Yearly Archives: 2012

International Conference:“Popular Culture and Social Transformation”

This post comes to you from Cultura21

What can we learn about social transformations from popular culture?

The two- day conference, entitled “Popular Culture and Social Transformation”,  will be held in Oslo on 4-5 October 2012.

The aim of the conference is through a variety of sessions and topics to address how popular culture is not only a mirror of society, but also a crucial element of power; the keynote speakers are Simon Lindgren and Jason Dittmer.

For those interested in joining the conference, the deadline for abstracts is May 15th, 2012.

The call for papers is available here.

For more information about the conference, please visit:

http://www.uio.no/kultrans/aktuelt/konferanser/popular/

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

Key Issues Guide on Indigenous knowledge and climate change

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Indigenous communities have long been recognised as being particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to the close connection between their livelihoods, culture, spirituality and social systems and their environment. At the same time, however, this deep and long-established relationship with the natural environment affords many indigenous peoples with knowledge that they have long used to adapt to environmental change, and are now using to respond to the impacts of climate change.

The potential of indigenous knowledge for informing observations of, and responses to climate change is an area of growing interest. The United Nations University published a compendium, available online, which presents a wide-ranging overview of more than 400 projects, case studies and research activities specifically related to climate change and Indigenous Peoples (IP).

That  publication, as well as other resources, can be  found on the website of the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex (UK): Click here

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

Fear Me No More: Performance, Activism and Permaculture.

A free workshop with the Laboratory of Insurectionary Imagination.

Hamburg, Kampnagel. August 2012.

Join us in an intensive workshop merging performance, activism and the design science of Permaculture run by the infamous artivist collective The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination.  Held as part of Kampnagel’s Summer Festival in Hamburg, the workshop is Act 1 of What is Enough ? the Labofii’s 16th experiment. At the end of the workshop, participants will have the chance to perform in a live piece of art activism (Act 2 – Natural Revenge).

Fear Me No More aims to make productive connections between artists and activists within the framework of Permaculture. A set of tools for building a postcapitalist society, Permaculture teaches us to mimic the efficiency, diversity and resilience of natural ecosystems. This fulltime workshop is an ideal introduction for those wishing to explore new forms of creative resistance and horizontal politics.

“It reminds us of the time when it was still possible for free theatre to try out a loving anarchic social utopia… This is about saying goodbye to representation and is therefore the most radical form of theatre” -Frankfurter Rundschau.

For more information and application forms (deadline May 31st) click here. The workshop will be run in english.

Workshop Act 1:  12th-19th August, Kampnagel.
Rehearsal (optional):  20th-23rd August, Kampnagel.
Performance Action (optional) Act 2:  24th August, 7pm. Kampnagel.

What is Enough? is accompanied by the publication of our film/book Pfade durch Utopia (Paths Through Utopias) in Germany,  with Nautilus.

Wendell E. Berry Lecture | National Endowment for the Humanities

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Suzaan Boettger drew attention to Wendell Berry’s Lecture “It all turns on affection”, given to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Wendell Berry is one of the great advocates for places and for a way of life that is committed to place and nature.  There are some standout parts of this lecture.

His critique of capitalism and philanthropy is damning,

“If you can appropriate for little or nothing the work and hope of enough such farmers [or for that matter any other workers – ed], then you may dispense the grand charity of “philanthropy.”

When arguments are made for philanthropy, remember that there is a choice: perhaps not accumulating great wealth might in some cases mean that more people have had better lives and more environments are less depleted.

But Berry’s argument for imagination is the most important, developed and illuminating aspect of this lecture.

The sense of the verb “to imagine” contains the full richness of the verb “to see.” To imagine is to see most clearly, familiarly, and understandingly with the eyes, but also to see inwardly, with “the mind’s eye.” It is to see, not passively, but with a force of vision and even with visionary force. To take it seriously we must give up at once any notion that imagination is disconnected from reality or truth or knowledge. It has nothing to do either with clever imitation of appearances or with “dreaming up.” It does not depend upon one’s attitude or point of view, but grasps securely the qualities of things seen or envisioned.

I will say, from my own belief and experience, that imagination thrives on contact, on tangible connection. For humans to have a responsible relationship to the world, they must imagine their places in it. To have a place, to live and belong in a place, to live from a place without destroying it, we must imagine it. By imagination we see it illuminated by its own unique character and by our love for it. By imagination we recognize with sympathy the fellow members, human and nonhuman, with whom we share our place. By that local experience we see the need to grant a sort of preemptive sympathy to all the fellow members, the neighbors, with whom we share the world. As imagination enables sympathy, sympathy enables affection. And it is in affection that we find the possibility of a neighborly, kind, and conserving economy.

Wendell E. Berry Lecture | National Endowment for the Humanities.

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 ResearchGray’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

Opportunity to make work at Teaneck Creek

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The Ecoart Committee of the Teaneck Creek Conservancy in Teaneck, NJ seeks proposals from ecoartists or ecoartist teams to create an ecoartwork in 2012-13.

The Teaneck Creek Conservancy is a 46-acre eco-park within Bergen County’s 1,200-acre Overpeck Park, this property is being reclaimed and rehabilitated as wetland habitat and for positive public use through a unique “Brownfields to Greenfields” project. Community-based plans for the Conservancy are developed by artists, activists, scientists, historians, educators in a non profit partnership with local government over the past ten years. These plans have created a park with a 1.5 mile trail system for passive recreation, eco art, wetlands research and rehabilitation, and public outreach and education that is focused on the property’s environmental resources, land use, and history.

For this project, they are seeking an experienced ecoart practicioner, who´s capable of responding imaginatively to a recovering urban forested wetland, and will work collaboratively with community students and volunteers, and mentor a local artist in the creation of the piece.The work should build support among the larger community for an understanding and definition of ecoart that is inclusive yet underscores the notion of ecology and our impact on this recovering environment. The process will be video documented throughout the residency period.

The Anticipated total budget including artist(s) fee is a range of USD$15000. – 20000.

To apply, you can submit via email by June 1, 2012 to devery [at] teaneckcreek [dot] org :

1) A brief artists statement of interest outlining a preliminary proposal for this site project. (Interested artists are strongly encouraged to visit the Conservancy prior to making a submission.)

2) Up to 5 images of representative works that address the requirements of this RFP. Images should be smaller than 1MB. A website address can be substituted. They are interested in viewing your work as an ecoart practitioner.

3) C.V. , either via e-mail or associated with a website.

4) Contact information including daytime phone number.

You can check the proposal form at  Teaneck Creek´s website and you can also check www.PuffinFoundation.org  for further information and directions.

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

Collapse: The Cry of Silent Forms

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
BRANDON BALLENGÉE
Collapse: The Cry of Silent Forms
May 5 – June 16

Vertical fall in the Winter call that dances in the spring nocturnal…, 2010/2012 from “A Season in Hell Series, Deadly Born Cry” unique digital chromogenic print 64 x 56 inches In scientific collaboration with Stanley K. Sessions Title from a poem by KuyDelair

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts 31 Mercer Street | New York, NY 10013 | 212-226-3232 | www.feldmangallery.com

Brandon Ballengée, a visual artist and biologist, will exhibit sculptural installations and photographs at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in his first major solo exhibition in New York.  The exhibition, Collapse: The Cry of Silent Forms, consists of three bodies of work that explore the effect of ecological degradation on marine life and avian and amphibian populations.  Synthesizing scientific inquiry with art-making, Ballengée transforms his field research into metaphors that reduce life to its essentials.

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 ResearchGray’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

Land Art Generator Initiative 2012

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

“Renewable Energy can be beautiful”

In partnership with New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation, the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition is being held for a site within Freshkills Park (the former Fresh Kills Landfill) in New York City.

Deadline 1 July 2012.

“At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years. The transformation of what was formerly the world’s largest landfill into a productive and beautiful cultural destination will make the park a symbol of renewal and an expression of how our society can restore balance to its landscape.

In addition to providing a wide range of recreational opportunities, including many uncommon in the city, the park’s design, ecological restoration and cultural and educational programming will emphasize environmental sustainability and a renewed public concern for our human impact on the earth.” – FRESHKILLS PARK

The design brief is similar to that of the 2010 edition. In summary, LAGI 2012 is an ideas competition to design a site-specific public artwork that, in addition to its conceptual beauty, has the ability to harness energy cleanly from nature and convert it to electricity for the utility grid.

The expansiveness of the design site at Freshkills Park presents the opportunity to power the equivalent of thousands of homes with the artwork. The stunning beauty of the reclaimed landscape and the dramatic backdrop of the Manhattan skyline will provide an opportune setting from which to be inspired, and it offers the perfect environment for a showcase example of the immense potential of aesthetically interesting renewable energy installations for sustainable urban planning.

The monetary prize award ($15,000 First Prize, $4,000 Second Prize, $1,000 High School Edition Winner) will not guarantee a commission for construction; however, LAGI will work with stakeholders both locally (NYC) and internationally to pursue possibilities for implementation of the most pragmatic and aesthetic LAGI designs.

For more information: http://landartgenerator.org/competition.html

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