook

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Call for Papers: The International Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

USA

September 13-15 2012

The Conference on Culture, Politics, & Climate Change is an event of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, that takes place from the 13th to the 15th of September 2012.

Which obstacles and opportunities are U.S. climate policymakers and scientists confronted with? Current issues of climate change will be focused at the International Conference on Culture, Politics and Climate Change. This will happen in a cross-disciplinary way, in order to look at the topic and at intersections between culture, politics and science from different viewpoints.

The political and cultural discourse generates many questions concerning climate change:

How can climate change be addressed on a national scale? Or should climate change rather be addressed on a global level? How is policy made and what is the role of state and non-state actors? How is meaning is derived from our shared culture?

Especially in the U.S. the topic is relevant, all the more facing the national elections and ongoing international climate negotiations.

The Call for Papers is addressed to presenters, who look at the communication of climate change in public and its effect on other cultural and political processes. Comparisons, with papers and panels on culture, politics and climate change in the U.S. and other countries are welcomed.

The following questions may be considered as suggestions for papers and panels,but can be enhanced by other ideas as well:

  • Communication of science
  • Media and environmental policy
  • Social movements/activism
  • Political communication of climate change
  • Mediated representation
  • Non-state actors in climate politics and communication
  • Journalism studies
  • Visual culture
  • Consumer culture studies
  • Spiritualities of globalization
  • Religions and the environment
  • Documentary/feature film

For more information, contact:

Deserai A. Crow, Associate Director, Center for Environmental
Journalism deserai [dot] crow [at] colorado [dot] eduor have a look at the homepage of the conference www.climateculturepolitics.org
The Call for Papers can be downloaded as PDF file here:

Sept 2012 CU-Boulder conference – media, culture & climate change CFP

The deadline for submissions and abstracts is January 10, 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

Animal Ecologies in Visual Culture

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Antennae, the Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, and Minding Animals International, a ‘bridge between academia and advocacy,’ are hosting an event entitled Animal Ecologies in Visual Culture at University College London on Saturday 8 October 2011. Information also available on Facebook.

Antennae’s website has all the back issues of the Journal available for download as pdfs.  Themes include insects, taxidermy, Deleuze, plastic bags.

Minding Animals has a range of networks, study groups and organises conferences.

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

Symposium: “Animal Ecologies in Visual Culture”

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

By Ronja Röckemann

Reposted from: www.antennae.org.uk/Symposium

The symposium on October 8th 2011 at University College London proposes an exploration of artistic practices involved with animals and environments. In the recent re-surfacing of the animal in contemporary art, emphasis has been given to mammals, mainly because of the most immediate relational opportunities that these animals offer to us. However, a number of very interesting artists has been recently trying to bridge the abyss between ‘us’ and more ‘taxonomically remote’ creatures through the use of art and science as active interfaces. This new focus reveals the interconnectedness between humans, amphibians, reptiles and insects, and the environments in which we all live. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the symposium aims at facilitating a dialogue between artists, scientists and academics interested in informing wider audiences through visual communication.

Speakers Include: Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey / Ron Broglio / Maja and Reuben Fowkes /Rikke Hansen / London Fieldworks / Joyce Salisbury / Linda Williams. See www.antennae.org.uk for registration.

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 Eco Museum; reimagining exhibition production

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This post comes to you from the EcoMuseum

In mid 2008, the interpretation of visual culture was the core function of 1,184 Australian museum and gallery organisations. The results of $36 million dollars spent on delivering exhibitions in the 2007/08 year was enjoyed by millions of visitors from across the world, and generated nearly one billion dollars. Yet, despite this being an enormously productive and dynamic industry, there has been little research undertaken in the area of environmental sustainability for organisations who engage in the care and display of precious and rare objects. Cultural organisations, like many others, are addressing their impacts upon the environment, but the question has to be asked: how does this social revolution take place?

Read the remainder of my paper presented at the 2010 Museums Australia Conference in Melbourne here.

the EcoMuseum, is a project of Carole Hammond, Exhibition Manager and museum professional: combining the complex ideologies of aesthetics, culture, objects, entertainment…and environment.

Go to the EcoMuseum

Artist Commission: Nils Norman – Loughborough University Arts

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“Public Workspace Playscape Sculpture Loughborough” is a prototype for an outdoor public play/workstation, composting unit, a roof planter, wifi-hotdesking area and rocket oven.

The design embodies 5 core concepts – play, organisation of the work place, DIY-eco design, defensive street furniture, and the public sphere. Creating an absurd prototype for a new kind of creative industry workstation, public sculpture and piece of street furniture. Expanding the work place into public space, conflating the modern factory space with the urban space of the public park.

As innovations in creative industry workspaces ape those of traditional public spaces: The Agora, the Market Place, the Street and Boulevard so too the privatised and enclosed spaces of the city and its various civic spaces: the Museum, the University, the Park, etc begin to reproduce the conditions and design of the factory. With gates, surveillance, controlled usage, prescriptive recreational areas and productive activity zones.

In order to capture and maximise those moments between work, those lost minutes having lunch,time-out, between class, walking home, weekends, cigarette breaks, family time… a new space and design is required to potentialise those seconds that are the elements of profit. Enclosing creativity and leisure, its activities and spaces, in order to harvest value.

Nils Norman has developed his own mix of art and activism, examining histories of utopian thinking and ideas on alternative economic systems that can work within urban living conditions.

Recent solo shows include;

Surrounded by Squares, Raven Row, London, 2009

Degenerate Cologne, Galerie Christian Nagel – Köln 2006

The Homerton Playscape Multiple Struggle Niche, City Projects – London 2005

Hey Rudy!: A Phantom on the Streets of Schizz, Galerie Christian Nagel – Berlin 2003

The Geocruiser, the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden and The Institute of Visual Culture, Cambridge – England 2001

Recent group exhibitions include;

It Starts From Here, De La Warr Pavilion – Bexhill on Sea 2007

Revolution is not a Garden Party, Galerija Miroslav Kraljevi – Croatia 2007

British Art Show 6, Newcastle (touring) 2005/6

50th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale – Italy 2005

via Artist Commission: Nils Norman – Loughborough University Arts.

Interview about Art and Sustainability « Sustainability and Contemporary Art

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Maja and Reuben Fowkes interviewed in Antennae Magazine – the whole issue can be downloaded from their site as a pdf

Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, was founded in September 2006 by Giovanni Aloi, a London-based lecturer in history of art and media studies. The Journal combines a heightened level of academic scrutiny of animals in visual culture, with a less formal and more experimental format designed to cross the boundaries of academic knowledge, in order to appeal to diverse audiences including artists and the general public alike.

Ultimately, the Journal provides a platform and encourages the overlap of the professional spheres of artists, scientists, environmental activists, curators, academics, and general readers. It does so through an editorial mix that combines academic writing, interviews, informative articles, and discussions with an illustrated format, in order to grant accessibility to a wider readership.

via Interview about Art and Sustainability « Sustainability and Contemporary Art.