Yearly Archives: 2011

JALAN JATI (Teak Road) Or the Secret Lives of Forest Products

This post comes to you from Cultura21

A Contemporary Art & Ecology Exhibition on Tropical Forests, Wood & Humans, Using DNA Timber Tracking Technology

By the Migrant Ecologies Project, Singapore

The project traces the “memories” of a teak bed purchased in 21 century Singapore back to the site in the region from which the teak tree originated with the help of DNA timber-tracking technology. Where the project as a whole carries with it a message about the international consumption of illegal forest products, the art works (photography, woodprint collage and stop motion) explore the secret lives of teak trees and timber as materials, metaphors, magic, ecological resources and historical agents.

More info: www.migrantecologies.org

Picture on the left: RANJANG JATI. The Teak Bed That Sent Four Humans to Muna Island Sulawesi and Back Again. By Lucy Davis. Photo Shannon Lee Castleman.

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

4×4 Dance Body and the Environment

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Bodysurf Scotland is organising a major event 18th – 29th April 2010 entitled 4X4 Dance Body And The Environment with Guest Artists: Jennifer Monson, Simon Whitehead, Helen Poynor, Angus Balbernie and Simon McPherson.

4×4 takes place at two distinctive locations:

The Findhorn Eco-village – a major international centre dedicated to personal and planetary transformation, with access to The Universal Hall Arts Centre theatre, dune-lands, gardens, woods and coastline.

Dundreggan, Glen Moriston, Scottish Highlands – a 10,000 acre estate, owned and run by the charity, Trees For Life, who work to help restore the Caledonian Forest.

See web site for details on participation.

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

New artist call “Cool Stories For When The Planet Gets Hot III” launched

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Richard Jochum: Halt (video still), 2007 (finalist COOL STORIES II)

ARTPORT_making waves, an international art project which raises awareness of current social and political issues worldwide through theme-oriented exhibitions, residency programs and artists collaborations, proudly presents the third edition of its video contest “Cool Stories For When The Planet Gets Hot” on global warming.

After two successful editions, for the third edition ARTPORT collaborates with CINEMA PLANETA, the award-winning International Environmental Film Festival in Cuernavaca, Mexico. We invite video artists worldwide to participate with works that explore global warming, focusing on forests in honor of the United Nations International Year of Forests 2011. Artists are encouraged to tell us their stories about deforestation or tree planting and its positive effects; they may also opt to approach the topic of symbolic, psychological or socio-political significances of forests. Our aim is to present a convincing survey of the current artistic exploration of this topic worldwide with 20 etablished and emerging artists, edited into a visually and conceptually coherent compilation by ARTPORT_making waves. The final winner will be awarded an artist residency.

Deadline for submitting proposals is May 9, 2011.

For more information: www.artport-project.org

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 Electricity Fairy

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The Electricity Fairy is a new film which approaches the issue of mountaintop removal from the everyday need for electricity:

“They reach out and flip the switch and the light comes on.  Well, there”s not a magic electricity fairy.  That electricity comes from a power plant that feeds on coal”.

But the question of coal-fired power is not a just a question for China and Appalachia, it is also a question for Scotland.  Should a major new coal-fired power station be built at Hunterston?

http://www.conchcampaign.org/

http://www.ayrshirepower.co.uk/

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