Monthly Archives: September 2016

The Carbon Lab – An Anthropocene Conversation Between Artists

This post comes from the Artists and Climate Change Blog

by Guest Blogger Dr Carol Birrell

She was a tiny clot of earth, a nano particle of something finer than clay, finer than silt, but soil nonetheless. She was ancient with memory rushing though gills, feather, bone and gullet. She rubbed against scales, swallowed spore of dinosaur plants, arctic tundra and Devonian rocks. The ingestion of millions of earth years all held in one big watery sponge of memory. It adhered to her, refused to let go, to be absorbed by some other fleeting jolt of reality. It would not dissolve in those acidic depths, nor would it break up or break down. It just remained. It was the taste of infinity that knew no definitions between plant or animal, organic and inorganic, human or non-human. Her hair turned copper red, her skin became dark brown leather, creased at the edges of dreams, slipping in and out of viruses, bacteria and the DNA of a million frozen glaciers. She had become that, and all, a cosmic conflagration.

I am an artist, writer, and researcher who has always held a deep fascination with bogs: peat bogs. In Alaska in 2015, on a Writers Fellowship through the Island Institute, I was in a thick boreal forest late afternoon when the sun’s rays hit spots on stumps, branches, trunks, and leaves. The light was riveting as it seemed to illuminate those spaces from within. That moment encapsulated for me the moment of carbon capture and I was hooked into something.

img_3141

Since then, I have pursued my interest and lack of knowledge about the carbon cycle. I want to understand how/why carbon is captured, stored, and released in a story of transformation from organic matter to inorganic mineral (peat, lignite, coal, graphite, diamond, and many in-between). In these Anthropocene times where concrete evidence of indelible human impact on the planet’s life systems has been acknowledged, carbon, the element, has become demonised. It is one of the major greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. I am keen to develop my own relationship and insight into this crucial life force. I look to the intersection of the arts and ecology as a way of deepening into my embeddedness with the earth, and as a means to make sense of these times. I trust the arts and creativity as a way of knowing, and I wanted to work with a group of artists to open new possibilities.

The project began with an invite for a gathering of an open group of artists, working across various arts modalities, such as writers, visual artists, poets, printers, photographers, story tellers, dancers, musicians, performance artists, all interested in the story of carbon, and working on one particular place: a peat bog on mainland Australia. This peat bog, a glacial relic, is estimated to be at least 20,000 years old and has been strongly disrupted from its trajectory by humans and domesticated animals, yet still survives, albeit in tattered form.

img_5791-1

The type of questions I was hoping to explore were: What can this peat bog teach us? How can our own arts practice speak of the bog? What are the stories that emerge from this place? What might it mean to share the stories of this place and our art work in a series of conversations both private and public? How does our relationship with and our understanding of carbon and the earth itself develop through this process? Is it possible for humans to develop an understanding of Deep Time through the process of engaging with an ancient bog?

The idea was for people to go to the bog independently and develop their own arts response to it, then come together on a regular basis to share those responses, tease out ideas, see the art work in progress, and create a dialogue between artists, known collectively and fondly, as Bog Rats. A Secret Facebook page was established as a platform for people to share their work and ideas. ‘Secret’ because the bog is not legally accessible, hence this artistic work requires boldness and risk, just as we humans living in the Anthropocene need to think and act in a disruptive fashion in order to forge new relationship with the earth. The possibility has been raised of a podcast, or documentary and presentations at conferences, or an art exhibition. We were also hoping to grow the project so people living in other countries could be part of their own carbon lab and share ideas across the globe.

img_5835

So far, we have had 30 or so artists express interest and embark on their own art work, as well as a public performance story telling group offering to be part of this work in re-telling and re-enacting our stories. We have had several meetings full of showing, sharing and asking questions. The dialogue is always rich and alive. When an artist speaks from her/his voice, I am exposed to a different way of knowing expressed through their particular arts modality, and it makes me see and understand things differently. Like the bog, I ingest new layers of sediment, swirl them around together, then something settles in me for a time of waiting, to emerge, who knows when, as a new articulation.

I want to speak to some of the work that has emerged so far through my art: I have written four short pieces, a few poems, taken photos of the bog in golden light, of human presence insinuating itself into bog life, played with bog art using bog mud on paper, and tasted bog mud, bog plants. Finally, I have smeared my body with bog mud in an echo of ‘Bog Man’ stories of preservation. I have dreamt about the bog…

img_5846

The ideas that are coming to me for further work concern the seeming surface stillness versus the seething mass of movement of sediment in water throughout the under layers of the bog; how my concept of time alters in dialogue with bog time/carbon time; the notion of a state of equipoise or suspended animation as regards the ‘hold’ on life the bog has – it reminds me of hibernation – when the normal process of life has been intercepted, so that decay, the natural process we associate with death, is held at bay or deferred; and the curious transition from organic to inorganic states.

What I thought to be a relatively short-term project (six months) is now looking like a few years. If you would like to be part of this project, begin your own or converse with other ‘Bog Rats’, contact me via email:carolleebirrell@gmail.com.

______________________________

Dr Carol Birrell is an artist, researcher, and writer. She has taught in universities and schools, is passionate about the intersection between ecology and the arts, and Indigenous knowledge systems. Her land-based art practice, developed over 20 years, called Touching the Earth, is a dialogue with the earth. Carol knows, as part of her Climate Change work, she needs to urgently spend time in Greenland listening to glaciers melt, and in the Arctic Circle responding to permafrost thawing. You can FB Friend her at Carol Birrell where she may allow you to join the Secret Group of Carbon Laboratory.

______________________________

Follow on Facebook and Twitter.

 

———-

Artists and Climate Change is a blog that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to the Artists and Climate Change Blog

Powered by WPeMatico

Artists announced for annual Arts & Sustainability Residency 2016

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Creative Carbon Scotland is pleased to announce the selected artists forThinking through the Anthropocene: Arts & Sustainability Residency. 

Running for its third consecutive year, the residency provides eight Scotland-based artists and creative practitioners with the time, space and interdisciplinary input to explore how their work relates to the Anthropocene and environmental sustainability.

In alphabetical order, those selected to participate in this year’s residency are:

Reem Alkayyem

Reem Alkayyem is a Syrian born and educated architect. She has practiced architecture for 15 years in her home country and has MScs from the University of Edinburgh in Architectural Project Management (2012) and Advanced Sustainable Design (2016). She aims to enhance and disseminate the knowledge of sustainability to include the social and cultural aspects in addition to environmental. She is additionally keen to contribute to the reconstruction of her country and to educate future architects on sound and sustainable bases.

Kathy Beckett

Kathy describes her creative practice as ‘in exploration of ecocentric approaches’, seeing that her responsibility and passion as an artist is to help serve a more beautiful life sustaining world. She works across a range of mediums, with people and nature at the core of her activity and public engagement as a vehicle of expression. She has been contracted as a project artist concerned with environmental sustainability for a range of organisations, including the Glasgow School of Art, Creative Carbon Scotland and North Light Arts.

Simon Gall

Simon Gall is a musician, composer and educator based in Aberdeenshire. He has toured (and continues to tour) internationally, recording with a number of artists including well-known world music band Salsa Celtica, Cuban band Son al Son and more recently contemporary Scottish folk duo Clype.

Alex Mackay

Alex Mackay is a sound artist, composer and performer based in Glasgow, making work across media including sound/music, image and performance for a wide range of contexts, including recorded media, installation, live performance as well as collaborative work in the fields of visual art, dance and film.  

Victoria MacKenzie

Victoria MacKenzie is a fiction writer working on her first novel, Brantwood, about the life of art critic and social reformer John Ruskin, as well as a short fiction collection, Creaturely, which explores our connections with other species.

Michael Stumpf

Michael Stumpf (born in Mannheim, Germany) is a visual artist that works primarily in sculpture. In addition to his own practice he is currently a member of the artist group Poster Club. Recent exhibitions include: New Wheat New Mud New Machine (with Poster Club) Cooper Gallery, Dundee; Objects Converse on a Matter of Mutual Concern, Art Across the City, Swansea; This Song Belongs to those Who Sing It, Mackintosh Gallery, Glasgow School of Art; In Other Words, Lewis Glucksmann Gallery, Cork; New Alchemy /Contemporary Art after Beuys, Landesmuseum, Münster.

Samuel Tongue

A hybrid of lyric and language poetry, Samuel’s practice is inter-medial and parasitic, living within, feeding from, and provoking a variety of artistic forms. Poems are search patterns, part of a meshwork of ideas and concepts, rooted in an incorrigibly plural world.

Jenna Watt

Jenna Watt is a multi-award winning Scottish theatre maker, her latest work; Faslane, written in part at Cove Park, received a 2016 Scotsman Fringe First Award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.


This year’s arts and sustainability residency run in partnership with Cove Park and is funded by Creative Scotland and kindly supported by the Dr David Summers Charitable Trust.

Keep an eye on our News section for further details on the residency.

picture1-e1469787586629screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-17-24-23

The post Artists announced for annual Arts & Sustainability Residency 2016 appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Partial history of artists and bioremediation

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

 

The video posted by A Blade of Grass as well as the information on their website highlighting Jan Mun’s work with Greenpoint Bioremediation Project on Newtown Creek, a polluted industrial maritime waterway and Superfund site, is great. An artist doing useful ecologically-focused work, engaging the symbolism of mushrooms and fairy rings to address the significant pollution of Newtown Creek in New York. And this piece is not intended to diminish the importance of the project, the support of a major funder of social practice, or the involvement of artists in addressing polluted land.

But the way this work is presented misses out the history of the practice in this particular field. We end up with a sense of ‘innovation’ and novelty, “WOW, an artist working with mushrooms to clean up an industrial accident! How cool is that! Awesome.”

It’s important to understand that bioremediation is a major area of scientific, technological and also engineering work which uses organisms to remove or neutralise pollution in a particular location.Phytoremediation specifically uses plants both transgenic (genetically modified to accumulate pollution more effectively) and natural to absorb pollutants. Mycoremediation specifically uses fungi. These are described as technologies.

There is also a history in ecological art for these practices. A number of artists interested in working with scientists and engineers have been involved in the development of this ‘field’, although now bioremediation (and its specialisms) are largely undertaken by engineers and governed by Environmental Protection regulation.

A few key artists whose work might form a lineage for this are Mel Chin, who working with Rufus Chaney, a senior research scientist at the US Department of Agriculture, and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, developed the first field trial of phytoremediation at the Pig’s Eye Landfill in Minnesota in an artwork entitled Revival Field (1990 ongoing). For background on this project and Chin’s articulation of the art, see the Ecovention exhibition catalogue which is fully reproduced on Greenmuseum.org

Other artists who have developed work in this field include Georg Dietzler and Frances Whitehead. Georg Dietzler’s work (1999 involved using Oyster Mushrooms to remediate PCBs and was framed as research, with research questions, and conducted as an experiment (Concept).

Frances Whitehead’s Slow Clean-up (2008-2012) focused on multiple sites of abandoned gas stations across Chicago.  This work is firmly based on her concern with the embedded artist, relies as all these projects do on collaboration with scientists, engineers and environmental managers.  Her documentation of the project, available on the website, highlights her assessment of her own innovation focused on thinking about the meaning of time in relation to site and what short and long timescales for this sort of work enable and exclude.

Clearly early examples of this are innovative by any account, but its worth offering some criteria for innovation against which to examine other projects. Tim Collins suggests that innovation is usually in at least one of the following categories: formal, social or technical. Obviously Mel Chin and Rufus Cheney’s field experiment starting in 1991 was technically innovative – no-one had tested the potential for specific plants (or any plants infact) to remediate pollution. Their experiment both tested specific plants, but also tested the principle which up until that point had been a hypothesis. Revival Field is in itself socially innovative in presenting a scientific experiment as an artwork. Curiously in terms of formal innovation, Chin has described the work in terms of the most basic sculptural process of reduction. He argued that the work is like carving but in this case using biochemistry as the chisel, though eventually this process of reduction, carving away the pollution from the soil, will become obvious in the form of new growth on the site (see herefor Mel Chin’s own description).

To be able to ascertain the innovation in Jan Mun’s work on the Greenpoint Bioremediation Project we need a better and more detailed description of the work, whether through a deep description of the concept allowing us to understand the artist’s intention to do something innovative, or retrospectively by a description of the project’s emergent innovative elements (pacem Elizabeth Hallam and Tim Ingold who argue that we can only see innovation retrospectively and in the moment only improvise).

This is a brief and partial indication of the history of artists involvement in bioremediation. It’s also worth reading Tim Collins’ comments here – he references other people not mentioned above.

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Maker Coral Mallow on creating the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award piece

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

This post comes from Coral Mallow: the artist we commissioned this summer to craft the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award. Here’s what she has to say about her process.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe! It is an exciting time to be in the city with it’s candy wrapper costume of theatre posters and the possibility of art literally and figuratively around every corner and close. For an entire month!

With such an extensive celebration however comes much waste in promotion, tourism, and production needs. Rather than approach this issue negatively Creative Carbon Scotland chose to create an award to congratulate those productions that had a combination of low environmental impact and innovative production speaking to sustainability problems and solutions.

Hence we come to the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award. This is a collaboration between Creative Carbon Scotland and the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts. To further keep with the theme of this award they decided to put out a call to hire a local Artist/Maker to create the award. This is where I come in.

My name is Coral Mallow and I’m here to tell you about the making and thought process behind the creation of the 2016 award.

When I applied for the commission I was already thinking of some things that I would have to keep in mind. The performance that won might not be local as we get troupes and performers from all over the world. As anyone who has flown lately knows weight restrictions on luggage get stricter all the time, so creating something lighter as an award would probably be preferable. As such, the performer that won might not be in Edinburgh at the time of the award giving so it would make it easier to transport or mail as well.

I also looked into the award created last year by maker Sarah Diver so also knew I would have to add logos and text. This meant I had to consider a way to accurately and clearly present that information. It also meant that it had to be separate of the body of the piece because the maker would only find out about the winner a week before the ceremony. All of this information was key to my proposal.

While I work in many different mediums I chose to weave this award using a technique called twill inlay. Twill inlay allows you to create a design in a weaving by adding additional yarn to a pattern by hand. Here is a youtube link to a weaver who demonstrates the technique also using four shaft floor loom. I have a background in theatre as both performer and playwright so I looked to the history of theatre to inform my material choices. I chose to use rescued and reclaimed linen and wool yarns to create the body or the award which could then be displayed either flat or hung on the wall. The text pieces would be added and attached by hand using embroidery.

EFAVou

To capture the text in clarity I chose to use the services of a local women owned company in Leith called BeFabBeCreative. Using digital printing may not sound sustainable, but when you take into consideration the lack of solvents, the small business commitment to recycling, and the locality allowing me to collect via walking or bus it is an excellent option! They created the digital prints on a cotton fabric that mirrored the pattern I would be using in the weaving. The proprietors Solii and Zoe were very excited and helpful in getting the cloth printed, prepared, and to me in time for me to complete the piece for the award ceremony. The three pictures above are three of the digital designs created in photoshop that were printed and used.

Textile waste is a huge problem with a significant portion of our landfills being clothing, carpets, household soft goods such as sheets and towels and more all contribute to a growing issue around sustainability. There is a tendency towards mass disposal of materials and props during large festivals. Depending on how far some acts have traveled, and what they wish to bring home, Edinburgh can wind up with a significant increase in waste.

Artists and theater makers have long been known for their resourcefulness in reusing what society discards. Whether for canvases, costuming, or various assemblages as can be found in sculpture and jewelry, “waste not want not” is the working motto of many a practitioner. By creating a soft textile piece I speak not just to the history of the Arts, but to the Arts long commitment to recycling, upcycling, and industrious innovation.

Congratulations to VOU Fiji Dance for winning the award for their production “Are We Stronger Than Winston?”! It was a delight and an honor to create this award and I hope it brings you as much joy in the having as I had in the creating of it.

The post Maker Coral Mallow on creating the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award piece appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Hebrides International Film Festival

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Rural Nations Scotland CIC is proud to present the programme for this year’s Hebrides International Film Festival 2016: Islands and Environment.

hebrides-international-film-festival-brochure-48pp-v1-for-website1

We are pleased to be partnering with An Lanntair Arts Centre who will be our hub for this year’s festival, screening our entire programme across its main auditorium and newly launched Pocket Cinema.

HIFF prides itself on it’s mission to engage rural communities throughout the islands, and this year will be no different bringing a breadth of cinema and film maker guest speakers to communities throughout the Outer Hebrides with screenings in Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra over the four day festival from the Wednesday the 14th to Saturday the 17th September.

The film festival has attracted films from around the world, and we are thrilled to announce that this year the screenings will include a UK premiere.

Award winning, Caribbean produced film, Vanishing Sail will open the festival with it’s UK premiere, which will take place simultaneously in our An Lanntair and Berneray venues on Wednesday 14th September at 8pm.

The opening of the HIFF festival and premiere of the film on our shores will see the town harbour filled with sailing craft in a parade of sail arranged with the help of Sail Stornoway.

Many of the first boatbuilders on the Caribbean island where Vanishing Sail was filmed, came from Scotland so we were very excited when Rural Nations invited us to open their 3rd Hebrides International Film Festival. We were inspired by their commitment to bringing meaningful international stories to their remote islands… Alexis Andrews, Director

This years festival can boast a similarly exciting line up of contemporary, award winning environmental features and documentaries. As well as a great selection of shorts, from both seasoned and emerging film makers from around the world.

From Norwegian blockbuster The Wave to newly released family film Swallows & Amazons. International success story Hunt for the Wilderpeople and hard hitting documentaries The Messenger from the US, Fire at Sea from Italy and The Islands and the Whales from Scotland just for starters.

There’s plenty of ways to get involved with the festival this year, with environmental themed events and talks arranged in collaboration with the North Harris Trust, RSPB Scotland and local businesses.

As well as free archive screenings from the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image archive bringing a look at island life as it was.

Special guests this year will include Loic Jordain, French film maker and his latest release, The Turning Tide In the Life of Man for a masterclass in long form documentary. As well as award winning Canadian director, Charles Wilkinson, who will join the festival from Vancouver for a discussion on his approach to green film making with his feature doc Haida Gwaii.

The full programme is now available online and tickets are available to book at hebfilmfestival.org

The post Hebrides International Film Festival appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Why Land Art Generator in Scotland?

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Video from the Test Unit Pecha Kucha at the Whisky Bond, Glasgow, July 2016, which provides a context for LAGI Glasgow.  Thanks to TAKTAL for the opportunity.Filed under: energy, Fremantle writing, News Tagged: Brent Spar, Greenpeace, land Art Generator, Peter Fend, PLATFORM London

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Tim Ingold: ‘The Sustainability of Everything’

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

There was an interesting piece in the NY Times recently entitled Against Sustainability questioning the meaningfulness of ‘sustainability’ and offering a critique of the nostalgia-based version,

We will get a very different ‘take’ on this issue from Tim Ingold, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, activist for better universities, and author of numerous books including Line: A Brief History (2007),Being Alive (2011), Making (2013) and The Life of Lines(2015).  Ingold’s anthropology is more humanities than social science and he is frequently cited by artists.  His current European Research Council funded project Knowing from the Inside involves a number of artists.

Ingold will ask,

Saturday 10th September, 11am
Fairfield Hall, The Pearce Institute, 840-860 Govan Rd, Glasgow G51 3UU

This public talk is free to attend, although we ask for donations towards the room rent and future CHE/GFU events. Please book your ticket here as places are limited: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2591625

Please spread the word by sharing the attached poster (The_Sustainability_of_Everything) among your relevant networks, or on social media. Thanks!

Event facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1104818026253422/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Tickets Now Available for 51 Shades of Green

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

We’re excited to announce that tickets are now available for 51 Shades of Green: Action in the Arts!

This full day conference will explore the variety of creative and innovative actions being taken to reduce the environmental impact of the arts, and engage the sector in sustainability.

Held at the Pearce Institute in Glasgow, it is for anyone working in the arts, and specifically for those working in arts organisations in Scotland.

Click here for more information on what to expect, and to read about last year’s conference.

If you have any questions about the conference, please get in touch with Catriona on catriona.patterson@creativecarbonscotland.com

The post Tickets Now Available for 51 Shades of Green appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Call for Papers: American Theatre and Performance in the Anthropocene Era

Journal of American Drama and Theatre

Special Issue: American Theatre and Performance in the Anthropocene Era 

The American Theatre and Drama Society invites submissions for the Spring 2017 issue of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre. Membership in ATDS is not required for submission of an article, but submissions from ATDS members are especially encouraged.

According to world geologists, humanity is currently living in the Holocene Era, which began 11,700 years ago and facilitated the flourishing of present life on the planet, especially the population explosion of Homo sapiens. Since the 1980s, however, many scientists have pushed to rename our contemporary geologic era the Anthropocene, in recognition of the fact that the activities of our species are now becoming the single most important cause of planetary change – from punishing weather patterns, to vanishing coastlines, the killing-off of thousands of species, and the threatened deaths of millions of human beings. Indeed, the social and political effects of climate change (including civil wars, mass emigrations, and heightened threats to individual rights and democratic government) are often a part of these discussions. While scientists continue to debate the proposal to rename the present geologic era, they also disagree about when the Anthropocene might best be said to have begun; though some set its start 5,000 years ago, with the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution, many date it from the Industrial Revolution of the 1760s, when carbon emissions began to spike. As legal scholar and author Jedediah Purdy notes, “[Determining the parameters of the Anthropocene] is not a statement of fact as much as a way of organizing facts to highlight a certain importance that they carry.”

Similarly, this CFP invites scholars to reconsider the “facts” of the past, the present, and the likely future of American theatre and performance in the light of these debates about the “importance” of the Anthropocene Era. Below are some questions authors may wish to pursue for this special issue of JADT:

  • How did theatrical production and reception in the Americas become entwined with the Industrial Revolution?
  • What did “nature” mean in popular American drama? How have the meanings of this key term changed over the years?
  • In view of our current concerns about the causes and effects of climate change, how might “Indian plays,” “working-class theatre,” “immigrant drama,” and other traditional categories of scholarship in our discipline be reinterpreted?
  • What is the carbon footprint of a typical blockbuster musical in New York City today? On the road?
  • How are contemporary American playwrights and companies addressing the concerns of global climate justice?
  • In the current debates about the Anthropocene, scientists have become evolutionary historians, taking positions about global change on the basis of their understanding of major trends in the past that have culminated in a dangerous present and what might become a disastrous future. Might performance historians construct a similar and plausible narrative arc about the future of performance in the Americas? Is a more optimistic narrative also plausible?

Manuscripts (5000 – 7000 words) should be prepared in conformity with the Chicago Manual of Style, using endnotes, and submitted as attachments in Microsoft Word format. All correspondence will be conducted by e-mail. Submissions must be received no later than December 1, 2016. Please e-mail queries and articles to Bruce McConachie, Guest Editor, bamcco@pitt.edu.

For more information about JADT, see http://jadtjournal.org

For more information about ATDS, see http://www.atds.org

Save the Date: 51 Shades of Green

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

We’re excited to announce the date of our second annual conference!

51 Shades of Green: Action in the Arts will take place on Thursday 27th October 2016, returning to the Pearce Institute in Glasgow for a full day of discussion around the key actions the arts sector is making to reduce its environmental impact.

Last years conference (50 Shades of Green: Stories of Sustainability in the Arts Sector) saw attendees from across the arts sharing their experiences, inventions and approaches to carbon emissions reporting and engaging others with environmental sustainability. This year we’re matching the sharing of best practice with a focus on taking the next step towards carbon reduction, and building the momentum towards action in the arts.

Whether you’re a Green Arts Initiative member, a Regularly Funded Organisation working towards Creative Scotland’s ‘Environment’ Connecting Theme, an arts venue keen to find out what your peers are doing, an arts company who has been working on sustainability for years, or just coming to sustainability in the sector for the first time, there will be something for you! Find out more FAQs here.

To register your interest (and be the first to hear when tickets become available), enter your details and ideas here: http://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/save-date-51-shades-green/

The post Save the Date: 51 Shades of Green appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

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

Powered by WPeMatico