Yearly Archives: 2013

Tipping Point event London

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Representing Uncertainty

Who: Academics at KCL and artists from the wider community

When: Tuesday 2 July 2013, 5:00-9:00 pm

Where: Pyramid Room, Strand Campus, King’s College London

TippingPoint_logo2

TippingPoint, in partnership with the King’s Cultural Institute, is going to be holding a series of workshops that brings together academics from King’s College London with artists and other interested parties in the wider community. The aim is to explore particular subjects in depth, subjects which are of particular interest to the academics concerned, the artistic community, the broader public, and which also have a bearing on climate change.

We are delighted to announce that the first of these “Representing Uncertainty” will take place on Tuesday, 2 July 2013 from 5.00 to 9.00 PM, in the Pyramid Room (K4U.04, King’s Building, 4th Floor) at the Strand campus of King’s College London (see Building ‘A’ in the bottom map here).

Bruce D. Malamud, Professor of Natural and Environmental Hazards in the Department of Geography, will be presenting his perspective on the subject of how uncertainty can be represented, to be echoed by a presentation by an artist. The idea is to bring together scientific, artistic and other views on uncertainty in the world around us, so that different viewpoints might learn from each other.

This will be a working session, with plenty of opportunity for discussion in groups. It will also be very open-ended; if possible, Bruce is keen to pursue some form of scientific-artistic collaboration, and the possibility will certainly exist of applying for funding to support this under the KCI’s Creative Futures Programme.

This will certainly be an evening to attend if you are interested in the subject from an artistic perspective. Please let Yvonne Castle (yvonne.castle@kcl.ac.uk) know if you would like to attend. Drinks and nibbles will be served!

 

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.
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Land Arts Generator Initiative events

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Arsenal-Gallery-200x300June 27- August 30, Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York

“Our civilization has been built on non-renewable resources and an outmoded presumption that nature is limitless. Certainly art will continue to serve many purposes; however, for artists and designers who choose to engage in what Joanna Macy terms The Great Turning, what is the role of beauty?” —Ann T. Rosenthal

This opening event kick off the summer exhibition at Arsenal Gallery (in Central Park), NYC, is also act as the book launch to their latest publication “Regenerative Infrastructures,” which features 60 submissions to the 2012 LAGI design competition for Freshkills Park as well as several essays, including “Redefining Beauty within the Context of Sustainability” by Ann Rosenthal

Formerly a symbol of immense urban waste, the Fresh Kills Landfill is being transformed into an enormous parkland destined to exemplify the values of ecological restoration and environmental sustainability. In partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the Land Art Generator Initiative held an ideas competition for a site-specific public artwork designed to operate as a source of clean energy for the city utility grid, using Freshkills Park as the design site. This volume features many of the top submissions to that open call, each with the capacity to power hundreds of homes. The Land Art Generator Initiative creates sustainable design solutions that integrate art and technology into renewable energy infrastructure around the world. Regenerative Infrastructures draws a much needed connection between the two critical issues of sustainable development—energy generation and waste management—highlighting solutions that address both problems at once, thereby creating economically beneficial hybrid utility installations.

For more information : http://landartgenerator.org/newsevents/

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

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Cultura21: How can culture lead transformations?

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

culture21_collage_june2013In the coming year, Cultura21 Nordic will be working with partners to bring pioneering agents from the Baltic Sea Region together and create a ‘flagship project’ on the issue of culture and sustainability: ‘Baltic Sea Region cooperation with a focus on culture as a part of sustainable development’.

In April 2013, Cultura 21 Nordic and Innogate launched a 16-page report titled ‘Culture and Sustainable Development in the Baltic Sea Region – 8 findings, a number of opportunities and a way forward…’.

The Baltic Sea Region is very rich in networks and cooperation efforts – many of which build on and impact on culture and sustainable development. The mapping and findings reported aim to identify current actors, networks and existing relevant cooperation activities that address specific areas related to culture and sustainability in the Baltic Sea Region.

Commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and based on research interviews with, among many others, cultural institutions such as the Danish Cultural Institute, the Swedish Institute, Intercult, and Heinrich Böll Stiftung, the report is meant to serve as as a point of departure for discussions which, when duly digested, will lead to concrete and feasible activities designed to enable culture to impact more strongly on sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region.

The report also points at key areas of interest for further cooperation.

Perhaps not surprisingly the first finding in the year-long process was that the sphere of cultural collaboration and sustainability is complex, or rather: that there are a number of spheres. Thus the overview presented in the report, according to the authors, is “more of a snapshot than a full picture.”

Lack of knowledge
Summing up, and looking through their findings, the authors conclude it is apparent that the largest obstacle for enabling culture to impact on sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region seems to be a lack of knowledge about culture-driven practises, tools and cooperation approaches for sustainable development:

“There are many actors that in different ways make an effort to impact on sustainable development through culture(s). However, their efforts remain fragmented – and knowledge of good (and bad) practices are not effectively collected and communicated. There is a need to link efforts more effectively through dialogue and cooperation, to facilitate exchanges of experience and mutual learning. There is also a need to assess current efforts if the key drivers for enabling culture to impact on sustainable development are to be better understood.”

Therefore the report suggests to investigate if one of the existing institutions in the Baltic Sea Region could/should host a knowledge hub on culture and sustainability – a hub that would provide access to practices, tools and networks within the Baltic Sea Region on culture and sustainability.

And if so, the authors ask, should such a hub have one location or rather be made up of a number of competence nodes – say “Culture and Sustainability Smart Labs” at different locations around the Baltic Sea – linked through the main hub?

“The advantage of multiple decentralised competence nodes/labs could be that it would allow local actors to tap more easily into the knowledge resources available in their region and, and through the link to the main hub across the Baltic Sea Region. Both the main competence hub and decentralised labs/nodes could be hosted by existing organisations.”

Slide presentation
In his presentation at the conference ‘Culture and Collaboration in the South East Baltic Region’ in Kaliningrad in June 2013, director Oleg Kofoed started out with asking the basic question: “How can culture lead transformations?”
Oleg Kofoed’s 15-slide presentation can been seen on slideshare.net

Culture provides a framework
The report suggests an answer this question — how culture can lead transformations. For instance, it states that:
“Culture is of great importance to economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development. Culture is important not least because culture is a bond that brings people of a community (town, city, country or region) together and because it provides a framework that shapes people’s standards and behaviour. In so doing, culture impacts in multiple ways on development in most areas of society. For example culture impacts significantly on business opportunities, job creation, integration, health, education, technologies, and creativity – and in so doing culture impacts on sustainable development. This overall role of culture seems to be generally accepted, in particular – and not surprisingly – among stakeholders in the cultural sector/sphere but also increasingly so also across sectors/spheres.”

The report mentions that at recent COP meetings, cultural aspects of sustainability have grown in importance:

“In 2010 the UNESCO partner United Cities and Local Governments declared culture “The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability”. This was followed in 2012 by the Rio+20 UN conference, which declared:“We acknowledge the diversity of the world and recognize that all cultures and civilisations contribute to the enrichment of humankind and the protection of the Earth’s life support system. We emphasize the importance of culture for sustainable development. We call for a holistic approach to sustainable development which will guide humanity to live in harmony with nature.”

The logic is that by including culture in sustainability one achieves a more complete development model which – it is argued – better embraces the complexity of societies and highlights the importance of culture as a driver of societal change and development.” (…)

“The recently updated Action Plan for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region does emphasise the importance of culture to sustainable development, as part of a dedicated Priority Area for Culture and associated cooperation activities. The Nordic Council of Ministers is committed to taking responsibility for advancing regional cooperation under the Priority Area for Culture – including by leading the Flagship Project ‘Baltic Sea Region cooperation with a focus on culture as a part of sustainable development’.

This paper is a first effort under this flagship project. It is an attempt to map stakeholders and activities in the field of culture and sustainability. It is also a first effort to engage stakeholders in a new region-wide dialogue aiming at identifying opportunities for synergies in current efforts, and to propose practical steps for further cooperation in the field of culture and sustainability. The longer-term objective of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to take the first steps – along with partners from around the Baltic Sea – towards systematically developing knowledge and capacities in the Baltic Sea Region on ways in which culture contributes, and can contribute more, to sustainable development – whether be it economically, socially and/or environmentally sustainable development.”


Cultura21 Nordic is a Culture|Futures partner. The organisation, run by action-philosophers Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan and based in Copenhagen, Denmark, works for cultures of sustainability in the Nordic countries and around.

cultura21.dk

• Download the report (PDF)

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.
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Call For the WEAD Magazine : DIRTY WATER

This post comes to you from Cultura21

WEAD_print_logoWEAD seeks proposals for the upcoming issue of the WEAD magazine from artists working with “dirty water” projects.

“Rainwater, stormwater, graywater and blackwater are being treated with increasing frequency as important resources. Designers and artists, together with engineers and agencies, are highlighting the presence of water reuse in our communities through creative expression, interpretation, and the visible additions of green infrastructure.”

The articles chosen will appear in the next WEAD Magazine Fall/Winter 2013, and authors will receive a complimentary one-year membership to WEAD and $100 honorarium.

For more information : http://weadartists.org/wead-magazine-call-out

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

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Ecology and cybernetics towards network society capitalism

This post comes to you from Cultura21

HKW_LogoJune 21-22nd,2013, The World Earth – Conference, in Berlin

The exhibition and the conference The Whole Earth are dedicated to the story of the image of the “blue planet”. The project takes its starting point in historical developments in California since the 1960s : using materials from cultural history and artistic works. Curated by Diedrich Diederichsen and Anselm Franke, the exhibition will critically explore the application of ecological-systemic concepts to society, politics, and aesthetics.

The conference will revolve around questions of the legacy of the California counterculture. Roundtable discussions will explore the historical sources of, and connections between, discursive and political issues such as the ecological movement, cybernetics, anti-conformist cultures, new artistic practices that dissolve boundaries, and the transformations in these areas right up to the globalist network capitalism of the 1990s.

For more information about the program :www.hkw.de/en/programm/2013/the_whole_earth/veranstaltungen_83124/veranstaltungsdetail_88180.php

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

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Dialogue on Peace

This post comes to you from Cultura21

r_Initiative_Formaat_StudioSterk_voorstelling-8052-1-300x198As part of the Grassroots Peacebuilding project, Formaat will organize the “Panel for Peace”, an interactive dialogue on the use of Participatory Drama for conflict transformation and peace building. The Panel for Peace will initiate and stimulate the dialogue on using wide ranging forms of interactive and participatory theatre for working in and around areas of conflict. The Panel for Peace will include Chen Alon (Combatants for Peace), working with polarized communities in Israel-Palestine, Hector Aristizábal (Imaginaction), Theatre of the Oppressed with torture survivors, Teya Sepinuck (Theatre of Witness), interactive theatre in Northern Ireland and Zhara Yagana (AHRDO) and Hadi Marifat (AHRDO), legislative theatre in Afghanistan.

The panel is hosted by Luc Opdebeeck, (artistic) director of Formaat. Opdebeeck is one of the world’s leading experts on using Participatory Drama in a wide range of settings, including conflict transformation. The panel will analyze and reflect on the strengths and opportunities, and the challenges and threats to community-based work using Participatory Drama to address and transform conflict.

For more information : http://www.formaat.org/nieuws/panel-for-peace-dialogue-on-peace/?cbg_tz=-120

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

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A Brilliant Idea: Warning Labels

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

6d09c2110d48d9cad9b014e93787c706I just came across this blog post by Robert Shirkey, lawyer and executive director of the Toronto-based organization Our Horizon. Shirkey argues that, just like we have warning labels on cigarette packages, we should have warning labels on gas pumps that remind us that the use of fossil fuels contributes to climate change. A very simple but powerful idea.

Filed under: Climate Communication

Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Dance, Touch and everything else

This post comes to you from Cultura21

treeportisol_webJune 21st – 23rd 2013 in Barcelona – Natural Circus Lab

“The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity’s trying to accomplish something. Originally there was no reason to progress, and nothing that had to be done. They  have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a ‘movement’ not to bring anything about”, said Masanobu Fukuoka – Originator of Natural Farming.

This meeting will explore what it does if there is nothing to accomplish. Nothing to accomplish in dance, nothing to accomplish in touch, nothing to accomplish in meeting another. Nothing to accomplish in life. The workshop will see what it does, if we get ‘the one that needs to accomplish’ out of the way and let life have its course.

For more information : http://www.labs.naturalcircus.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

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Egg Anyone?

This post comes to you from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

The Exbury Egg

The Exbury Egg

UK artist Stephen Turner, whose work “often involves spending long periods in odd abandoned places, noting the changes in the relationship between people and the natural environment,” will soon take up residence in a solar-powered floating egg in the estuary of the River Beaulieu in Hampshire, UK. An energy efficient, self-sustaining work space and a laboratory for studying the life of a tidal creek, the Exbury Egg in “an intervention in the landscape at a key moment when climate change is already creating new shorelines and habitats.” Three years in the making, the egg emerged from a collaboration between partners from architecture, art, engineering and design backgrounds. The project includes education and engagement programs that will start during the construction phase and continue throughout Turner’s period of occupation until April 2014.

Like the slow food movement, which is promoted as an alternative to fast food, I feel we should start a “slow art movement” as an antidote to artistic endeavors driven by commercial pressures. The fact that Turner will immerse himself in a specific environment, and give himself ample time to respond to what he sees and hears and experiences there, will no doubt lead to a deep understanding of the place and its occupants, and to a sophisticated response to it. In my world of making theatre, taking time is a luxury most of us can’t afford. Plays are rehearsed over the course of three or four weeks then put up for another few weeks and then it’s over. The exploration time is short, the product consumed quickly, and although great works emerge from that model, something definitely gets lost. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating for everything to be done at a snail’s pace. But it would be useful to have the opportunity to slow down sometimes. I have a feeling that what gets lost in “fast art,” and fast life in general, is exactly what we need to reinvest in if we hope to meet the challenges of climate change with a modest amount of dignity.

Filed under: Visual Arts

Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

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Public art with a message about energy saving and renewables

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

transition-sculpturesIn Newton Abbot in United Kingdom, five tall ‘Energy sculptures’ have been up for six months now, with a sixth on its way, to highlight a debate about energy and how it is at the heart of the economic and environmental challenges facing humanity today.

A group of volunteers in a Transition Town group in Newton Abbot wanted to create something tangible and visible around the ideas of energy saving and renewable energy that would spark a discussion in their town.

Not always smooth but in the end successful, their journey to raise five three-meter tall sculptures in a number of settings in and around the town started in 2009 and turned out to be “long and interesting”, as it is described in this blog-post on the home page of the Transition Network.

The sculptures use wood from a 150 year old cedar tree that needed to come down in the district. They are adorned with symbols representing five sources of renewable energy, which are based on 35,000 year old cave paintings.

This summer, the artists plan to organise a sculpture guided walk “to show-case the town and the use of energy past and present and give food for thought.”

Press about the sculptures:

9 November 2012:
Sculptures are fanning out around town

7 November 2012:
Energy Sculptures to expand the mind!
E=X=P=A=N=D YOUR MIND on ENERGY. Strange but beautiful structures have appeared this week in and around our town. Where are they from? What do they mean?

5 November 2012:
New transition sculptures have landed in Newton Abbot
Public art in Newton Abbot highlights our relationship with energy

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.
Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

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