Creative Practitioners

Call for creative practitioners to devise and lead their own creative actions for trees during National Tree Week

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

We received a request to highlight Treeage from Bridget McKenzie.  It’s a call for creative practitioners to devise and lead their own creative actions for trees during National Tree Week 23 November to 1 December.  Treeage might take the form of three levels of remedial action: A&E, the Funeral or the Maternity Unit.

She suggested the image, and you can find more about the project here.

To share your plans and activities, you can choose to:

  • sign up to the Facebook event for Treeage week, and/or the event page for Remembrance Day for Lost Species on 30th November
  • join the Treeage Flickr group to post photos
  • use the Twitter hashtag #treeage
  • Use the National Tree Week posters and post an event on their event map

This is a joint idea devised by Beuysterous (Bridget McKenzie) and Feral Theatre (especially Persephone Pearl).

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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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Database of Eco Public Art

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Curating_Cities

The Curating Cities Database maps the increasingly important and emerging field of eco-sustainable public art. It is developed as a resource for researchers, academics, artists, curators, educators, commissioning agencies and sponsors working in the field as well as those interested in promoting sustainability via public art. In addition to descriptive information, the database evaluates the aims and outcomes of each project as well as the external constraints (and subsequent negotiations) that influence the production of public artworks. eco-publicart.org

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Jill Bennett, Felicity Fenner, Lindsay Kelly and Veronica Tello. Sustainability Consultant: Jodi Newcombe.

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

T.J Demos (University College London); Ian Garrett (York University/Director, Center for Sustainable Practice); Natalie Jeremijenko (New York University/Director of Environmental Health Clinic); Sacha Kagan (Leuphana University Lüneburg/Founder of Cultura21, Network for Cultures of Sustainability and the International Summer School of Arts and Sciences for Sustainability in Social Transformation); Adrian Parr (University of Cincinnati).

We invite submissions from curators, researchers, academics and creative practitioners.

PURPOSE

Our intention is to develop a resource that will be of value to all those interested in public art, including specialists and the broader community. The database entries are concise but designed to go beyond the short profiles readily available on other sites. To that end, we have developed a template and guidelines designed to elicit key information regarding the sustainability (as conceived within the particular project), legacy, engagement and circumstances of an artwork’s production. Recognising that public art is not always well served by bureaucracies, entries may also record useful information on external constraints and how these were negotiated.

SCOPE

We are looking to achieve expansive coverage and are open to suggestions for inclusion (geographic remit is global). Generally, we interpret public art as a creative art form produced for non-gallery contexts (exceptionally, it may include gallery exhibitions with an explicit external engagement focus). We define “eco-sustainability” to signify an evident interest in ecological, sustainable and/or environmental concerns. It is not our intent to ‘police’ the definition of eco-sustainable public art: we are keen to include work that challenges definitions and expectations. As a general indication, we are interested in substantial work that actively engages with its environmental context (rather than in work that merely represents or symbolises an environmental concern).

SUBMISSION and REVIEW PROCESS

Submissions are peer-reviewed. Each submission should focus on a particular public art project, which must be proposed to the Editorial Committee in advance. Contributors are welcome to profile their own work, either by evaluating their own project or by referencing a larger study or thesis written by them on the same subject. We also invite academics that research and teach in this area to encourage student submissions. We are happy for the template to be used for course assessment exercises and can confer with lecturers regarding the process by which a batch of entries from a class can be peer reviewed/considered for inclusion in the database.

For the template and sustainable evaluation framework and to discuss a potential submission please email v.tello@unsw.edu.au

Year of Natural Scotland

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Bing across the road from the Dalmellington Iron Works. Photo Chris Fremantle

2013 is designated as the Year of Natural Scotland.  We know that the Scottish Poetry Library is planning a programme around this theme, and Creative Scotland are partnering up with SNH for a conference.   We’ve listed below some information which we’ve been able to pull together.  Of course, like Homecoming, this is about tourism, but maybe it could be more?

If you want to tell us about projects or programmes you’ll be running during 2013, or resources that you think might be useful to share, just email us chris at fremantle dot org.

EventScotland listing of Festivals currently signed up to programme Year of Natural Scotland events.

Scottish Natural Heritage has grants programmes geared up for the Year of Natural Scotland.

Creative Scotland’s Creative Places Awards for projects outwith the major cities during 2013, with a special emphasis on the Year of Natural Scotland.

Creative Scotland are also planning a major conference to highlight the ways that artists and creative practitioners affect the way we imagine natural Scotland.

Scotland’s Rural Network wants to know what the top 5 nature based things that each local authority area has to offer.  Help them by making suggestions for your area.

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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Open Call: ENVIRONMENTAL UTTERANCE

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University College Falmouth inc. Dartington College of Arts invites you to

“ENVIRONMENTAL UTTERANCE”

 1st-2nd September 2012 

Deadline for applications: 31st March 2012

Across disciplines academics and artists are researching and creating practices that are highly contextual (determined by the environment in which they are located), exploring ways of articulating specific environments, spaces or places.  This conference examines a specific problematic that attends the dissemination of this work: how to engage with ‘being there’ when ‘there’ is not here?

We understand environment (social, built, natural, technological) as that which surrounds and informs us. Through our practice we influence our environment.  What we create is shaped by our surroundings. We exist in a relation of mutual exchange; making ourselves other and incorporating that which is other in turn.  This conference offers a forum for academics and creative practitioners to come together and engage with articulations of mutual formation: to discuss work as environment.

Such work often relies on direct, personal experience of a particular environment.  Transfer and abstraction, necessary for the communication of this work beyond the specifics of this original environment, challenge the work.  Negotiating publication or conference environment, for example, necessitates reformulation of the work, engendering changes in texture and experience, in adapting to alternative structures.  What do such alterations, translations or transformations, mean for this work?

This conference aims to examine these questions on a very practical level. When it comes to considering environment, what is the relationship between the structures of dissemination and the environment our work seeks to convey?  What is the relationship between our academic environment and the work we (aim to) produce?  How do we utter our environment?

We invite poets and writers, artists, academics, social and environmental scientists, performers and musicians, among others, to discuss ways of uttering environment. We seek work that explores the phenomenological sense of speaking with environment. We encourage the use of a diverse range of media as part of this dialogue. Participants are invited to find new ways of expressing their research and/or artistic practice in a conference setting that reflects upon this process of adaptation as a process of practical enquiry.

Instead of presenting what they already know, participants are invited to experiment with their ‘potential’ environment, using the space of the conference as an opportunity to learn from and with each other. The structure of the conference is specifically designed to support such an exchange.  Over the course of two days we seek to create a plastic community of practice. There will be both indoor (seminar rooms, lecture theatres, studios) and outdoor (gardens, orchard, parkland) spaces available to present your work. Your proposal will have to comply with the health and safety norms of Tremough Campus. Please refer to the health and safety guidance before you start planning your presentation/performance.

The (types of) environments we invite participants to explore in their presentations include (but are not limited to):

  • natural
  • social
  • technological
  • digital
  • ideological
  • logical
  • intuitive
  • empathetic
  • linguistic
  • imagined
  • the body
  • the archive
  • the laboratory
  • the book
  • the recording studio
  • the gallery
  • the library
  • the seminar room
  • the lecture theatre
  • the conference
  • professional
  • domestic
  • specialist
  • private
  • public
  • visual
  • auditory
  • oral
  • tactile
  • olfactory

Those interested in participating are invited to send a paper/performance summary (250 words max) along with an indication of how they wish to present this work (250 words), to Camilla Nelson, Natalia Eernstman and Jeanie Sinclair at environmental.utterance@gmail.com , describing:

  1. How or what will you present
  2. The main questions & ideas you aim to explore through your presentation
  3. The media you will use
  4. What space and/or additional equipment you require

Special Call to Develop Live Exchange

This is a call for proposals to design a method of documentation to function as an integral part of this ‘conference-as-community-of-practice’: a method of exchange whereby ideas, insights, lessons learned, questions and connections are cross-referenced between the different times and spaces of the conference. We invite applicants to submit proposals to environmental.utterance@gmail.com detailing a process that will (effectively & inspiringly) collect, record and disseminate participants’ experiences. Media and methods might include (but are not limited to) technology, social media, interactive installations, mobile performance, poetic or artistic representations, etc. Selected participants will run their activity for one morning or afternoon of the conference. The material costs required to realize the activity will be reimbursed in consultation with the conference organizers.

Deadline for applications: 31st March

Call for Papers: Affective Landscapes

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This post comes to you from Cultura21
May 25th – 26th 2012 Derby, UK

This conference seeks exciting disciplinary and transdisciplinary proposals from scholars working in fields such as cultural studies, literary studies, cultural politics/history, creative writing, film and media studies, Area Studies, photography, fine art, interested in examining the different ways in which human beings respond and relate to, as well as debate and interact with landscape.

The conference organizers are particularly interested in proposals examining the following:

• psychogeography
• critical regionalism
• cultural politics on identity and landscape
• national identity
• suburbia
• edgelands
• the rural / urban
• responses to landscape by creative practitioners (writers / photographers
/ artists / filmmakers)
• phenomenology
• the body in landscape
• Ecocriticism
• landscapes of trauma and memory
• theories of affect and landscape

Please send proposals of not more than 250 words by 16 December 2011 to Dr. Christine Berberich at christine [dot] berberich [at] port [dot] ac [dot] uk

Reposted from http://www.derby.ac.uk/affectivelandscapes Further details about the conference, the venue, travel, accommodation, registration etc can be found there too

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

Wales’ Volcano Theater Releases Free Resource for Creative Industries to tackle Climate Change

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Free resource to help creative industries tackle climate change and understand their role in creating a more sustainable society now available online

Creative industries can play a fundamental role in developing a sustainable future for the planet, both by addressing the direct impact on the environment from their own practice, and through the influential impact their work could have within society.

But for many working in the arts, addressing these complex issues can be a daunting task.  A new initiative based in Wales is encouraging creative practitioners to take direct action to develop a sustainable future for the planet, and by bringing together scientists and artists, the project is helping drive the issue of sustainable practice within the arts to the forefront of the political agenda within Wales.

The project, entitled ‘Emergence’, began as a collaboration between Swansea based theatre company Volcano and Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, supported by Arts Council Wales and The British Council.  In 2010/11 The arts community in Wales attended three major events to raise issues, discuss alternatives, and suggest practical solutions for a more sustainable future.

The series of conferences focused on creating an impetus for change within the arts, challenging practices and motivating artists and creative companies to discuss and develop practical solutions to reduce their environmental impact.  In addition, the project encouraged artists to consider the role of the arts in influencing behaviour, and how they can begin to inspire change within society through their work.

The project has recently published a conference report in an engaging and informative 30 page document.  This ‘Emergence’ document is now openly available as a free download,  both in English and Welsh, and provides an invaluable resource for all those working in the arts, and anyone interested in the development of sustainable practice within this field.

The document can be downloaded online through the Volcano website here:

http://www.volcanotheatre.co.uk/398/news/emergence-the-document.html#/image.php?id=321

The Emergence document collates inspiring and educative transcripts from expert speakers on the subject of climate change, fair resource use, well being and the transition towards a more connected sustainable society.

From scientist Jean Boulton to the artistic director of National Theatre Wales, John McGrath, the pioneering talks documented within ‘Emergence’ provide inspiration, information and practical ideas for artistic practitioners, venues and companies alike.

The value of the project and the report has been widely applauded, Louise Wright from British Council Wales says ‘Emergence has worked from the ground up…it has been a creative catalyst’.

The conferences have already kick started investigations into current practice – a study by Cardiff University measuring the environmental impact of ‘Night Out’, an Arts Council Touring Scheme, was initiated by Arts Council Wales following the conference.  During the launch event major key players such as The Wales Millennium Centre and Welsh National Opera agreed on the creation of a focus group to look at sustainable practise within these flagship organisations, actively supported by the Theatres Trust and Julies Bicycle.  In addition many individual delegates have changed behaviour and implemented new strategies to reduce their environmental impact, as the project continues to gather focus and momentum within Wales and beyond.

 

City of Pieces – an urban festival of creative practices

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Bangalore

22nd to 30th of October

Maraa, a media and arts collective, invites to City of Pieces, an urban festival of creative practices:
City of pieces is a nine day festival that interrogates the violence of the everyday transformation of the city from the perspective of creative practice. This festival marks the third anniversary of Theatre Jam, a monthly forum to trigger dialogues about art and media in the public space through practice, performance and expression. It travels across different public and semi-public spaces, committed to reclaim dead, found and empty spaces in the city. City of pieces brings artists and creative practitioners to respond to the city we inhabit.
The city transforms and we continue to experience it in fragments, in the debris of what once was and the flash-forwards of its future in fresh grey concrete. And we move through it refracted in fragments with every contact with it. But as this city of pieces forms us it is formed by us in turn- a disjointed tapestry of multiple stories, desires and memories. As the week unfolds, urban pieces and fragments are gathered and re-combined to tell a different story that acknowledges the creative modes of negotiating this city shaped by the violence of transformation. Through storytelling, films, performance, poetry and conversations we hope to make sense of an ever changing Bangalore.

Reposted from: http://maraa.in/arts/city-of-pieces/

Be part of the last two events and register today:

Middle of somewhere | Theatre Workshop 29 Oct | Cubbon Park Band Stand | 10 am-3 pm

Middle of Somewhere was a performance done last year, set between scaffolding in a dilapidated house on Rest House Street. This performance used personal stories that were interwoven with anecdotes of the city with the story of Akeli, a fictional story. The performance is a never ending project. It grows with people’s stories and fantasies. We invite you to a theatre workshop to re-narrate fears, aspirations, and memories experienced in your life in the city through short improvisations and street performances around Cubbon Park.

To register mail pallavichander [at] gmail [dot] com or call 98869-28582

Bangalore Talkies | Video Art and Music |30 Oct | Jaaga, Double Road | 6 pm onwards

When you live in a city, your encounters with roads, friends, and strangers are all in pieces of images and sounds. What can you interpret of a city that you experience everyday in pieces? Bangalore Talkies a forum to see Bangalore through different eyes, through different lenses. How do YOU connect to Bangalore -  bus rides/auto rides, pubs, darshinis, your neighborhood, street dogs, trees, the weather, street food,  construction and deconstruction – it could be about any creature, thing, space or feeling in the city. Collect your stories on anything that can shoot image and record sound. All videos must play on VLC and should not be longer than 5 mins. Submit your entries on DVD OR mail it, upload it and send us a link on ekta [at] maraa [dot] in by tomorrow latest. Your stories will be screened for the public at the Bangalore Talkies at Jaaga, Double Road, on 30th October, 6:30 pm onwards. Remember it’s about the story, not so much about making a perfect film. This will be followed by a music jam between independent musicians in Bangalore. If you are a musician and want to play, get in touch with us today!

To register mail ekta [at] maraa [dot] in or call 96328-31275 before 29th October

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

Mainstream ecology in public art

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Make a contribution, air your most profound lessons (or the things you rant about).

The questions raised by art and ecology, the issues of culture in a time of environmental crisis, don’t always impact on mainstream public art practices.

The public invitation to contribute to a new series of books, entitled Hints and Tips, is a chance to provoke people to think about ecology, systems, sustainability, inhabitation and dwelling, as well as the role and value of artists, designers and other creative practitioners alongside project managers, contractors, committees, inhabitants, tenants and communities.

For instance, surely all the inhabitants are important, not just the human ones?

Hints and Tips is being developed in the context of a long term residency with Glasgow Housing Association being undertaken by Peter McCaughey and Ben Spencer.  They have approached PAR+RS to collaborate on the development of these publications.  For more information and to make your contribution: Hints and Tips · Reflections · PAR+RS.

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