Yearly Archives: 2011

Sensory Worlds: Environment, Value and the Multi-Sensory

This post comes to you from Cultura21

7th-9th December, 2011; Edinburgh

“What contribution can sensorially-engaged Humanities make to environmental thinking and action?“

The conference “Sensory Worlds“ wants to examine the multi-sensory and will reflect upon the historical, contemporary and possible future relations between the senses (from balance to taste to the haptic and beyond). It aims to allow generously for both formal and informal discussions and dialogues. David Abram and Iain Borden will hold keynote presentations which are also open to the public.

Call for Papers: This call invites responses to the main theme, and asks that these are submitted to one of the following elements: Paper Sessions, Panel Sessions or Installations.

For more information on the conference and the call for papers, check the website:
http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/Sawyer/Conference.html

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 Three Gorges, 3rd Edition « Artwork by Sonja Hinrichsen

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The Three Gorges, 3rd Edition « Artwork by Sonja Hinrichsen.

Sonja Hinrichsen makes ephemeral works of great beauty.  These include walking in snow to create patterns.

Sonja Hinrichsen, Snow Drawings, Chatham, NY, 2011

 

These are reminiscent of neolithic marks on stones near Kilmartin, Scotland.

image from www.themodernantiquarian.com (click on image for many more)

Her most recent work is also ephemeral, but is the result of working in the Three Gorges in China.  This is an area changing as a result of the widely reported hydro-electric scheme. Note how she positions the viewer such that they cannot avoid being present in the landscape.

Sonja Hinrichsen, Three Gorges, 3rd Edition, multi-screen video projection, 2011

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

Public Art + Green Technology: Perspective from an Urban Sustainability Graduate Student

This post comes to you from Green Public Art

Green Public Art’s Intern, Jessica Kimmel is our guest blogger for this post. Below are her thoughts on art and green technology.

As an intern for Green Public Art, I have been in the process of researching new materials for artists to make their works be more environmentally responsible.

Art can act as a function for people’s imagination. It’s difficult to envision what the future could or will look like. As a society, we are currently thrusting our environmental missteps into the limelight everyday and immediate recovery does not seem imminent; but art has the potential to positively inspire people without the discouraging and overwhelming undertones.  All progressive green inspired projects take on an artistic form in one way or another.  Organic light emitting devices, a new emerging technology,  have been an exciting topic for researchers; offering new advances for displays and screen. OLEDs are composed of organic materials [made from a variety of phosphorescent elements including iridium, platinum, and iron] in pressed in layers. With a connection to an electrical source the OLED produces a light energy. See how OLEDs work.

The benefits of OLEDs is a brighter, crisper, display on a more durable and lighter electronic devices that consumes less power so batteries last longer and your energy bill gets lower. It also has a thinner and more flexible quality so it can be more purposeful. OLEDS potentially could be the future of all displays, screens, and much more, however there are difficulties. These devices do not handle water very well and as these are still a new technology, the costs of production are expensive.

There are many different types each with a different purpose: passive-matrix [better for small screens such as cell phones and MP3 players], active-matrix [best for large screen televisions, computer monitors and even billboards], transparent [allows light to pass through both directions even when on], top-emitting [can be reflective or opaque and also used in large displays], foldable [durability and flexibility makes this great in cell phones], and white OLEDs [with better colors and a brighter projection]. There are color options in OLED lighting as well; the color of the light emitted is determined by the components in the different layers.

Here are a few examples of how (OLED) can inspire people in different communities. When this light and display technology is made affordable and efficiently it could potentially replace all other forms of light because of it being brighter and utilizing less materials allowing it to be smaller and eventually cheaper for all forms of light: televisions, billboards, signs, electronic communications, cell phones, computers, appliances, and light bulbs. Because OLEDs can be made in large sheets, they can replace fluorescent lights that are currently used in homes and buildings and their use could potentially reduce energy costs for lighting.

Artists whom are making the strides to be more environmentally friendly could incorporate OLEDs in many different types of work: installations, sculptures, murals, photography, earthworks, video, graphic, and standardized fixtures including street lights, gates, and benches.

An OLED can be integrated as a direct component of a piece and it can also be used in the presentation of the artworks.  These devices can be artistically utilized to illuminate public spaces including parks and walkways, outdoor works of art, and also as the light source in an art piece.  By using solar power to charge and power the OLEDs, the environmental impact is minimal. Because this medium is flexible and be malleable it can be constructed in many forms, leaving many opportunities open to harness this new technology. Below you see some pieces that have encompassed the use of light and/ or digital media as a significant role.

Jason Bruges "Mimosa"

Both, Jason Bruges “Mimosa” and “You Fade to Art” by rAndom International have employed OLEDs for Philips Lumiblade.

Bruges is internationally renowned for his work with green technology. Mimosa, commissioned for Milan in 2010, is an interactive artwork displaying behavior that mimics responsive plant systems.The piece was inspired by the Mimosa family of plants, which change kinetically to suit their environmental conditions. The studio has used the slim form of individual OLEDs to create delicate “light petals”, forming flowers, which open and close in response to visitors.

rAndom International "You Fade to Art"

rAndom International’s projects emphasize the interaction between the audience and the inanimate object. In their work “You Fade to Art” the team designed a large wall of multiple mirrors to interactively follow the viewer’s body movements with light. The work was exhibited at the International Design Museum, Munich in 2010.

The works of Jason Krugman embody the use of light and sometimes video and I think that his work ultimately could use OLEDs, making his illuminated figurative sculptures brighter, malleable, and even interactive with the public.

And, think of Chicago’s Millennium Park where artist Jaume Plensa created a gorgeous glass block tower titled “The Crown Fountain” with flowing water, fountains, and flickering images of a thousand Chicago natives. Now imagine that same project replacing the glass and projection machines with OLEDs and solar energy – not only is the image brighter but it is more crisp and now energy efficient.

Organic Light Emitting Devices used in public art pieces could make art more educational, interactive, and astonishing. They should be considered in the future of artistic expression.

About the blogger: Jessica Kimmel is a master’s degree student in Urban Sustainability at Antioch University Los Angeles. Through her internship at Green Public Art Consultancy and ecoartspace, Jessica’s hope is to encourage environmental discourse in the local community and solidify artists as relevant stakeholders in the green movement.

 

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art, is an art consultant who specializes in artist solicitation, artist selection, and public art project management for both private and public agencies. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED certified buildings.

Green Public Art is a Los Angeles-based consultancy that was founded in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building. The consultancy specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, creative community involvement and knowledge of LEED building requirements. Green Public Art also works with emerging and mid-career studio artists to demystify the public art process. The consultancy acts as a resource for artists to receive one-on-one consultation before, during, and after applying for a public art project.
Go to Green Public Art

Natural Rights

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Philosophically speaking ‘natural rights‘ is an element of an argument about the basis of the rights that individuals have in society.

What if nature had rights?  What if there was a Ministry of Mother Earth?  What if the experiences of people living with land were given priority?  Remember that capitalisms roots are in the extraction of value from land ownership.  The most fundamental challenge to capitalism is to challenge underlying historically based assumptions of nature’s use.  Give nature the same rights as humans.

That’s what the Bolivians are in the process of doing.  That’s provocative.  You can find a number of short pieces, including this one, and if anyone can point me to a longer discussion it would be appreciated.

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

A final posting from Cape Farewell expedition

Shiants - watercolor by John Cumming

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Kellie Gutman writes: The artist, sculptor and writer John Cummingtook part in the fourth and final week of Cape Farewell’s expedition to the Shetland Islands this summer.  John was born and raised in Burra Isle, Shetland. He writes:

What draws me to these places is hard to define.  The journey is part of the magic.  The sea is endlessly, and wonderfully alive; unlike concrete, unlike tarmacadam.  No two sea journeys are ever the same.  On the trip to North Rona, we met families of dolphin, Risso’s, basking sharks and minke whales.  The sea was calm, the swell long and leaden.  The night-time journey back was before a north-easterly gale, sailing only on the jib.   Driving southwards at eight to ten knots, we listened to the clicking of a school of pilot whales some three miles away.

Next day the sheer sculptural magnificence of the Shiants was a revelation.  I have a personal lexicography of island profiles; the Kame of Hoy; the Kame of Foula; the Drongs of Eshaness; each place uniquely powerful and awe inspiring, yet even now, weeks later the basalt columns and screes of the shiants are etched on the back of my eyelids.

For his complete posting, including additional sketches, as well as postings of others on the expedition, see the Cape Farewell blog here.

 

“ashdenizen 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 UK” (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

Heartwood

'Ogon-no-ki' by Elodie Lefebvre, 2011

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

There is a recurrent theme in the work of some artists in Scotland – it is an enquiry and response to our relationship with landscape and nature.  Other places evoke this enquiry as well, but Scotland has a particular tradition. Heartwood, which is now in its third year, is an artist-led (organised, curated, invented, managed, initiated, imagined, selected) thing.  Open for a week in September in Perthshire when the leaves are turning, perhaps the most beautiful time of year, the exhibition comprises work by the artist organisers as well as invited artists.

Venue: Monkquell, Brucefield Road, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, PH10 6LA.

Heartwood is at Monkquell, Brucefield Road in Rosemount, on the East side of A923 about 3 miles from Coupar Angus towards Blairgowrie, Perthshire. From Blairgowrie it is one mile towards Coupar Angus.

Dates & Opening Hours:
Sat 3 – Sun 11 September,
10 am – 5 pm.

Heartwood Press Release EAS. 

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

Cultural Events in Bangalore

This post comes to you from Cultura21

By Benjamin Smith

The Bangalore-based collective “Maraa” invites you, as a parallel to the “Walls Between People” photo exhibition that opens on September 9th, to a series of three interesting events in Bangalore (India).

Movement and Stillness – a theatre workshop on walls, conflict and trust.

Please join us for a three hours theatre workshop on the themes of trust and conflict. During the workshop, the participants will use movement and storytelling to produce short improvisations that will be performed before an audience. The workshop is free and it is limited to a maximum of 20 participants, please confirm your participation before 5th September by mailing us on info [at] maraa [dot] in
Participants will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

Date: Friday, 9th September
Time: 3-6 pm + sharing
Location: Dance Studio, Alliance Française de Bangalore

–

Before and After Walls: An introspective exercise through collective viewing of a film

Hiroshima Mon Amour: A film that uses love as a metaphor for war, forgetfulness as a curse on memory, and the contemporary as a repetition of history. Directed by French film director Alain Resnais, with a screenplay by Marguerite Duras, it is the documentation of an intensely personal conversation between a French-Japanese couple, making highly innovative use of miniature flashbacks to create a uniquely nonlinear storyline. The story meanders between then and now simultaneously, struggling between remembering and forgetting, wars and lovers. The screening will be followed by a discussion and interactive activities that will revolve around keywords, thematic questions and re-screening of specific scenes from the film.

Date: Wednesday 14th September
Time: 6.30 pm
Location: Auditorium, Alliance Française de Bangalore

–

Beyond Walls – An evening of poetry and storytelling

Poets and poetry lovers are welcome to take part in an evening of poetry and short story reading followed by a participatory storytelling session. Themes of conflict, division, belonging and refuge will be at the centre of the event. The participants are invited to bring their own poems and stories to share with the group. The event is open and free.

Date: Saturday 17th September
Time: 5.00 pm
Location: Dance Studio, Alliance Française de Bangalore

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