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Women Eco Artists Dialog: Art as Strategy

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Women Eco Artists Dialog - WEAD
Art + Activism Web Series Episode No. 6“Art as Strategy” with Aviva RahmaniSunday, May 23rd 7:00 – 8:00pm EDT (4:00 – 5:00pm PDT)
Please register at Eventbrite

I sometimes think of myself as a warrior against ecocide. Beauty is my shield – but art, music, law, science and stubborn persistence are my weapons. In this event for WEAD, I will focus on two projects in depth, Ghost Nets (1990-2000), and how it morphed into other work including a theory of change and The Blued Trees Symphony (2015-present). Both continue. The former restored a coastal town dump to flourishing wetlands on a remote island in Maine. The latter composed a continental scale aerial symphony out of tree-notes. It contested the interpretation of eminent domain law by claiming copyright protection for a sonified biogeographic installation and in a mock trial, won an injunction against a corporation. -Aviva Rahmani

WEAD’S ART + ACTIVISM WEB SERIES is grounded in the belief that art can be a powerful tool for raising awareness and prompting social change. In this series we explore ways that artists actively engage in creating climate solutions and promoting sustainability.

(Top image: Listening to the Tree, Toya Lillard as “Oxygenia Kelp, the Tree Translator” listens to – then translates music about ecocide and copyright infringement “emanating” from a cut tree at the mock trial, “I Speak for The Trees” produced by A Blade of Grass for The Blued Trees Symphony, held at the Cardozo School of Law in New York, NY. Photograph by Eric McGregor, 2018.)

Call for CFAR Project Incubator, a residency opportunity for Oregon artists

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Applications due: June 1, 2021

The CFAR Project Incubator (CPI) is a partnership between the University of Oregon Center for Art Research and Knight Campus for Accelerated Scientific Impact that affords Oregon artists working in any medium the opportunity to explore and conceptualize new work as a part of a vibrant, interdisciplinary research community that is supported by cutting-edge facilities and technical staff.

Generous support is available to CPI residents who will live independently, will occupy a research space with access to specialized facilities on campus for two to eight weeks depending on project needs, and will be given a courtesy appointment as a UO Research Fellow with access to general campus resources for one year including libraries, museums, archives, and services as well as technical assistance, facilities, and resources that are specific to their project. This program is open to any artistic practice, approach, and/or subject matter and does not have to focus on science or to be rooted in scientific inquiry.

For further information and to apply, go to Call for CFAR Project Incubator.

Image: Knight Campus North Millrace Entrance. Photo Credit: Bruce Damonte

Announcing the CSPA Quarterly’s New Rising Co-Editors

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The CSPA QUARTERLY is proud to announce our rising Co-Lead Editors, who will be sustaining the publication and transitioning to eventually become Lead Editors.

Jamie Morra is an art historian living and working between the United States, Scotland, and Spain. Her interests include the aesthetics of ecology, human-animal relations, and ways in which technology has come to mitigate the formal qualities of everyday life. Her background in theories of art and the environment inform her work with artists as a facilitator, producer, project manager, researcher and writer. In 2014 Morra co-founded Residency 108 to invite artists to share her deep connection to the natural world and abiding concern for the issues facing our planet. The program aims to underscore the connections, both formally and conceptually, between art and nature. Morra holds a B.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Studies at New York University, an M.A. and a Curatorial Certificate from Hunter College.

Evelyn O’Malley is a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter, where she teaches, researches and writes about environmental theatre and performance. Published work includes the monograph Weathering Shakespeare: Audiences and Open Air Performance(2020), in addition to articles and book chapters on theatre, performance, sea and mountain-scapes, weather, climate change and reproductive rights. She has also written short pieces for Waymaking: an anthology women’s adventure writing, poetry and art, An Ecotopian Lexicon and Tree Tales.

Her collaborative research in the field has included working with scientists and meteorologists from the UK Met Office and University on a Natural Environment Research Council Climate Stories project, in addition to a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council project on Atmospheric Theatre: Open Air Performance and the Environment, with Chloe Preedy. She is also a collaborator on a global SSHRC practice-research collaboration Cymbeline in the Anthropocene, led by Randall Martin.

She is from a mostly grey place called Baile an Bhóthair (the town on the road) in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives and works in another mostly grey place called Exeter, England, where she can be found struggling up hills on her bike, never dressed for the weather and still surprised, heartstopped by the city’s occasionally-magnificent light.

The CSPA Quarterly is a publication arm of the Centre for Sustainable Arts. It is meant to give a longer format and deeper space for exploration than some online platforms provide, and to reflect the myriad ways in which sustainability in the arts is discussed, approached and practiced. The publication features reviews, interviews, features, artist pages, essays, reflections and photos. It is a snapshot of a moment in time, a look at the many discussions in sustainability and the arts through the lens of a particular theme. It is part of a rigorous dialogue.

Jamie and Evelyn will be working together to:

  • Develop an archival, digital publication of the Q
  • Develop and sustain new income streams for the Q
  • Plan issues for 2024 and beyond, assuming sole Lead Editorship in that year
  • Sustain the Quarterly and its continued relevance.

They will be working with the guidance and support of current Lead Editor Meghan Moe Beitiks, whose final issue will be Q40.

We are incredibly grateful to be bringing on these prolific, skilled, insightful and talented writers and administrators, and look forward to their vision for the Quarterly as it changes and adapts over time!

Questions? Please email editor@sustainablepractice.org

Ecoart in Action

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I am excited to share the forthcoming publication (2022) Ecoart in Action Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities!


Edited by
Amara Geffen
Ann Rosenthal
Chris Fremantle
Aviva Rahmani 

How do we educate those who feel an urgency to address our environmental and social challenges? What ethical concerns do art-makers face who are committed to a deep green agenda? How can we refocus education to emphasize integrative thinking and inspire hope? What role might art play in actualizing environmental resilience? Compiled from 67 members of the Ecoart Network, a group of more than 200 internationally established practitioners, EcoArt in Action stands as a field guide that offers practical solutions to critical environmental challenges. Organized into three sections—Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations—each contribution provides models for ecoart practice that are adaptable for use within a variety of classrooms, communities, and contexts. It will come out fall 2021, published by New Village Press working with New York University Press for marketing and distribution. Educators developing project and place-based learning curricula, citizens, policymakers, scientists, land managers, and those who work with communities (human and other) will find inspiration for integrating art, science, and community-engaged practices into on-the-ground environmental projects. If you share a concern for the environmental crisis and believe art can provide new options, this book is for you!

For more information or to purchase a copy click here!

CSPA Supports: Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 Micro-Grants to Canadian Artists

CCTA, news

Application deadline: July 2, 2021 @ 11:59 pm Eastern Time
Winners notified: July 23, 2021

Thanks to support from the Canada Council for the Arts and through the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts’ CSPA Supports Program, we are pleased to offer 5-10 micro-grants of $500 to $1,000 to individuals or groups based in Canada interested in organizing an event for Climate Change Theatre Action 2021. 

Eligibility:
  • Open to individuals or groups based in Canada only who are not associated with an institution. (Small theatres without operational funding and students who don’t have access to university funding are eligible.)
  • Priority will be given to BIPOC applicants and applicants from provinces and territories that have not been represented in CCTA so far: New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Yukon.
  • You must follow the CCTA guidelines and present an event in your community, using at least one of the plays from the CCTA 2021 collection, between September 19 – December 18, 2021.
  • You will need to document your event through photos and/or videos and share the documentation with us afterwards.
  • Only one submission per person. If you are part of a group (i.e., small theatre or student group), only one member in your group should apply. 
How to Apply:
  • Familiarize yourself with Climate Change Theatre Action and what is expected of a producing collaborator.
  • Contact us at ccta@thearcticcycle.org to get access to the plays.
  • Once you have read the plays and the detailed guidelines, and have a clear idea of what kind of event you would like to organize, fill out the application form. 
  • You need to submit a budget as part of your application. You can download a budget template below. 

APPLY HERE

MICRO GRANT BUDGET TEMPLATE

Evaluation Process:

All applications will be evaluated by the Climate Change Theatre Action organizing team (members of Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts and The Arctic Cycle) based on the following criteria.

Artistic Merit: Do you have a clear vision for your event? Well-defined goals? Are you creating something that is unique to you and your community?

Experience/Capacity: Do you have the resources, knowledge, and/or prior experience to organize and present this event? Do you have access to colleagues and partners who can help you realize your vision? 

Community Engagement/Impact: Is your community well defined? Are you engaging people in a meaningful way? Is there a potential for impact that goes beyond the theatrical presentation?

Need: Do you make a case for funding, and can you articulate the impact that this award will have on your plans?

If you have any questions or issues, please email ccta@thearcticcycle.org and a member of the team will get back to you.

Art / Switch: [re]Thinking Art Logistics

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Art / Switch virtual conference series is returning with its third edition on Thursday, April 29 from 4-7:30pm CET, creating conversations between cutting edge voices on environmental sustainability in the arts. In this specially curated session we are narrowing our perspective on Art Logistics, including Transportation, Packaging and Climate Control, with a uniquely future oriented lens envisioning scenarios and potential practices of the near and far future. 

Topics include: How models of circular economy can find implementation inside art institutions and be adopted by artist studios; innovation in the design of biodegradable frames and packaging, what art shipping and transport might look like in 2041; how the plus/minus dilemma has altered sector-wide and site-specific action; and how relatively simple control adjustments can save substantial amounts of energy and carbon in museum and gallery HVAC systems. 

This conference is part of a virtual conference series [re]Framing the Arts: A Sustainable Shift organized in collaboration with the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture at the University of Amsterdam and Nyenrode Business University.

Third Edition of [re]Framing the Arts: A Sustainable Shift

The conference will take place on Thursday, April 29, 2021 from 4 – 7:30PM CET on zoom.

Tickets are donation-based, click here.

For more details, visit https://www.artswitch.org/

For questions, contact us at

info@artswitch.org

A publication will follow the conference series [re]Framing the Arts: A Sustainable Shift.

PROGRAM

16:00 – 16:05 Welcome by Art / Switch
16:05 – 16:30 Michael Wang — Opening Presentation (with Q&A)
16:30 – 17:10 Panel Discussion — The Future of Art Transportation (with Q&A) Imogen Prus (Convelio) in conversation with Bernadine Bröcker Wieder (Vastari), Jason Losh (Dietl) & Andrew Stramentov (Rokbox)
17:10 – 17:20 Break
17:20 – 17:50 Melissa Lewis — Making a Frame for Paper Artworks: In situ Utilization and the Principles of The Circular Economy (with Q&A)
17:50 – 18:20 Kim Kraczon — The Unique Challenge of Implementing Sustainable Packing Systems Within a Working Artist’s Studio (with Q&A)
18:20 – 18:35 Break or Breakout Room (Select your Breakout Room before conference)
18:35 – 19:05 Sam Anderson & Keith Esarey —Wider Temperature/RH Set Points & Ranges: How Much Energy Can Actually Be Saved? (with Q&A)
19:05 – 19:25 Sarah Sutton & Stephanie Shapiro — “A Min/Max Reboot”: From Where Are We Now to Where Are We Going?
19:25 – 19:30 Closing Notes by Art / Switch

Glenn Adamson: “Craft in America: Real and Ideal”

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University of Oregon
Spring 2021 Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Presented by the Department of Art and Center for Art Research

Glenn Adamson: “Craft in America: Real and Ideal”
Co-sponsored by the MFA Applied Craft + Design at PNCA

Thursday, April 8, 3:00 p.m.
Free, via Zoom, with registration.join a livestream on the Department of Art Facebook.

Drawing from his new book, Craft: An American History, Glenn Adamson will engage in conversation with Anya Kivarkis. They will discuss the implication of race, gender and class in US craft history, and focus particularly on the relationship between craft’s economic and material presence, and its rich symbolic dimension. There are important differences between real and ideal, yet each influences the other in a complex exchange.

Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer and historian based in New York. He has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and Design; Head of Research at the V&A; and Curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee. Adamson’s publications include Thinking Through Craft (2007); The Craft Reader (2010); Postmodernism: Style and Subversion (2011, co-edited with Jane Pavitt); The Invention of Craft (2013); Art in the Making (2016, co-authored with Julia Bryan-Wilson; and Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects (2018). His newest book is Craft: An American History, published by Bloomsbury, and he is co-host of the online interview series Design in Dialogue.

Above images : 1.) FISK poster design  2.)  “Craft: An American History” by Glenn Adamson

Visit “5 Minutes” for interviews with Visiting Artists by UO Art MFA candidates.
Explore 10+ years of Visiting Artist lecture videos on the UO Channel.
Join the Department of Art, Center for Art Research, and School of Art + Design on Instagram.

Seeking proposals for art-climate-science collaborations

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Due April 1, 2021

Submission Webform/Details below. Please use that for proposals.

Broto: Art-Climate-Science is an emerging art-sci collaboration conference and community pointed at successful climate endgames. The transdisciplinary organization is asking for proposals for a single paid collaboration team. Each team must include at least one of each of the following — artist, scientist and observer — who will work together on a new project to test our Collaboration Blueprint. 

Broto has evolved as a unique opportunity for artists and scientists to collaborate in substantive, real-time, mutual and credible processes without the burden of outcome. The Broto inspiration is to add into the collaboration an “observer” role — the collaborator tasked with communicating, synthesising and mainstreaming the findings of the collaboration. In this model, artists and observers are equal to scientists in their contributions, sharing knowledge, co-creating innovations and experimenting freely. 

Applications will be vetted by art-sci peers and the selected team will:

  1. Test the model for strengths, weaknesses and improvements, 
  2. Be documented as they move through their process and 
  3. Communicate their experiences in a forthcoming Broto conference panel. 
    The collaboration period is up to one year and budgets and stipends, inclusive, will be capped at $5,000.

Submissions via the submission form HERE. Details include project team, scope, goals, timeline and use of funds. 

Questions to collaborators@broto.eco.

DEAR2050: Oceans on the rise – Call for artists, activists, artivists

news, Open Calls

Inspire the conversation on the climate challenge with Climanosco

Climanosco’s mission is to make climate science accessible to everyone.

We support researchers and citizens around the world in paraphrasing climate research so that it is readily understandable to a broad audience, and we collaborate with artists and activists who create work that inspires and elevates the conversation on climate change and related societal challenges.

Now, we are pleased to announce our second call for artists and activists in concert with our call for scientific manuscripts. We invite you to join our efforts with this year 2021 call â€œOceans on the rise” around the effects of climate change on the oceans.

We welcome art works of all styles, artistic, artivist and activist initiatives, art & science collaborations and everything in between.

Participation offers:

  • The opportunity to share your art work with a new, diverse audience
  • The presentation of your art work in this year’s DEAR2050 exhibition
  • The sale of prints of your art work in our online shop
  • The chance to have an impact on the public discourse about the climate challenge.
  • The chance to win exciting prizes (jury selection)

The deadline for finalizing works is 31 August 2021. Please notify us of your intention to participate with your proposal as soon as possible but no later than 25 March 2021.

We look forward to hearing from you! The Climanosco team

Who can participate?

We welcome participants across all forms of arts and activism and across all career stages.

First, notify us of your intent to participate (deadline 25 March 2021)

Send us an email as soon as possible at dear2050@climanosco.org with:

  • a description or a sketch of your project for this call;
  • your portfolio or an example of your art work or activist work.
  • The selection for the exhibition will be based on the submitted proposals.

By sending a notification of intent, you indicate that you commit to create a piece of art by the due date (see below) that will satisfy the following conditions:

  • it is original and signed by you;
  • it is specifically created for this call;
  • its format reasonably allows digitalization and shipping;
  • Climanosco is granted the right to produce and sell copies of the work.We will be in touch with you within a few days of receiving your proposal.

Send your original work (deadline 31 August 2021)
We suggest that you keep us updated as you progress on your project and we expect that you finalize it by 31 August 2021.Once your art work is finalized, please get in touch with us at dear2050@climanosco.org. We will organize shipping and digitization with you.

Prizes
After reception of all works, a jury will be elected by the Board of Directors to choose the winners and award prizes for the best works. The prizes are as follows:

  1. First prize: CHF 1000
  2. Second prize: CHF 500
  3. Third prize: CHF 500

The cash prizes will be sent to the winners by bank transfer. It is the responsibility of the participants to make sure that they have access to a bank account where the prizes can be deposited. It is the responsibility of the winners to declare the prizes to the tax authorities in their country.

Contact

About Climanosco

Climanosco was launched in 2015 with the vision that we can all play a part in addressing the climate challenge – and that a first step towards doing so is to make the best knowledge about climate science accessible to everyone. Find out more at www.climanosco.org/about/.

We work with climate scientists and citizens to create collections of accessible and reliable climate research articles. Browse through our research articles at www.climanosco.org/research-articles/. Further, we collaborate with artists, activists and scientists on creating interdisciplinary projects to raise awareness to climate change and to develop visions of a sustainable world.

Disclaimer

We might have to adjust the deadlines for the submission of the notifications of intent and the submissions of artworks depending on the responses we receive. All participants will be notified in due time of any such adjustments.

Climanosco will make all efforts to sell in its own capacity the original and prints of the art works submitted for this call for artists. However, this comes without any warranty of any kind. Climanosco does not take any responsibility and cannot be made liable in the event where it may be unable, for any reason, to sell a piece of art submitted for this call for artists.

Imagine 2200: Climate fiction for future ancestors

news, Open Calls

I’m beyond excited to announce the official launch of Fix’s writing contest, Imagine 2200: Climate fiction for future ancestors. After a year few of us could have imagined (not to mention a tumultuous start to 2021), my team at Fix is looking, optimistically, to the future. And we hope you’ll help us spread the word about this contest far and wide!

I’d like to share a quick note about how this project came to be. In the spring of 2020, just after the pandemic had hit the United States, Fix convened (virtually) a group of New England Fixers to foretell the next 180 years for their region. They visualized a complete societal transformation and a path to a clean, green, and just future: A dissolution of political parties and borders. Reparations. The return of land to Indigenous and Black stewardship. Restorative justice replacing prisons. Food sovereignty triumphing over monoculture farming. An economy built on ecological restoration, mutual aid, and care work.  Out of their visions grew the idea to launch a climate-fiction initiative at Fix.

Check out our media kit (below) for graphics and sample social copy to spread the word about this new project. 

HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

Imagine 2200 draws inspiration from Afrofuturism, as well as Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer futures. The contest is also grounded in hopepunk and solarpunk — literary genres that uplift equitable climate solutions and continued service to one’s community, even in the face of despair.

In the contest’s inaugural year, we’re calling for short stories that envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress. What will the world look like in the year 2200 — or anywhere between then and now? Submissions open today (January 12) and close on April 12. Stories will be judged by a board of literary experts including authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon. The first, second, and third-place winners will be awarded $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively, and nine additional finalists will each receive a $300 honorarium. Winners and finalists will be published in a digital collection on the Fix website and will be celebrated in a public-facing virtual event.

SUBMIT A STORY TODAY!

We hope you’ll help us get this opportunity out in front of the world. Together, we can fix the future with fiction. Join this creative uprising of imagination. In your story lies our collective liberation.

Tory Stephens
Imagine 2200 Project Director & New England Network Weaver, Fix

Stay in touch
Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Drop me a line and I’ll add you to the list so you can get more updates from the Imagine 2200 crew.

(Top photo: Carolina Rodríguez Fuenmayor)

Grist is an independent, nonprofit media outlet covering the climate crisis and the many facets of life it touches. Our award-winning journalism elevates solutions, exposes inequity, and gives our readers the context, knowledge, and tools to make a difference.

Fix is Grist’s solutions lab. We combine solutions-oriented storytelling with gatherings that bring together a growing community of Fixers to create a planet that doesn’t burn and a future that doesn’t suck.