Last weekend, Robert Butler of the Ashden Directory, in associaton with Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace and writer Caspar Henderson invited 15 academics, writers and activists to explore the issue of how we create narratives around climate change. RSA Arts & Ecology blogger Caleb Klaces returned enthused by the debate and …
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Yearly Archives: 2009
Planet Plus Funny.
I’d like to take an opportunity to salute some minor heroes of the eco-art movement. These are people who aren’t neccessarily attending conferences or participating in exhibitions. They might not even consider themselves eco-artists: they aren’t taking it too seriously. I’m talking about funny folks.
Anyone who has seen Rivers and Tides or any of Andy Goldswothy’s work will appreciate the journey of the Trash Artist, above. Equally worthy contributions to the field include Casual Mafia’s In My Prius, and an in-depth report on the current ToFLU epidemic.
Thank you for taking the time to use your skills to make fun of us: any movement that can’t engage in a little healthy self-mockery is probably doomed to fail.
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Marine Bill: contact your MP
Britain’s coastline has, recent research suggests, become “a desert” from overfishing. Having passed through the Lords, the Marine Bill, designed to protect Britain’s coastline. Conservation organisations and concerned individuals tell us the bill is weak – especially in setting a long deadline of 2020 for the completion of marine reserves. …
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ashdenizen: earth singer
Michael Jacksons Earth Song was his biggest-selling UK single. Leo Hickman writes:
The song is a very rare thing: a hit record with a powerful message about our impact on the environment. How many others can you think of? Joni Mitchells Big Yellow Taxi? Marvin Gayes Mercy Mercy Me? The Pixies Monkey Gone to Heaven? All great records, but none of them come close in terms of sales when compared to Earth Song.
Animal crackers: the dystopian zoo
Trouble in paradise is an exhibition by Steinbrener/Dempf at Schönbrunn zoo, Vienna, that takes a poke at our romantic idea of the unspoiled natural environment, especially the facade of the natural created for animal enclosures.
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Radical Nature @ The Barbican reviewed
Skye Sherwin in The Guardian:
Even the remotest hermit knows that the effects of climate change are the greatest threat faced by mankind. So where does that leave artists? Can they contribute anything to debates about the environment? Might the imperatives of environmentalism constrain their freedom to make interesting work? And …
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City digs up wildflowers: artist sues
Reported widely as a “but-is-it-art” case, Chapman Kelley’s decision to sue the city of Chicago for ripping up half of his wildflower artwork is a fascinating one. At first glance you might think it shows how powerless artists are in the face of bureaucracy. In fact it shows the exact …
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Radical Nature Comes to the Art Gallery : TreeHugger
Radical Nature, Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet is an exhibition that examines how nature has inspired artists and architects. The show takes a historical look at strange and experimental buildings since the 60s that have changed the way we see the world.
What if women were in charge of cutting carbon?
Caleb Klaces writes: In December this year representatives from 192 countries will meet in Copenhagen for the 15th UN Conference of the Parties (COP15) to discuss international targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions. The roughly 1,500 delegates will mostly be men, as they always have been. During the period …
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