Yearly Archives: 2014

Press Release: Green Crafts Initiative Announced

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Craft Scotland will use their annual conference today to announce the launch The Green Craft Initiative, a new project run with Creative Carbon Scotland to celebrate and encourage more environmentally sustainable practices in Scotland’s craft sector.

The Green Crafts Initiative is a sister project to the Green Arts Initiative – a nationwide accreditation scheme designed to provide Scotland-based artists and arts organisations with the advice, support and tools they need to become greener and let audiences and the public know what they are doing.

The Green Arts Initiative currently works with over 60 arts organisations of all shapes and sizes to keep track of and reduce resource use including energy, water, waste and travel. This year has seen new and returning members including the twelve major Edinburgh Festivals, Craft Scotland, Spring Fling and Fife Contemporary Arts and Crafts all participating and finding innovative ways of putting sustainability at the heart of their operations without any detriment to artistic quality or audience satisfaction. The initiative actively encourages members to share their green work with audiences and harness their creativity, imagination and influence to help build a more environmentally sustainable Scotland.

Creative Carbon Scotland Director Ben Twist sees the imagination of the Scotland’s arts and crafts as an essential ingredient in our shift towards a more sustainable society, celebrating its “unique ability to imagine and experiment with alternative futures, question the status quo, see the world differently and explore the future with audiences”.

Fiona Logue, Director of Craft Scotland said:  “It is not enough for Craft Scotland just to monitor and manage our own environmental impact. While many makers already work to reduce their carbon footprint we have a responsibility to engage fully the craft sector and provide guidance and support. This new partnership with Creative Carbon Scotland will allow us to do that.”

Over the coming months Creative Carbon Scotland and Craft Scotland will be inviting crafts practitioners and organisations to sign up to the initiative and make the most of the support to hand including training workshops and seminars tailored to the crafts sector, one to one advice and extensive online resources available through the Green Arts Portal.

To find out more about the initiative and to sign up please click here. 

Notes to Editors:
More information on Creative Carbon Scotland can be found at www.creativecarbonscotland.com or alternatively by contacting Gemma Lawrence at gemma.lawrence@creativecarbonscotland or on 0131 529 7909.

Creative Carbon Scotland is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Reg Charity No. SCO24687) initiated by the Edinburgh Festivals, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and the Scottish Contemporary Art Network and supported by Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Creative Carbon Scotland was formed in 2011 to work across the arts and culture in Scotland, aiming to get the sector thinking about climate change and environmental sustainability, harnessing its influence with its large audiences to change public attitudes and opinion and running itself as sustainably as possible. CCS provides training, advice and practical support to arts and cultural organisations throughout Scotland.

Craft Scotland is the national agency for craft. It works to unite, inspire and champion craft through creating opportunities for makers in Scotland to practice, exhibit, sell and promote their craft and for audiences to see, purchase and learn about craft. It lobbies for craft as an essential and integral part of our cultural, economic and social life and works in partnership with other like-minded agencies. It is a central point of information about craft in Scotland and identifies and creates new activities to build awareness and understanding of craft. It is a charity (SC039491) supported by Creative Scotland.

Image credit: Craft Scotland

The post Press Release: Green Crafts Initiative Announced appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

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Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

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“Gulf to Gulf” – talk online

This post comes to you from Cultura21

How might mankind survive the disruptions of the Anthropocene based on trigger point theory? The “Gulf to Gulf” discussion between Dr. Eugene Turner and Aviva Rahmani is online. Please listen and comment at:

A “Gulf to Gulf” performance “What does resilience look like in the Anthropocene?” September 3rd, 2014. Ecological artist Aviva Rahmani: (ghostnets.com), with Dr. Eugene Turner, Distinguished Research Master and Professor, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA: (oceanography.lsu.edu/index.php/people/faculty/eugene-turner/)

Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the “Gulf to Gulf” project. Click the link below and choose the amount you would like to donate. Contributions to “Gulf to Gulf” will be made through NYFA. NYFA is a 501©3, tax exempt organization founded in 1971 to work with the arts community throughout New York State to develop and facilitate programs in all disciplines. NYFA will receive grants on behalf of Gulf to Gulf, ensure the use of grant funds in accordance with the grant agreements, and will provide program or financial reports as required. nyfa.org/ArtistDirectory/ShowProject/1446ef3a-0a9d-4449-96be-74023eb9c376

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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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Artist as Activist: Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announces new grant opportunity for artists.

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Application deadline:October 13, 2014

www.rauschenbergfoundation.org

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announced that it will build on its recent grant-making pilots and for the first time in its history roll out a series of open calls for proposals. Over the next six months, the foundation will announce new grant opportunities related to arts and culture as well as efforts to address climate change. The first open call launches since September 8.

Letters of interest are invited for the Artist as Activist program, which will support a wide range of creative professionals to tackle pressing issues around the globe. Current grant opportunities include a two-year fellowship for artists, designers, and other creative thinkers working to address problems facing societies in the U.S. and beyond, as well as ongoing travel and research grants for similar artists.

For specific program details, applicants should visitwww.rauschenbergfoundation.org/grants. Fellowship letters of interest will be accepted from September 8 to October 13, while Artist as Activist travel and research grant applications will be accepted on a rolling basis between September 8, 2014 and March15, 2015. Fellows will receive up to 100,000 USD in project support while Artist as Activist travel and research grants will range from 2,500 to 10,000 USD.

The Artist as Activist program is designed in response to a growing body of artists working in service of a larger social purpose. The central goal of the Artist as Activist program is to ensure such artists have the kind of flexible support required to execute ambitious creative projects intended to move the needle on the critical issues of our times. The next call for proposals, which will support innovative efforts to address climate change, will be announced on November 10.

About the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation:
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation fosters the legacy of the artist’s life, work, and philosophy that art can change the world. The foundation supports initiatives at the intersection of arts and issues that embody the fearlessness, innovation, and multidisciplinary approach that Robert Rauschenberg exemplified in both his art and philanthropic endeavors. In the last year alone, the foundation has broadened its philanthropic efforts from seven legacy grantees to 95 across the USA; loaned over 100 Rauschenberg artworks to 20 exhibitions globally; and converted Rauschenberg’s home and studio in Florida into a dynamic residency program for emerging and recognized artists.

Media contact Taylor Maxwell, BerlinRosen Public Affairs
T +1 646 200 5330 / taylor [dot] maxwell [at] berlinrosen [dot] com

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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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ArtCop21: COAL and Cape Farewell organise for COP21, November – December 2015

A cultural programme for the 21st United Nations Conference on climate change. Paris, from the 30th of November to the 10th of December 2015.

COAL and CAPE FAREWELL,
 the two European partners behind ArtCop21 willmobilise artists and the wider cultural sector to create a festival and cultural symposium during the Cop21 conference. From 30th November until 10th December 2015 they will create and exceptional cultural-climate festival in the city of Paris.

ArtCOP21ART AND COP21

The 21st Conference of the United Nations climate is an important step in the negotiations for a future international agreement to fight against climate change.

The agenda of Cop21 is primarily scientific and political. ArtCop21 provides an alternative agenda, recognising that for a real cultural shift, we need to encourage a diverse range of citizens to engage with the topic. Arts and culture have always played a critical role in responding to political, environmental and social issues.

The United Nations have officially recognised the direct link between culture and the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – confirming that culture is both a catalyst and an engine of sustainable development.

In the autumn of 2015, thousands of civilian actors, foundations and NGOs will show their commitment to change the world at the Paris-Le Bourget site that will host COP21. ArtCop21 wants to share this energy to the public through art and creative engagement.

ArtCop21 will open the doors to the wider public and show the political players that there are alternatives to comprehend the complexity of the climate chal- lenge; a cultural shift inspired by creativity and innovation.

ARTISTS EMBRASE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE AND IMAGINE THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

ArtCop21 is a cultural event that will take place in Paris during the COP21. Mission of Artcop21 is to engage the wider public in creating a positive vision for a sustainable future.

ArtCop21 is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural actors who are keen to instigate an ecological transition towards a healthier environment- through arts and culture.

ArtCop21 will mobilize artists to develop projects of cultural expression that will engage and inspire public participation.

ArtCop21 will mount a forum to articulate the power of inspiring a cultural shift that embraces a sustainable future for all.

With ArtCop21, knowledge and action around the climate challenge will make the topic accessible and fun for the wider public.

SYSTEM

ArtCop21 irrigates the city through artistic, collaborative and innovative proposals.

It will include:

1 - The Conference of Creative Parties bringing together twenty one international artists, creatives and intellectuals to invent a creative vision for tomorrow’s world. A three-day public facing symposium at La Sorbonne.

2 - Five monumental and participatory art installations in public space, co-created by five invited international artists and the citizens of Paris.

3 - An artistic journey through the Ile-de-France in multiple locations that are united for ArtCop21 artists’ studios, museums, art associations, institutions, theatres, galleries and shopping centers.

4 - A major exhibition in a significant cultural institution presenting the work of leading international artists engaged in the field of ecology.

5 – A special edition of the Coal Prize Art and environment, which by an international open call, brings hundreds of artistics proposals for climate.

See you in the fall of 2014 for the ArtCop21′s launching!

PARTNERS

On the Move, Julie’s Bicycle, University of the Arts, London, Studio Orta – les Moulins, Zone sensible, la Réserve des arts.

CONTACT

Lauranne Germond

COAL
2 rue Caffarelli
75003 Paris
+33 (0)1 75 57 87 63
contact@projetcoal.fr
www.projetcoal.fr

David Buckland
CAPE FAREWELL
University of the Arts Chelsea
16 John Islip Street
London SW1P 4JU
+44 (0)207 514 8079
yasmineostendorf@capefarewell.com
www.capefarewell.com

Crédit image : Lucy + Jorge Orta, Antarctica – Métisse flag, 2010, Banksy, Global Warming, 2009, Gideon Mendel, drowning world, Ackroyd & Harvey, Testament, 2011

Content of Nothing :: Part 8 :: ….it moves, actually, in a Reticulum

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Judy Spark, Untitled, digital print (300 x 140mm approximately) 2013

Judy Spark: You remarked earlier that you feel that for you it’s “important to keep a lightness to creative work” and I would certainly agree with you on this and I think that this does bear even more import for visual than for written work. Other than the ‘academic’ aspect of some written work, I’m not sure that I can articulate exactly why I think this just yet, but it is something I think about. You also quoted Rebecca Solnit – that “the ‘results’ or ‘outcomes’ of creative work are nonlinear and unpredictable” and I would certainly agree with that, but again, this for me, seems to stand particularly for visual over written work. Perhaps is just the way that I go about a piece of writing: I know roughly what I am setting out to say, but probably not, at the beginning, how I will say it. Whereas with visual work, I think that I almost deliberately set to one side what I think I want to say, in order to allow the work to ‘make itself’, to borrow Carol Becker’s term. Then, I work out through a sort of retrospective process exactly what it is I’ve been doing. The whole process is a little bit more under my control than that might make it sound, but it is a process that I have had to learn, and in fact am still learning, to trust.

Samantha Clark: Yes, the retrospective view is when we get to figure out what was actually going on. It’s intrinsic to the reflective process, and here we might get bogged down in definitions of ‘practice-led’ or ‘practice-based’ – ‘practice-following’ research feels most apt sometimes – we do it and then figure it out later. I had a conversation with a colleague who is a social scientist recently. She seemed very surprised that we don’t figure it all out first, assemble all the theory, work out the method, and then just carry out the process we planned. The practice follows a hunch, or launches from a familiar point of departure and sees where it ends up. As you say, it can be quite instinctual. You make a leap, take a bit of a chance (it might not work), and then the research fleshes it out. I think we can become too apologetic about this. I take heart when I read about scientists and the so-called scientific method and find that it’s not so very different sometimes. Kekule saw the structure of benzene in a dream. CTR Wilson built the first cloud chamber on a bit of a whim, to recreate some of the mists and coronas he’d seen walking on the hills – he had no idea his apparatus would reveal the tracks of subatomic particles. According to Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock, ‘you work with so-called scientific methods to put it into their frame after you know’. (Rosen, 1994: 486) Agnes Arber recognised this thought process not as a linear progression but as a reticulated network of associations, analogies and resonances, which were translated into words and equations only with a struggle, after the original, nonverbal and empathic insight. ‘The experience of one’s own thinking suggests that it moves, actually, in a reticulum (possibly of several dimensions) rather than along a single line…A reticulum.… cannot be symbolized adequately in a linear succession of words.’ (Arber, 1854: 18) And here’s the mathematician Poincaré: ‘It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover…logic teaches us that on such and such a road we are sure of not meeting an obstacle; it does not tell us which is the road that leads to the desired end. For this it is necessary to see the end from afar, and the faculty that teaches us to see is intuition.’ (Poincaré,1914: 130)

JS: Yes, for a while I think the notion of ‘intuition’ in art making was very unpopular, was regarded as something that only happened in ‘women’s art’! The next time I hear anyone slight the part of intuition in making art, I’ll most certainly produce that Poincaré quote, it’s perfect! I sometimes wade into the practice ‘led’ / ‘based’ / ‘following’ debate by stating that I have a ‘research led practice’; the argument behind this will be stronger once I’ve worked out exactly what I mean. In any case, it has something to do with listening and with trust. I’m really interested in this notion of waiting, of listening / active listening or attentiveness in making – you touched on this earlier when we were talking about drawing. Heidegger talks about the poet’s primary role as one of listening before anything is made of that experience. This waiting is as much a part of the process of making as gathering and focus are; all play a part in solving what arises, until the thing is re-solved. But the waiting/listening is difficult; I’ve used the notion of tuning a radio in relation to this, the idea of being on the best frequency and the act of deliberately re-tuning attention – back to Buddhist contemplative practice, or it’s western equivalent, mindfulness. But what about the consequences of not listening, pouncing before things are ready; that desire to fill gaps or absences, to have the art work, poem, writing take a familiar shape….and by a deadline?!

References:

Becker, C. (2004) “Intimate, Immediate, Spontaneous, Obvious: Educating the Unknowing Mind” in Baas, J. and Jacob, M.J. (eds) Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art, Berkley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press

Rosner, M. (1994) Journal of Advanced Composition Vol 14:2 Values in Doing and Writing Science: The Case of Barbara McClintock http://www.jaconlinejournal.com/archives/vol14.2/rosner-values.pdf [Available online. Accessed 4.12.13]

Arber, A. (1954) The Mind and the Eye: A Study of the Biologist’s Standpoint, Cambridge Science Classics

Poincaré, H. (1914) Science and Method, London and New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons

Heidegger, M. (1971) On the Way to Language, New York: Harper & Row

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

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iLANDing Laboratories Initiative

This post comes to you from Cultura21

ilandRequest for Proposals – 2015 iLANDing Laboratories Initiative
Due October 20
send to info [at] ilandart [dot] org

Following the successful inaugural year of the iLANDing Laboratory Initiative, the program will continue for a second year. The 2015 iLANDing Laboratories will continue in an experimental format as a series of workshops/laboratories designed by members of the iLAND community as well as those with a strong interest in proposing a Laboratory that aligns with iLAND’s mission and the values of iLANDing (for more information please see appendix on their website). The Laboratories will serve as focused forums and platforms for a reflective, advanced discourse around urban ecology, kinesthetic experience, and new approaches to interdisciplinary creative processes and draw on the history of iLAND programming which has been cultivated over the past eight years through the iLAB Residency program, iLAND Symposia, and the development of the iLANDing Method.

This Request for Proposals is open to all past iLANDing Laboratory participants, iLAB Residents, iLAB applicants, Symposium participants and others with a strong interest in proposing a workshop that aligns with the values of iLAND. New combinations of collaborators are welcomed and encouraged. Past iLANDing Laboratory residents are welcome to reapply for continued support in order to deepen into the process of a previously presented workshop. Laboratories should take on the structure and duration.

An honorarium of $250 will be awarded to accepted proposals to assist in covering workshop expenses. iLAND will assist with online and print promotion for the Laboratories and provide planning support and mentorship in designing the laboratories

Proposals must be submitted to info [at] ilandart [dot] org by October 20, 2014. Please limit your proposal to a two pages and send as a PDF attachment. If you have questions, please contact Jennifer Monson at 917-860-8239 or jennifer [at] ilandart [dot] org.

These workshops shall provide an opportunity to share your current work and interests as well as to revisit and expand upon ideas that might have been initially explored during previous iLANDing Laboratories, iLAB Residencies, and/or iLAND Symposia.

For more information and an Appendix on iLANDing practices please visit their website.

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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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