Vitality

SIdeways : Artistic laboratory along slow paths

July 15, 2012Cultura21Acceleration, Activism, Backroads, Berlin Germany, Contemporary Arts, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Donkey, Festival Weekends, Francesca, International Group, Interstitial Space, Kagan, Kajsa, Kilometres, Knots, Koefoed, Margins, Mexico City, Oleg, Open Space, Paris France, Passages, Rana, Ribbon Development, Sacha, Sideline, Sidetracks, Slowness, Symposia, Terra Incognita, Vitality, Zutendaal

This post comes to you from Cultura21

33 projects in open space, a journey of 334 kilometres, 16 walking days, 5 festival weekends, 2 symposia and 1 multimedia donkey! 17 August â€“ 17 September 2012, Belgium

Sideways is an itinerant festival for contemporary arts and cultural research. In times of acceleration and hypermobility, this nomadic initiative follows a web of slow paths. Artists and public explore different sidetracks in the Belgian landscape: footpaths, alleys, backroads and shortcuts. Behind the ribbon development and in the margins of the ubiquitous car infrastructure, a terra incognita appears; a fluid interstitial space of passages, tracks and stories. From this sideline, the Sideways exploration unfolds, focusing on being on the go, slowness and creation, arts and ecology, im/mobility and activism, spatial un/planning and landscape.

Both in form and content, Sideways engages into an experiment: a 4 week walking journey through Belgium, from west to east, undertaken by the audience as well as an international group of artists. An expedition without a predetermined destination, with room for detours and encounters, mapped and documented via the DonkeyXote multimedia donkey. Different lines of movements are entwined into knots of activity during 5 consecutive festival weekends in Menen (19/8), Herzele (25-26/8), Brussels (1-2/9), Turnhout (8-9/9) and Zutendaal (15-16/9).

For those who are interested, you can read the Catalogue and this Article. And you can visit the Sideways Website.

This post is also available in: Spanish

Sense of Planet: The Arts and Ecology at Earth Magnitude

July 13, 2012Conferences, Cultura2125 August, Berlin Germany, Book Sense, Climate Change, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Douglas Kahn, Ecological Crises, Environmental Sensor, Francesca, Gabrys, Goldsmiths University Of London, International Array, Jill Bennett, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, Modern Thought, New York University, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Niea, Oleg, Paris France, Rana, Sacha, Santa Barbara Co, Sensor Technologies, Smith Professor, Species Extinction, Stanford University, Technology University, Theorists, Timothy Morton, University Of California At Santa Barbara, Vitality

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NIEA Symposium

Saturday, 25 August 2012, 9:30â€“6:30pm

The acceleration of climate change, species extinction, and other ecological crises enjoins us to find ways of grasping historical and evolving circumstances at earth magnitude. The Sense of Planet symposium concentrates together an international array of artists, eco-theorists, and scholars to address the issues and activities of representing the earth in its entirety, and of representing and self-representing regions or localities amid the complex global systems in which they are enmeshed. The symposium follows the lead taken by Ursula Heise in her book Sense of Place and Sense of Planet: The Environmental Imagination of the Global to investigate the possibilities and difficulties of sensing the planet, in all senses of sense.

Invited speakers

Ursula Heise, Professor of English and Director of the Program in Modern Thought & Literature,

Stanford University

The Database and the Ecological Imagination of the Planet

Marko Peljhan, Professor in Art and Media Arts & Technology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Co-director of Arctic Perspective Initiative

One Degree At A Time â€“ Creating Systems of Systems for Interpolar Constructiv(ist)e Engagement

Jennifer Gabrys, Convener of the MA Design and Environment at Goldsmiths, University of London

Environmental Sensor Technologies and the Arts

Nicholas Mirzoeff, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University

Anthropocene Aesthetics

Timothy Morton, Professor and Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English, Rice University

Of Planet-Sense

Panel discussion

Terry Smith (Professor at Pittsburgh and NIEA, UNSW), Douglas Kahn (Professor of Media & Innovation, NIEA, UNSW), Jill Bennett (Professor and Director, NIEA, UNSW), and others. Convened by Douglas Kahn and Jill Bennett.

Click here to go to the Registration page.

NOW â€“ Permaculture in Europe

July 12, 2012Cultura21Activists, Berlin Germany, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Deep Ecology, Earth Care, European Networking, Fair Share, Francesca, Grand Celebration, Interdisciplinary Workshops, Kagan, Kajsa, Kassel Germany, Koefoed, Leaflet, Mexico City, Oleg, Paris France, Permaculture, Permaculture Design Course, Rana, Sacha, Social Sculpture, Transition Processes, Vitality

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11th European Permaculture Convergence, 1-5.8.2012

Gastwerke Kassel, Germany

Now! This year the EuPC will focuss on Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share in August. For five days 300 activists and designers gather together to start a dialogue on permacultures. Interdisciplinary workshops, lectures and art will be part of the program and will promote European networking and grand celebration.

EuPC stands for ideas themselves, not only forÂ financeable ideas. Communication is more important than reactions of others.

Speakers from all over the world will dedicate their focus on methods and the design of transition processes. Workshops on many different topics such as Deep Ecology, Wandelnde GÃ¤rten and Social Sculpture will be held in Englisch and German.

Adjacent to the Convergence, the traditional international Permaculture Design Course takes place in Kassel: Its challenge is to bring in â€˜Permaculture, Art & Societyâ€™ as an innovative focus and approach.

Tickets and more Information can be found on the website ofÂ EUPC or in the leaflet.

Ai Weiwei â€“ Never Sorry

July 10, 2012Cultura21Ai Weiwei, Alison, Behavor, Berlin Germany, China, Conceptual Artist, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Fight Injustice, Film Portrait, Francesca, Grievance, House Arrest, Human Rights Abuse, Internet Artist, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, Oleg, Panel Discussion, Paris France, Peking, Political Activism, Portrait Of An Artist, Rana, Reprisals, Right In Time, Sacha, Screens, Vitality

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Hitting screens: film portrait of an artist and critic

Right in time Ai WeiweiÂ´s house arrest is being lifted: The documentation Ai Weiwei: Never sorry hits screens these days. For three years the producer Alison Klayman shadowed his life, resuming in an film portrait of one of the most compelling public figures in China. Now everybody gets the chance to gaze at the life of the known conceptual artist.

The film isnâ€™t a media unknown to the artist: Ai Weiwei uses social media and finds a great platform for political activism in the Internet. Artist and regime critic, Ai Weiwei unites these positions. Trough art he communicates and expresses himself, creatively and radically he deals with his China. In his political-artistic driven activism the dissident tries to make grievance obvious and fight injustice. He aims at a world, free of human rights abuse.

Ai Weiwei works with pictures and letâ€™s them talk. The outcome is volitional, but due to his behavor the artist and his family are affected by reprisals on a regular basis. Last year he was detained for a few months and has spendt his days since in house arrest in Peking.

Last year a panel discussion on Ai Weiweiâ€™s role in art and activism was held at Leuphana University LÃ¼neburg, Germany (co-organized by Cultura21 and the FIDH).

McDonalds and Sustainability

July 7, 2012Cultura21Beer Brands, Berlin Germany, British Food, Charter, Chocolate, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Dedication, Energy Efficiency, Fast Food, Food Chain, Francesca, Fruit Smoothies, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Locog, London, Mcdonalds, Mexico City, Oleg, Olympic Games, Olympic Summer Games, Organising Committee, Paralympic Games, Paris France, Rana, Sacha, Single One, Sounds, Supersize, sustainability, Sustainable Development, Vitality, Voices

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– come to think of itâ€¦

McDonalds and Sustainability. Sounds extremly logical, doesnÂ´t it? These days, the construction of the first sustainable McDonalds store, comes to an end in London. Does that mean, that in the future the well known Fast Food Chain wonÂ´t be the place anymore where uncritical and environmentunfriendly voices are still welcome? Probably not. It does sound great at first, but in no way believable. The Â¨greenÂ¨ turn is placed in the context of the Olympic Summer Games in London this year. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) had the vision of an all-around effective event, not to miss out on the offered food. Luckily McDonalds is one of the main sponsors of the Games, besides well known cola and beer brands, and announced to make the vision real and serve high quality British food.

To put that to effect, the group built four supersize stores in the Olympic quarter. Needless to say, that part of the furniture can be recycled and reused later in one of the 15 new planned stores around the island. Pointed out very clearly is the dedication to energy efficiency, apparently something new for the chain. All these arrangements are in the spirit of sustainable development, which means there is nothing keeping the event from being anything else but sustainableâ€¦ Except for the usual menu, rich on meat and fat, just as in every other such restaurant. But why not overlook this fact? After all the chocolate is going to be fair trade and the menu extended to fruit smoothies. That is all you need for being sustainable: Healthy, diverse food, the creation of 2000 jobs during the summerâ€¦

But wait a minute: 2000 employees selected from all over the world will get the chance to take part in making the world a better place. Certainly every single one of them is willing to charter their own plane to get to London; who cares about the environment more? At long sight, the most sustainable action of this Green Washing Campaign will be the dismantling of the four restaurants in Fall. And then, maybe, there will be some room for slowing down.

Elisabeth Lena AubrechtÂ -Â Elisabeth Lena is studying Cultural Studies (B.A.) at Leuphana University LÃ¼neburg, Germany. She is doing an internship at Cultura21. / Elisabeth Lena ist Studentin der Kulturwissenschaften an der Leuphana UniversitÃ¤t LÃ¼neburg und Praktikantin bei Cultura21.

ALECC 2012 Biennial Conference

July 3, 2012Conferences, Cultura21Berlin Germany, Biennial Conference, Canada Association, Carbon Footprint, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Disciplines, Dissemination Of Knowledge, Educational Institution, Endangered Ecosystems, Environmental Justice, Environmental Writers, Francesca, Indigenous Culture, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Memory Place, Mexico City, Mountain Literature, Nature Writers, Non Profit Organization, Notebook Reviews, Okanagan College, Oleg, Paris France, Penticton, Rana, Regionalism, Sacha, Sense Of Place, University Of British Columbia, Upcoming Publications, Vitality, Wilder Places

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The Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada / Association pour la littÃ©rature, lâ€™environnement et la culture au Canada (ALECC) is a non-profit organization focused on the creation, appreciation, discussion, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge about the work of nature writers, environmental writers and journalists, eco-artists of all disciplines, ecocritics, and ecotheorists in Canada. Collectively they are interested in artistic, critical and cultural studies work on activism, animals, ecology, the environment, environmental justice, geography, land, landscape, mountain literature and culture, nature and nature writing, natural history writing, plants, region, regionalism, the rural, sense of place, transborder environmental issues, wilderness and wilder places, and much more.

Â 2012 ALECC Conference

The 2012 ALECC Conference will be focused on â€œplaceâ€ as an embodied, embedded, troubling, elusive, contested, personal, political, and ecological site in which space + memory = place, in an astonishingly complex range of ways.

The Okanagan was chosen as the location for this conference as it contains one of the most endangered ecosystems in Canada and it is home to a vital indigenous culture, the Syilx or Okanagan Nation. Place is acknowledged through the co-hosting of the conference by Okanagan College and the University of British Columbiaâ€™s Okanagan campus. The conference (August 9 â€“ 12) will take place in the largest community in the Okanaganâ€”Kelownaâ€”with workshops and events in Penticton at Okanagan Collegeâ€™s internationally acclaimed zero-carbon footprint building and at the post-secondary indigenous educational institution, the Enâ€™owkin Centre

Publication

The ALECC publishes twice a year an online journal, The Goose, with diverse sections, reflecting the contributions and suggestions they receive:

EditorÂ´s Notebook
Reviews and Lists of New/Upcoming Publications
Edge Effects
Canadian Regional Feature
The Graduate Network:
Scatterings

If you want to know more about The Goose, contribute or read their previous issues, visit http://www.alecc.ca/goose.php

2nd. Uranium Film Festival Rio de Janeiro â€“ June 28th to July 14th, 2012

June 28, 2012Cultura21Animated Films, Berlin Germany, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Dangers Of Radioactivity, Educational Organization, Film Festival, Film Library, Francesca, Global Event, Global Societies, Independent Documentaries, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mexico City, Nuclear Fuel Chain, Nuclear Issues, Nuclear Waste, Oleg, Paris France, Profit Institutions, Rana, Rio De Janeiro, Sacha, Uranium, Uranium Exploration, Uranium Mining, Vitality

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The Uranium Film Festival of Rio de Janeiro is a global event with satellite festivals in other cities and countries. The Uranium Film Festival is a project of the Yellow Archives.

The goal of this Film Festival is to inform global societies about the nuclear fuel chain, the dangers of radioactivity, and the environmental and health risks of uranium exploration, mining, processing and also about nuclear waste. The festival stimulates the production of independent documentaries, movies and animated films about nuclear issues.

The Yellow Archives, the presenting organization of the Uranium Film Festival, is a cultural and educational organization and it is the first-ever film library in Brazil and Latin America dedicated to films about the whole nuclear fuel chain and radioactivity. The Yellow Archives hopes to increase public information about the nuclear power, about nuclear waste, uranium mining and radioactivity in general. Schools, universities, non-profit institutions will have access to the Yellow Archives. The films shall be used only for non-profit, educational and research purposes.

For more information about the Festival, the Films and schedules, please visit http://www.uraniofestival.org

Conference â€œCultural Dimensions of Climate Change and the Environment in North Americaâ€

June 27, 2012Cultura21Arctic North, Berlin Germany, Canada Climate, Changing Climate, Climate Change Impacts, Climate Science, Contradictions, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Deep South, Deniers, Emitters, Essen Germany, Francesca, Global Problem, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Human Dimensions, Humanities, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Mainstream Politics, Mexico City, Mitigation Efforts, North America, Oleg, Paris France, Political Beliefs, Rana, Regional Level, Sacha, Science Institutions, Symbolic Representation, Vitality

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The Conference will take place at theÂ Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen, Germany (June 28-29 , 2012)

Climate change is an inherently global problem. However, climate change impacts as well as mitigation efforts are always perceived and dealt with locally and in a culture-specific way. Global warming interacts in multiple ways with North American ecological and social systems. On the one hand, the U.S. and Canada belong to the worldâ€™s largest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases. On the other hand, the Arctic north of the continent as well as the Deep South is already heavily affected by a changing climate. Despite the USâ€™s and recently also Canadaâ€™s rejection of international binding climate targets, on the local and regional level, some of the worldâ€™s most ambitious climate initiatives can be found in North America.

Striking about the symbolic representation of climate change in the USA is a relatively huge cultural variety. While in Europe climate change deniers are largely marginalized and without influence on mainstream politics, American views on climate change and the environment become increasingly polarized according to political beliefs. And whereas the U.S. hosts some of the worldâ€™s leading climate science institutions, religious explanations of why global warming is or is not happening, repeatedly have found supporters in media and politics, too.

How can these contradictions be explained? The participants will deal with these questions in the course of the conference that focuses on the human dimensions and cultural representations of climate change and the environment in North America.

You can read the program here.

Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways III February â€“ June 2012

June 26, 2012Cultura21Abstract Reality, Anxieties, Berlin Germany, Byways, Coexistence, Collectives, Copenhagen Denmark, Country Artists, Cozzolino, Disciplinary Approach, Flora Fauna, Francesca, Home Remedies, India, Infrastructural Development, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Local Knowledge, Mexico City, Mythologies, Oleg, Ongoing Projects, Organic Movement, Paris France, Priya, Rana, Rathore, Reflection, Sacha, Visual Perspective, Vitality

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways is a project inviting reflection by artists on the anxieties embodied by the rank infrastructural development across India and its uncomfortable coexistence with local ecologies.

Now in its third year, the project has invited artists, collectives and other professionals to develop projects that are site-specific and have an inter-disciplinary approach. Mapping various sites across the country, artists and communities have come together to discuss the regeneration of the environments they inhabit. The project encourages the archiving of local knowledge and mythologies, flora, fauna, home remedies, stories and folklore as integral to the specific artistâ€™s intervention.

This years ongoing projects are:

NR 9: Akshay Rathore and Flora Boillot (Aulinjaa Village, Madhya Pradesh)

Abstract Reality: A Visual Perspective on the Organic Movement in Madhya Pradesh http://aulinjaamp.blogspot.in/

NR 10: Priya Ravish Mehra (Najibabad, District Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh)

Making the Invisible Visible: The Darning Tradition of India

http://rafoogari.wordpress.com/

NR 11: Uma Ray (Domahani, District Jamshedpur, Jharkhand)

Where the River Meets its People

http://wheretherivermeetsitspeople.blogspot.in/

Â For more information about the event and the ongoing projects , please click here.

Good Pitch Europe 2012 â€“ GPEU12

June 24, 2012Cultura21Alliances, Berlin Germany, Community Activism, Copenhagen Denmark, Cozzolino, Documentaries, Documentary Filmmakers, East Jerusalem, Financial Crisis, Foundations, Francesca, Freedom Of Speech, Great Britain, International Filmmakers, Kagan, Kajsa, Koefoed, Lgbt Rights, London Uk, Mexico City, Multinational Companies, Nonviolent Protest, Oleg, Outreach Campaign, Paris France, Pitch, Plight, Raft, Rana, Royal Institution, Sacha, Social Entrepreneurs, Social Issues, South Sudan, Vitality, War Crimes

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Good Pitch is an innovative model bringing together the skills of documentary filmmakers with NGOs, foundations, social entrepreneurs, brands, governments and media around leading social issues to expand the resources aimed at maximising the impact of social-issue documentary.

Good Pitch Europe will be held on 25th of June at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, UK. Eight filmmaking teams pitch their film and its associated outreach campaign to the assembled audience with the aim of creating a unique coalition and campaign around each film in order to accelerate its impact and influence and form alliances.

The final pitch is immediately followed by a Networking drinks event where nearly 100 filmmakers and around 300 participants can exchange ideas and contacts with broad discussion encouraged around the issues and challenges involved.

The eight selected projects are the work of a raft of international filmmakers, featuring stories from across the globe. These documentaries explore the European financial crisis, the plight of freedom of speech in the face of resistance from multinational companies, state-building and the emerging democracy of South Sudan, the fight for LGBT rights in Uganda, nonviolent protest and community activism in East Jerusalem, civil war crimes in Sri Lanka, surviving a devastating stroke, and the 21st century revolution in Egypt.

To know more about the event and the selected projects, visit http://goodfilm.org/