Monthly Archives: July 2014

Call for Papers – ‘Performing Ecos’

Open Calls

Contributions are invited for a special themed peer-reviewed journal issue of Performing Ethos

Deadline for Proposals: 15 August 2014

Guest-Editors: Bronwyn Preece (Independant Artist/Scholar), Jess Allen (University of Manchester) and Stephen Bottoms (University of Manchester).

Special Issue
17571979Global climate change is catalysing an examination of ecological ethics: humanity’s continuing failure to respond meaningfully to the impending environmental crisis has been characterized by philosopher Stephen M. Gardiner as a ‘perfect moral storm’ (2011). How are these ethical imperatives currently being addressed through, or as, performance? This edition aims to examine critically how ecological ethics and ethos may be supporting and challenging the current range of practices. ‘Performing Ecos’ will be an international interrogation of where the dynamic interdisciplinary field now situates itself in relation to Una Chaudhuri’s provocative and catalysing 1994 statement that Western theatre, being humanist-centred, is largely anti-ecological. Chaudhuri’s article, one of the first to acknowledge this philosophical dilemma, has been pivotal in stimulating both critical and performance responses from a wide range of scholarly perspectives. This special themed journal will be among the first specifically to unpack and foreground the ethos and ethics that now underpin performance and/as ecology. The journal will be published in Autumn 2015, and seeks to collate an international response to the following questions:

• How are contemporary performance practices being critically challenged by an ecological ethos? How does ‘ecology’ challenge how performance theorists think about ‘ethics’?

• How is ecological performance resisting – or further entrenching – binaries between rural/urban, nature/culture, metaphor/material, local/global?

• What are the ethics of framing climate change and other geophysical processes in terms of performance? (e.g. Kershaw 2012)

• How are indigenous voices and values being incorporated or appropriated through ecological performance? Are our ‘ethics’ being conceived and scribed with the same multivocality that they espouse?

• Is ecological performance cultivating, reinforcing or challenging a gendered aesthetic?

• How do the aesthetics of ecological performance differ across practices (ecocritical, site-specific, activist) and across continents?

Proposal Submissions
Contributors are invited to consider the above questions in practice-based contexts, as well as in theoretical and philosophical terms. We are inviting contributions in a diversity of presentation formats, from formal papers to artists’ pages. Articles should be between 5000-7000 words (Artist Pages do not necessarily need to conform to this designation). Accompanying photographs are encouraged.

Please send a 300-500 word abstract by 15 August 2014 to Bronwyn Preece: improvise@bronwynpreece.com. Please include a 100-word biographical statement with your submission. Selected submissions will be due by 31 October 2014, and final drafts will be selected at the end of May 2015. Performing Ethos uses the Harvard citation style.

Submissions must comply with the Intellect Journal Style Guide.

Performing Ethos is a refereed, interdisciplinary journal which considers ethical questions relating to contemporary theatre and live performance. Global in scope, it provides a unique forum for rigorous scholarship and serious reflection on the ethical dimensions of a wide range of performance practices from the politically and aesthetically radical to the mainstream Performing Ethos: ‘Performing Ecos’ will include book reviews. Additionally, this special issue will include a centre-spread, which will include a 100-word reflective response from contributors to the same question: what is YOUR ethic of performance and/as ecology?

References
Chaudhuri, U. (1994), ‘There Must be A Lot of Fish in that Lake: Toward an Ecological Theater’, Theater, 25: 1, pp. 23-31.
Gardiner, S. (2011), A Perfect Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change, New York: OUP.
Kershaw, B. (2012), ‘‘This is the Way the World Ends, Not…?’ On Performance Compulsion and Climate Change’, Performance Research, 17: 4, pp. 5-17.

Download the PEET Notes for Contributors

EMERGENCE  LAND JOURNEY 2014 (South Wales)

Open Calls

Logo_Emergence_PINK_RGB.1.1The much anticipated Emergence 2014 Land Journey: ‘THE WALK THAT RECONNECTS’  runs between Monday 8th (p.m) and Saturday 13th September (a.m) 2014.

“How do we create a shared narrative or story and draw out the collaborative voice of the WE not just the ME?” Lucy Neal.

The 2014 Emergence Land Journey offers much more than just a guided walk through some of the most varied and beautiful countryside in the UK (this time in Mawr and Gower in South Wales). The Walk That Reconnects offers participants an opportunity to consciously walk into a sustainable future together.  Inspired by the ideas of eco-psychologist and activist Joanna Macy and ‘The Work That Re-connects,’ it combines a multi-stage land journey, outdoor conference and walking workshop all in one event.

Facilitated by Lucy Neal (co-founder LIFT/Transition Town Tooting/Playing For Time) and Fern Smith (co-founder Volcano Theatre/Emergence), the Land Journey offers an opportunity for a deepened dialogue, concentration and reflection on the things that matter and things we take for granted. The group is taken on a physical journey and inner journey designed to “build motivation, creativity, courage and solidarity for the transition to a sustainable human culture.”

For more information or to secure a place please contact Holli Messam: holli@emergence-uk.org.

More than 1500 signatories from 120 countries demand inclusion of culture in UN sustainable development goals 

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The campaign launched on May 1st has so far been endorsed by more than 500  organizations worldwide. 

  • Read the Declaration and see the wide range of organizations demanding the inclusion of culture in the SDGs classified by country
  • Use the communications tools to ask organizations and individuals that have not yet endorsed it to do so
  • Share the most recent translations of the Declaration in Arabic, Portuguese and Russian to broaden the campaign’s reach
  • Follow #culture2015.org on Twitter to join the discussion online
  • Watch the UN Special Thematic Debate on Culture and Sustainable Development and the civil society intervention
  • See how culture is included in the latest draft of the SDGs at the UN and our collective letter to the Open Working Group co-chairs
  • Join the e-consultations convened by UNFPA, UNESCO and UNDP

See next steps

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MISE À JOUR

Plus de 1500 signataires de 120 pays demandent que la culture soit incluse dans les objectifs de développement durable des Nations unies

La campagne lancée le 1er mai a été appuyée par plus de 500 organisations dans le monde. 

  • Lisez la Déclaration et voyez la grande diversité d’organisations, classées par pays, qui demandent que la culture soit incluse dans les ODD
  • Utilisez les outils de communications pour demander aux organisations et individus qui n’ont pas déjà signé de le faire
  • Partagez les plus récentes traductions de la Déclaration en arabe, portugais et russe afin d’élargir la portée de la campagne
  • Suivez la discussion en ligne sur Twitter à #culture2015.org
  • Regardez le Débat thématique spécial des Nations unies sur la culture et le développement durable et l’intervention de la société civile
  • Voyez comment la culture est incluse dans la plus récente ébauche des ODD aux Nations unies et notre lettre collective aux coprésidents du Groupe de travail ouvert
  • Participez aux e-consultations menées par l’UNFPA, l’UNESCO et le PNUD

Voir les prochaines étapes.

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ACTUALIZACIÓN

Más de 1500 signatarios proviniendo de 120 países piden la inclusión de la cultura en los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible de las naciones unidas

La campaña iniciada el 1º de mayo recibió el apoyo de más de 500 organizaciones en el mundo.

  • Lea la Declaración y vea la gran diversidad de organizaciones, clasificadas por país, que piden que la cultura esté incluida en los ODS
  • Utilice los elementos de comunicación para pedirles a las organizaciones, los oficiales y los individuos quienes todavía no han firmado, que lo hagan de una vez
  • Comparta las más recientes traducciones de la Declaración en árabe, portugués y ruso para ampliar el alcance de la campaña
  • Sigua la discusión Twitter a #culture2015.org
  • Vea el debate temático especial de la Naciones Unidas sobre cultura y desarrollo sostenible así que la intervención de la sociedad civil.
  • Vea como la cultura está incluida en el más reciente esbozo de los ODS en las Naciones Unidas, así que nuestra carta colectiva a los copresidentes del Grupo de trabajo abierto
  • Participe en las e-consultaciones realizadas por la UNFPA, UNESCO y PNUD.

Ver las próximas etapas.

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DAS BAUMHAUS

Cultura21, Open Calls

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Das Baumhaus is a collaborative project between neighbors and local & international artists to build a tree house for use as a public space in Berlin-Wedding starting this year. Together they’re acting on the little voice in their heads that says, “What is it I can do to make the world a better place?”

Their answer is to act locally and create a space that inspires people to come together, communicate in meaningful ways and become part of a growing culture of active engagement and cooperation to develop trans-local sustainable solutions.

—Watch Movie—

Website

Call For Participation

Imagine a place, an informal and inspiring atmosphere, where you can meet other enthusiastic, like-minded people committed to making Berlin and the world a better place. On August 16th, the Emergent Berlin Festival invites you to Spreefeld (Köpenicker Str. 49) to become part of a growing sustainable urban culture.

Emergent Berlin is a one-day event to inform, network, exchange, collaborate, celebrate and have fun with each other in the spirit of becoming active participants in the quest to make Berlin, and maybe even the world, a better place. Emergent Berlin focuses on local projects and finding ways to connect people who are already working for a more sustainable city and those who are interested in the topic. They believe that connecting people means empowering them and their ideas.

For the Call, they are looking for people who are engaged in making Berlin a more sustainable place and who would like to present their work during the festival. There will be rooms and outdoor spaces to hold short (10 min) lectures (Projektpräsentationen) and workshops. For the presentations, each group should pick up a few central questions:

  • What am I doing to help grow a sustainable urban culture in Berlin?
  • What is my current problem/vision?
  • How do I connect with other people?

Please consider a broad spectrum of sustainable impact areas including but not limited to: personal, social, cultural, economic, ecologic & aesthetic.

Send them a short description of your organization / initiative / project / art / performance / workshop / presentation before July 15 and let them know how you would like to participate in this year’s fest.

submit to: emergent [dot] berlin [at] gmail [dot] com

Apart from presentations and workshops, there will be an accompanying program including a groovy party in the boathouse. There will even be a special boat ferry especially for Emergent Berlin guests! They are also looking for people involved in sustainable food initiatives to help make some home cooked healthy food.

After last year’s successful launch of Emergent Berlin, they are looking forward to another fruitful event on the exciting Spreefeld site.

Feel free to contact them for more information.

contact: emergent [dot] berlin [at] gmail [dot] com

This post is also available in: German

Main-Room-July-3013

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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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Open Call: Digitising Ecologies

news, Open Calls

Contemporary, digital technologies are deployed by cultural practitioners to augment perceptions of time, space and process at immediate and remote locations. Devices might aim to increase a user’s awareness of more-than-human environments, or connect people to conditions framing a chosen social, historical or ecological aspect of location. Technology has also shown to produce and reinforce citizen-led alternatives to hegemonic practices; it for example enables more immediate collection of data on natural phenomena by people directly implicated by these conditions, such as farmers. Environmental charities and lobbying organizations eagerly employ technicians and programmers to develop applications that interpret our environment and engage an audience with environmental causes. Yet these technologies are implicated more deeply and subtly in changes wrought upon us and our entangled worlds. With the gradual surge of these practices we call upon artists, theorists, practitioners, and other researchers to critically reflect on the use and implications of digital technologies and their advocacy in the field of ecology, nature conservation, geography, environmental education, and rural and sustainable development.

We seek proposals responding to the following lines of enquiry.

Digital technologies are often understood and critiqued as acting ‘between’ people and their natural environment. Does the digitisation of landscapes and natural phenomena produce an enhanced relationship between humans and their environment, forging and deepening our experience of elusive and dynamic conditions? Or does it create what Baudillard (1994) calls hyperreality, in which the digital representation of reality becomes more real and attractive than an ‘authentic’ world? Do such technologies contribute to an extinction of experience (Pyle 2011), whereby we lose the ability to meaningfully engage without a digital interface? How might we reframe technology’s role in the correlation between humans and non-human world? Digital media have become an intricate part of all levels and areas of our society. We are masters of the technologies that we create, and their uses change our social and geopolitical environments. But not always in ways that we expect. Given ecological crises, how can we decide on the function and appropriateness of new interfaces and applications? Can technologies increase our resilience in the face of system collapses, responding in agile ways to unanticipated catastrophes and current socio-environmental challenges? Or are real-world, human and natural phenomena inherently uncontrollable? Do they allow the emergence of more sustainable practices by for example increasing the dissemination, preservation and adoption of traditional practices that have less negative impacts on the environment? How does this change our understanding of the world? How might we better negotiate the shifting boundaries between the planned and the contingent, the solid and the fluid, between tradition and progress?

Geohack: two-day exploration of the interface between digital media and our (natural) environment

We call on artists, gamers, geographers, historians, performance-makers, seafarers, landlubbers, the flooded and the landlocked interested in devising immersive, locative and interactive strategies that connect people to the socio-environmental conditions of contemporary landscapes. Challenged by James Mariott (Platform London), and mentored by Duncan Speakman (Circumstance), Tassos Stevens (Coney) and Jay Kerry (Mercurial Wrestler) participants will collectively create new bodies of work in response to the nautical landscape of Falmouth. They will work in tall ships, on ferries, at sea, or on the shore to collaboratively create pieces for one of these locations or the journeys between. We will provide a range of creative means: kayaks, wetsuits, fishing nets and snorkels, as well as digital media. The products will be showcased as part of the Fascinate Conference that takes place August 30th and 31st. Places are limited! Apply by August 15th at www.fascinateconference.com Geohack Final Proof

Artful Waste by Suendrini at Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit

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Artful Waste by Suendrini

Art Booth F16 - Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit

4-6 July, 2014

Nathan Phillips Square - 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, On. M5H 2N2

Fri, 4th – 10.30 am to 7.30 pm

Sat, 5th – 10.30 am to 7.30 pm

(Awards Parade at 1 pm in the Square)

Sun, 6th – 10.30 am to 6.30 pm

“Respectful of the landscape tradition, and creative in the innovative application of the textile medium” were the juror’s comments, along with the Manly E. McDonald Award of Excellence of Suendrini’s County Road 12, Prince Edward County piece, from Art in the County 2013. The jurors were Katerina Atanassova, chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario; Linda Jansma, senior curator of the Robert McLaughling Gallery in Oshawa, and Peter G.S. Large, elected member of the Ontario Society of Artists and past president of the Society of Canadian artists.

Suendrini’s latest and largest piece to date entitled Secret Beach, Prince Edward County (6′ x 5′) will be showing at this year’s Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Please come and see hi-def, sustainable, textile landscapes and meet the artist. Rain or shine!

www.suendrini.com 

Toronto | Prince Edward County

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New from Ashden Directory

Ashden Directory

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Dome for sale at CCANW

Crowd-sourcing is building two online databases: Actipedia for activist art, and TippingPoint’s database of climate art.

The Museum of Water and the pop-up Water Bar assemble in Soho, London next week.

Send a bottle of sea water to the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh for an exhibition in 2014.

The last of the Wasteland Conversations in Nottingham is on the Common Imagination.

The Center for Contemporary Art and the Natural World is selling its all-weather Dome, and moving to the University of Exeter.

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“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK” (2020 Network)

ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.

The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.

The Directory has been live since 2000.

Go to The Ashden Directory

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