Wooloo

7 BILLIONTH PERSON PROJECT

We have roughly 1,000 days before the seventh billion human being joins the rest of us on Planet Earth. We do not know what country she will be born in, or who her family will be, or if she will be a she or a he.  But we do know this being will join the rest of us as a citizen of this world.  Working on a welcome message to our seventh billion fellow human being provides us with a rare but overdue opportunity for introspection as well as a frank accounting of the implicit responsibilities we have toward other human beings and future generations.  What would you like to tell her about this world, about life, about your story?  What would you like to show her about the world? The 7 Billionth Person Project aims to collect creative expressions from citizens from around the world.  Visual submissions are highly encouraged.  All media accepted.

Partners for the exhibition include The Arts Council of New Haven, Proof: Media for Social Justice, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, and the Yale World Fellows Program.   Website: http://www.collectiveanswers.org.

Questions? Email Valerie Belanger at info@collectiveanswers.org

via WOOLOO.ORG – 7 BILLIONTH PERSON PROJECT.

THE CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE IN THE ARTS ANNOUNCES PANELISTS FOR “SUSTAINABILITY IN THEATRE”, A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH UK AND US LEADERS IN GREENING THE ARTS.

 

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE A TICKET FOR FREE

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) will host a panel on issue of sustainability and “greening” the arts on Monday, August the 16th. A leader in the sustainable arts movement in the US, the CSPA will bring together key players in the sustainable arts movement in the UK to talk about the future of theatre and performance in the face of climate change. Guests will include Sam Goldblatt, Wallace Heim, Mhora Samuel, Bryan Raven of White Light LTD, and CSPA directors Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright. The panel will be presented from  10:00am until noon on Monday, August 16th at Fringe Central. The event is free, but ticket reservations are encourage and can be made through the fringe box office.

In addition to showcasing the latest news from UK innovators in sustainable practice for the arts, the CSPA’s directors Ian Garrett and Miranda Wright will present initiatives and resources being developed around the world. These will include San Diego’s Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company’s Green Theater Choices Toolkit, Toronoto’s York University and their MFA in sustainable design for the theater, Mexico’s “El Sabino” led by Laura Kuri and her brother Claudio Kuri, director of Montezeuma at the Edinburgh International Festival, and Denmark’s Wooloo with their New Life Festival focused on Art and Hospitality.

  • Sam Goldblatt is an arts and events producer, and author of the textbook Greener Meetings and Events, to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2011 as part of their Event Management Series. In Washington, DC, he served as Environmental Officer for the Capital Fringe Festival, creating theatre venues from reused building materials.
  • Dr. Wallace Heim researches, writes and teaches on performance and nature, on the philosophical dimensions of ‘art and ecology’, and on climate change and social practice. She does this in many places. She is co-editor ofwww.ashdendirectory.org.uk; and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Performance and Ecology. She taught on the MA Arts and Ecology at Dartington College of Arts; co-curated the conference/event BETWEEN NATURE; co-edited Nature Performed. Environment, Culture and Performance. She is a director of the research communication group PublicSpace, an FRSA, and a trustee for PLATFORM. She also has worked for many years as a set designer for theatre and television/film, and was a co-founder of the Gate Theatre, London.
  • Mhora Samuel began her career as a dancer and choreographer in Scotland and as Administrator for the Gregory Nash Group in Oxford. She moved to London in 1989 as Centre Co-ordinator for Chisenhale Dance Space, and in 1991 was appointed as Director of Total Theatre, the UK lead body for physical and visual performance. She joined ABL Cultural Consulting in 1998 where she worked on a range of capital feasibility studies and arts strategies. In 2001 she was appointed Chief Executive of the Cultural Industries Development Agency, the leading business support regeneration agency for the cultural and creative industries sector in East London. Mhora joined The Theatres Trust in January 2006 as Director and has led on the development of specific environmental advice for theatres, contributing to the Mayor of London’s Green Theatre Plan in 2008 and successfully achieving European Funding for the Trust’s Three Year Ecovenue project, helping to improve the environmental performance of London’s theatres.
  • Bryan Raven is Managing Director of White Light and has been with the company for over 23 years. Since then White Light has grown from 17 staff with a turnover of just over £1M to the current size with 120 staff and turnover of nearly £20M and projects all over the world as well as continuing to be the leading supplier of lighting to the UK theatre industry. His career started with a brief spell at Theatre Projects after spending two years realising that lighting was a lot more fun than mechanical engineering at Imperial College. He has been at the forefront of White Light’s desire to improve both it’s own environmental record and also that of the industry as a whole. He was part of the team responsible for Mayor of London’s Greening London Theatre programmes and is a member of Julies Bicycle theatre steering group.

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HOSPITALITY FOR CLIMATE ACTIVISTS IN MEXICO #Cop16

In December 2009, the art collective Wooloo secured housing for more than 3.000 activists coming to the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen (NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN).

Now the NEW LIFE hospitality experiment continues in Mexico during COP16 (Nov. 29 – Dec. 10, 2010.)

NEW LIFE CANCUN is aiming to connect visiting activists and NGO employees with local families in the summit location of Cancún, Mexico. An area infamous for its vulnerability to climate disasters, as well as for the high-CO2 emissions associated with its tourism sector.

Utilizing this large meeting of hosts and guests in Cancun as our exhibition platform, we hereby invite artists and activists to explore its social architecture and suggest work proposals of an awareness, educational and/or practical-action nature designed around the topic: “NEW WAYS OF LIVING TOGETHER”.

Individuals or groups working with interventions, activism and other participatory practices are invited to apply for participation at www.wooloo.org/newlifecancun

The deadline for work proposals is AUGUST 1st, 2010.

NEW LIFE CANCUN is a collaboration between Wooloo and the Mexican climate change collective Carbonding.

ABOUT WOOLOO

Wooloo (founded 2002) is a networked artist group operating through the online community www.wooloo.org.

Mixing digital communication with physical participation, Wooloo has developed a working method based on the advocacy of collectivity. While the Wooloo website currently connects the resources of more than 13.000 cultural producers in 140 countries, the group’s various projects function as social experiments in direct collectivism.

Wooloo projects have been presented in such places as Artists Space (USA), Basel Kunsthalle (Switzerland) and later this year at the European Biennial Manifesta 8 (Spain).

For more information, please see: www.wooloo.org and www.wooloo.org/newlifecancun

NEW LIFE CANCUN Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals

Artists working with interventions, activism and other participatory practices are invited to apply for participation in NEW LIFE CANCUN. This experimental hospitality project will take place during the UN Climate Change summit (COP 16) in Canc̼n, Mexico from 29 Nov Р10 Dec 2010.

In continuation of Wooloo’s NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN festival – in which we secured housing for more than 3.000 activists coming to the Copenhagen summit – NEW LIFE CANCUN is aiming to connect visiting activists and NGO employees with local families in the area of Cancún, infamous for its vulnerability to climate disasters (mainly hurricanes), as well as for the high-CO2 emissions associated with its tourism sector.

Utilising this meeting of hosts and guests in Cancun as our exhibition platform, artists and activists are invited to explore its social architecture and suggest work proposals of an awareness, educational and/or practical-action nature designed around the topic: “NEW WAYS OF LIVING TOGETHER”.

Up to five artists will be selected for participation and will get all travel, accommodation and production costs covered by Wooloo. Proposals must include a detailed budget. As fundraising efforts are still ongoing, we do not yet know the size of our final production budget. However, it wont be large – so please be aware that your project must be able to be realized in a low-budget manner!

The deadline for work proposals is Thu 1 August 2010.

Please direct all research questions to contact[at]wooloo.org

NEW LIFE is an ongoing series of works focusing on social and artistic experimentation. Staged by Wooloo and taking place in institutions and public spaces worldwide, NEW LIFE aims to be a test field for new ways of living together on our planet.

NEW LIFE CANCUN is a collaboration between Wooloo.org and the Mexican climate change collective Carbonding.

via ==criticalnetwork== NEW LIFE CANCUN.

WOOLOO.ORG – NEW LIFE CANCÚN

Artists working with interventions, activism and other participatory practices are invited to apply for participation in NEW LIFE CANCUN.

This experimental hospitality initiative intends to promote and facilitate participation during the UN Climate Change summit (COP 16) in Cancún, Mexico at the end of 2010 (Nov. 29th – Dec. 10th).

In continuation of Wooloo’s NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN festival – in which we secured housing for more than 3.000 activists during the Copenhagen summit – NEW LIFE CANCUN is aiming to connect visiting activists and NGO employees with local families in the area of Cancún.An area infamous for its vulnerability to climate disasters (mainly hurricanes), as well as for the high-CO2 emissions associated with its tourism sector.

Utilizing this meeting of hosts and guests in Cancun as our exhibition platform, artists and activists are invited to explore its social architecture and suggest work proposals of an awareness, educational and/or practical-action nature designed around the topic: “NEW WAYS OF LIVING TOGETHER”.

The deadline for work proposals is JULY 1st, 2010.

Please direct all research questions to contact@wooloo.org

Proposals must include a detailed budget. As fundraising efforts are still ongoing, we do not yet know the size of our final production budget. However, it wont be large – so please be aware that your project must be able to be realized in a low-budget manner!

NEW LIFE CANCUN is a collaboration between Wooloo.org and the Mexican climate change collective Carbonding

Image credit: Stephanie Claverie

via WOOLOO.ORG – NEW LIFE CANCÚN.

WOOLOO.ORG in ARTFORUM

An Excerpt from Daniel Boese’s article in ARTFORUM on Wooloo’s “New Life Coppenhagen”.

“We work in the medium of hospitality,” Rosengaard says. The “New Life” project created the possibility for strangers to share their homes and experiences, to thus collaborate under the broad goal of addressing climate change in a global conference and treaty. All participants created the work together, unlike public art projects in which artists serve as teachers for a lay public. Individual acts of hospitality create hope in the face of planetary ecological crisis; strangers can agree and cooperate. But our heads of state did not follow suit; they failed to usher in an age of global cooperation at the summit. “New Life” walked the line between art and activism in a new way, updating tactics pioneered by Beuys, Gran Fury, and the Russian Constructivists: Times have changed, and the problems have only become more urgent.

WOOLOO.ORG.

WOOLOO.ORG – 3RD BAGASBAS BEACH INTERNATIONAL ECO-ARTS FESTIVAL 2010

We are accepting proposals for three sections of the 3rd BBIEAF 2010 to be held in Daet, Camarines Norte, Philippines from May 30 till June 6, 2010. On its third iteration, the BBIEAF is still a community-based art festival that links up Art, Environment and Sustainability. The three main divisions are Installation Art, Video Art and Public Furniture. Artists are immersed in their respective adoptive communities, and together with the members of those communities, construct large-scale bamboo installations on the beach. Video artists will have their works shown in and around the town of Daet.

Interested artists can send a sketch of their installation proposal as well as their CV, or in the case of video art, a clip of their videos and a CV, and in case of the public furniture, a sketch  and a CV.

Please email all submissions to bbieaf@yahoo.com. Follow us @bbieaf at Twitter and bbieaf camnorte on Facebook.

WOOLOO.ORG – 3RD BAGASBAS BEACH INTERNATIONAL ECO-ARTS FESTIVAL 2010.

WOOLOO.ORG News & Opportunities

This December, Wooloo.org organized free accommodation for more than 3,000 activists who could not otherwise have come to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Using this large-scale human meeting as the exhibition platform for our NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN festival, we invited artists to provide form and content to the interactions of more than 6,000 activists and host families. Not through physical works of art, but via social experiments engaging our participants to investigate new ways of living together.

The participating artists and activists were: Superflex (DK), Climate Justice Fast! (Global), The Yes Men (US), Raketa (SE), Signa(A/DK), Open Dialogues (UK) and Angelica Canchumani (PE).

Through diverse works and interventions, the participants in Copenhagen were – among many other things – given a special guide book for their meeting, challenged to consider an ecological burial in case of their immediate death, asked to pledge to never drink Coca-cola again and given a special guide book in the power relations among guests and hosts.

You can watch videos of the different festival projects and learn more at:
www.wooloo.org/festival


THE TRAVELLERS BOX
Deadline Mar. 01, 2010
Open Call for The Travellers Box project, an ongoing international, collaborative, web-based project.

FIT – FREIE INTERNATIONALE TANKSTELLE. FILLING STATION FOR THE CREATIVE
Deadline Mar. 31, 2010
The mission of FIT is to reclaim the abandoned architecture of filling stations and to rebrand their original function as sources of fossil fuel.

2010 RESIDENCIES AVAILABLE
Deadline Oct. 01, 2010
Elsewhere Collaborative is a living museum and experimental production environment in downtown Greensboro, NC.

THE PIGEON WING: CALL FOR CURATORIAL PROJECT PROPOSALS
Deadline Feb. 28, 2010
The Pigeon Wing presents an annual series of exhibitions curated by both invited and house curators.

Towards an alternative statement of the way forward on climate change. A series of 1000 interviews during the UN COP15 as part of New Life Copenhagen. #COP15

This evening I went to meet up with Martin Rosengaard of Wooloo.org, the organization behind the New Life Copenhagen Festival. He had joined Open Dialogues, who are working here in Copenhagen as part of the festival. I got the chance to talk to them briefly about their work after being interviewed for their project myself. Here is a sample of their work. It is the first interview in their archive:

Full Audio Archive

Linked HERE is an audio archive of interviews that are being added to each day whilst Open Dialogues are in Copenhagen.

The archive is ordered chronologically – just click on the ‘+’ button to hear the interviews.

Question Time   » Interviews.

My Copenhagen hosts…

I met the family who have agreed to host my brief stay in Copenhagen. They were warm, and extremely welcoming. If the idea behind wooloo.org’s New Life Copenhagen initiative  – which matches visitors to host families – is to embody the a new openness, then it may well be working. They are not the sort of people whose paths would normally cross with mine; Lars is involved in local politics as a right-wing politician. Gitte, his partner, says the Danish rarely invite people into their homes. But that is the point. Last night, over tea, we talked, all thoroughly enjoying the strangeness of it.

I wonder if we will get around to completing the questions in the New Life Copenhagen Guest/Host book that was left by my bed for us all to fill inF?

Would you describe yourself as an argumentative person?

Have you ever discriminated against somebody?

Have you ever been a victim of war?

Find an item in the home of your host that you find strange.

Go to RSA Arts & Ecology