Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Sustainable City and the Arts

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Update: the deadline for the abstracts submission for the ESA (European Sociological Association) Conference in Geneva has been extended until March 8th 2011.

Call for Papers for the Research Stream which will take place in the forthcoming conference of the European Sociological Association from 7. to 10. of Sept. 2011 in Geneva.

10th Conference of the European Sociological Association

7th-10th Sept. 2011, Geneva, Switzerland

“Social Relations in Turbulent Times”

RESEARCH STREAM
“The Sustainable City and the Arts”
CALL FOR PAPERS

The study of the arts and the city in ‘turbulent times’ cannot ignore the social scientific discourse of the concept of ‘sustainability’; it is an important addendum for a contemporary arts-sociological analysis of the urban-sociological analysis of the arts.

Urban development has frequently been reflected by the arts, inspiring the arts and affected by the arts. Theoretical elaborations can be based on the work on early urban sociologists such as Simmel, Weber, Park, Wirth etc. but also on recent works by

  • the postmodern urban studies Los Angeles School (Michael Dear and Edward Soja) and studies on the significance of signs and symbols for urban development,
  • the economic geographical works by Richard Florida, Allan Scott etc. on ‘creative cities’ and issues of ‘creative industries’ and ‘urban development’,
  • and the urban cultural and arts sociological studies by, e.g., Sharon Zukin, Harvey Molotch or Alan Blum etc.

Looking at the growing list of publications, the intersection of arts sociology, cultural sociology and urban sociology prospered within the last years. However, following the main topic of this conference, the additional focus of this research stream would be the role of sustainability in turbulent times for the urban and artistic environment. Sustainability becomes an increasingly important issue for the study of urban and cultural issues (see, e.g., Nadarajah & Yamamoto) and helps to generate a socio-ecological approach to urban and arts sociology (see, e.g., ?apek, Carolan).

We are thus looking for presentations that

  • uncover the effects and the diversity of urban cultures (with different ethnic, subcultural, lifestyle, socio-economic background) as tools for urban and artistic development,
  • reflect on the three notions of ‘sustainable cities’, ‘arts in public places’ and ‘creative cities’,
  • link the increasing significance of urban creativity, culture and the arts, with discourses of sustainability,
  • and complement cultural perspectives on sustainable (or unsustainable) urban development.

One of the general considerations for proposing this research stream is the present lack of positions in arts sociology and cultural sociology for discussing the urban impact of arts and cultures as part of the sustainability discourse.  The research stream aims to offer a forum for this new intersection.

Research Stream Conveners:
Volker Kirchberg (kirchberg [at] uni [dot] leuphana [dot] de, http://www.leuphana.de/en/volker-kirchberg.html)
Laura Verdi (laura [dot] verdi [at] unipd [dot] it, http://www.sociologiapadova.eu/?pagina=pagina_generica.php&id=51)

Please submit your abstract by using the abstract submission form at http://esa10thconference.com. Further instructions and guidelines will be on this conference website.  Please NOTE that the abstracts will only be accepted through completion of the online submission form, and submission in any other form will be declined. Abstracts must include: 1) name (s) and affiliation (s) of the author(s); 2) contact details of presenting author (postal address, telephone, fax and email address); 3) title of proposed presentation. The submission form will limit the title of the abstract to 200 characters (approximately 30 words) and the length of the abstract to a maximum of 350 words. The form also requests authors to submit up to 5 key words that are indicative of the content of the proposed presentation. The platform for the abstract submission will open at the 10th of January 2011 and will close at the 25th of February 2011.

 

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

The Art of Ecology – Transdisciplinary Research In Practice

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A symposium at the 2011 World Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER)

SER2011 WORLD CONFERENCE ON ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION – Merida, Mexico – August 21-25, 2011 – Re-establishing the Link between Nature and Culture

Please submit abstracts (see link below) indicating the title of the symposium and the name of David Haley, as session organiser. The deadline of the call for abstracts is May 15th.

http://www.ser2011.org/en/ser2011-scientific-program/call-for-abstracts-posters/

SER is a scientific organisation concerned with environmental remediation in many countries. It has, previously, held three ‘World Conferences’, at two of which ecological artist David Haley was invited to coordinate and chair sessions on ecological art (Liverpool, 2000 and Zaragoza, 2005). In addition, David has contributed to Richard Scott’s ‘Creative Conservation’ initiatives at these and other SER conferences. Richard is Senior Programme Manager with Landlife, the National Wildflower Centre in Liverpool, and was a close colleague of the eminent ecologist, Professor Tony Bradshaw. David and Richard  shall be convening this Symposium together.

The SER World Conferences offer great opportunities to meet with some of the world’s top ecological scientists and activists from diverse cultures. On occasion, the language of art and that of science have converged, to emerge as a common language – an ecology of cultures, perhaps. And this Symposium seeks presentations that pursue this concept – ‘The Art of Ecology: Transdisciplinary Research In Practice’.

Please, also, take advantage of early registration facilities which will be available through the Conference web page next week (http://www.ser2011.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

Sustainable Practice in Public Art

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This post comes to you from Cultura21

Chrysalis Arts in collaboration with MIRIAD at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) present a seminar about how artists and commissioners can begin to address the ecological and sustainability issues associated with climate change through their professional practice. With: Inspirational speakers – PASA case studies – Group discussions

Seminar – April 15th 2011 – 10am to 4.30pm – Manchester Metropolitan University, Sandra Burslem Building SB 2.10

Information & programme: www.pasaguidelines.org

Bookings: chrysalis [at] artdepot [dot] org [dot] uk 01756 749222 – Directions:www.mmu.ac.uk/travel/allsaints

MMU staff and students – free ; Freelance practitioners £12 ; Organisations £30

Supported by MMU, MIRIAD, Chrysalis Arts Development, Arts Council England, Lottery Funded.

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

Sam’s Post #5: Keep Moving, It’s the American Way

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NEWS FLASH! Sam Accepted at Edinburgh Fringe Festival  (details to follow)

Sam and other Cal Arts Actors to Showcase in NYC

Sam's 1951 Spartan Royal Mansion, viewed from a hill at Cal Arts. Photo credit: Scott Groller

My trailer, our trailer, which I inappropriately refer to as “The Mansion”, was acquired in August 2010, in Torrance CA. Shortly before, my mother– a one time filmmaker for the United Nations, once a Katrina refugee, currently a freelance journalist with a fervent passion for social justice and a newly developed interest in sustainable living – and I, a one-time private banker employed by philanthropist and all around jolly good guy, Mr. John Pierpont Morgan.

Well, my mom and I we’re on the phone..Truth is we’ve grown apart quite a bit over the last 10 years. More often than not we’ve been on opposite sides of the country, opposite sides of the Atlantic, sometimes unintentionally (and admittedly) sometimes with quite a bit of intention.

We’ve been through a lot, and it’s just the two of us. So, you know, tension ensues, occasionally, sometimes, often, whatever. So we’re on the phone, and the topic of this particular conversation is one that comes up every couple years.

It goes something like this:  “So, whaaaaaat’s next ?” You see, my mom’s been a nomad for a little while now. That tends to happen when a storm like Katrina hits an already fragile community like New Orleans.

But me? I’ve been in denial about my nomadic nature. I had a proper desk job for a couple years before coming here, a serious girlfriend. I had a PLAN, a checklist, which I adhered to methodically: a sequence of suit-and-tie jobs, then auditions, which eventually, allowed me to be here, right here, at this very moment.

At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2010, Sam played Godzilla in Eric Ehn's adaption of the play. Here he hawks the production in the streets of Edinburgh.

The thing is, I’m about to graduate, as an Actor. (Did I mention that?) And my future is quite uncertain again. And so…

My mom and I are on the phone, my grandmother has passed away and left her a little bit of money, and she wants to buy a trailer and live in it.  And I have been wanting to restore a trailer – I want to MAKE something, something living, and useful to someone, something longer lasting than a two-hour play.   And that’s as far as my thought process went ..

So a month later we buy the trailer. And I park it on campus, THIS campus, tucked away behind the basketball courts and I start BUILDING and my mom starts BLOGGIN’ and we call it “Trailer Trash” because it’s a GREEN restoration, and we’re using recycled materials.

So after having grown apart over the years, here we are collaborating, truly collaborating, in a way that’s completely new to me. We’re collaborating on a project that’s very personal to both of us. We are building, in fact we are RE-building from old fragments, a new home that is both unconventional and yet, in the most American way, as conventional as can be.

I don’t know about building houses, or little. I don’t know about trailer living. I don’t know about doing all this while going to school full-time and sometimes feeling like I’m losing my mind!

This project has been a true experiment, from the beginning. The most amazing thing about embracing the experimental nature of this project has been to watch it grow and evolve. What began as a guerrilla building project has become–because of this place [Cal Arts] this faculty, this student body– a PERFORMANCE PIECE.  (Why the hell not?)  And it’s about building a HOME for a family that’s been without one for a while. About learning to work the system of a higher education establishment [to get permission to put the trailer on campus.] It’s about learning to become an artist- and not just a performer. Learning to put my thoughts into words (believe it or not this is not something that comes naturally.) It’s about figuring out what this project is, what it means to me, to us, and so this thing is THERAPEUTIC, baby.

I’m starting to ask myself, with no real expectation of reaching any answers: Why is it that I still haven’t unpacked my stuff after Katrina? And why do I still refuse to settle down and put pictures up on the wall?

…maybe it’s not just me…[he stops to address conference participants] If I were to stop and ask: How many of you in this room consider yourself in TRANSIT? How many of you have ever lost a home?

I realize that most artists are nomadic by nature. We have to be, to survive, to pursue our dreams, to make, to MAKE .. We gotta’ keep on moving. And if possible, we ‘gotta do it in STYLE.

It’s the American Way.

This post is part of a series documenting Sam Breen’a Spartan Restoration Project. Please see his first post here and check out the archive here. The CSPA is helping Sam by serving in an advisory role, offering modest support and featuring Sam’s Progress by syndicating his feed from http://spartantrailerrestoration.wordpress.com as part of our CSPA Supports Program.

Uist Eco Film Festival

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

This collaboration between Sustainable Uist and Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre, Lochmaddy, promises a weekend of challenging and interesting films April 29 – May 1, 2011.  Taigh Chearsabhagh is the excellent gallery, arts centre and cultural hub on the very most western edge of Europe (the outer Hebrides).

Recommendations I received recently include Gasland and Home (other suggestions?).

But programming a film festival? Greenpeace actions off youTube?  Or Wall-E, The Day After Tomorrow, Avatar?  An Inconvenient Truth: is it too tired?.  Looking forward to hearing their choices.

Film, environmental activism, greenwash: discuss.

website: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/UistEcoFilmFestival?v=wall.

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