RECREATURA is a non-profit organisation supporting innovative and creative art projects in order to support an active European citizenship. The two-day conference concerning “Volunteering in times of crisis†takes place on March 2 and 3, 2012 and aims to promote volunteering in European cities. Against the backdrop of the consequences from the recent crisis and high unemployment especially among young people in Spain, the conference will discuss the effects of the crisis on active citizenship and volunteering.
The event will be in English and Spanish and a variety of experts, representatives of NGOs, local governments and others will take part in the conference. If you are interested in participating – either as participant or speaker – please get in touch with Dorothee Fischer, Vice-President RECREATURA_arts&culture, dorotheefischer [at] gmail [dot] com. Participants need to sign up by e-mail by 28 February at the very latest.
Information on the schedule can be found in the PDF file Draft Agenda here.
For details about the background of the project see www.recreatura.com and www.alda-europe.eu
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
Curator Anne Strauss talks to Doug and Mike Starn about the exhibition.
Download the audio file. (7.97 MB)
Invited by The Metropolitan Museum of Art to create a site-specific installation for The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, the twin brothers Mike and Doug Starn (born in New Jersey in 1961) will present their new work, Big Bambú: You Can’t, You Don’t, and You Won’t Stop, opening on April 27. The monumental bamboo structure, ultimately measuring 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high, will take the form of a cresting wave that bridges realms of sculpture, architecture, and performance. Visitors will witness the continuing creation and evolving incarnations ofBig Bambú as it is constructed throughout the spring, summer, and fall by the artists and a team of rock climbers. Set against Central Park and its urban backdrop, Big Bambúwill suggest the complexity and energy of an ever-changing living organism. It will be the thirteenth-consecutive single-artist installation on the Roof Garden.
More about the Exhibition Big Bambú is a growing and changing sculpture―a vast network of 5,000 interlocking 30- and 40-foot-long fresh-cut bamboo poles, lashed together with 50 miles of nylon rope. It will continue to be constructed throughout the duration of the exhibition. The first phase of the structure―measuring about 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 30 feet high―will be completed by opening day, April 27. Subsequently, the artists and rock climbers will build up the eastern portion of the sculpture to an elevation of 50 feet. By summer, the western portion of the sculpture will be about 40 feet high. An internal footpath artery system will grow along with the structure, facilitating its progress. The evolving state of the work will be documented by the artists in photographs and videos.
Visiting the Exhibition
Visitors will be able to experience Big Bambú from the Roof Garden level, open to everyone during regular Museum hours, weather permitting, and to walk among a forest of bamboo poles that serves as the base of the sculpture. Alternatively, visitors will be able to explore the artwork on brief tours led by Museum-trained guides. On the guided tours, held during regular Museum hours, weather permitting, small groups of visitors will be able to walk along the elevated interior network of pathways roughly 20 to 40 feet above the Roof Garden. Tickets will be required for the guided tours, and specific guidelines will apply to those interested in participating. Please read them for details and requirements.
Tickets for guided tours will be able to be obtained only in person and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis with Museum admission at the Big Bambú Registration Desk, in the Uris Center for Education, located at the 81st Street ground-level entrance. Tickets will be available twice a day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays, andHoliday Mondays, when the Museum is open to the public, and three times a day on Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets for morning tours will be released at 9:30 a.m. Tickets for afternoon tours will be released at noon. On Fridays and Saturdays, tickets for evening tours will be released at 3:30 p.m. There will be a limit of one ticket per person, and tickets will be nontransferable. All tour participants (other than children without identification) will be required to present photo identification to obtain a ticket.
About the Artists
Born in New Jersey in 1961, the identical twins Doug and Mike Starn work collaboratively and defy categorization, combining traditionally separate disciplines such as sculpture, photography, painting, video, and installation. In spring 2009, the Arts for Transitprogram of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York City unveiled See it split, see it change, the Starns’ first public commission. The work, which is installed permanently at the South Ferry subway station, won the Brendan Gill Prize. Their work has been exhibited internationally and is included in public and private collections worldwide. Their solo exhibitions include Gravity of Light (2004, 2008), Absorption + Transmission (2005, 2006), Behind Your Eye (2004), Sphere of Influence (1994), Mike and Doug Starn: Selected Works 1985-87 (1988), and The Christ Series (1988). The artists live and work in the New York area.
Exhibition Organization and Credits
The exhibition is organized by Anne L. Strauss, Associate Curator of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum.
The exhibition is made possible byÂ
Additional support is provided by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.
The exhibition is also made possible in part by the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund.
Rope is provided by Mammut Sports Group, Inc.
It is a call to roll up your sleeves, to shake off apathy: “I didn’t come here to chill, I came here to rock … You got to let go of the remote control.” Watch an inspiring music video about civic participation, set to the backdrop of Jamaican reggae rhythms of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Friday morning at Earth Matters on Stage a small group of us piled into the video conferencing room in the Knight Library at University of Oregon to have a conversation with our interested counterparts in the UK. Our second, but certainly more ambitious, video conference of the day, it harkens back to the discussion surrounding travel, the arts and conferences that has been come up at the RSA here (also to be seen in our archives as part of our feed syndication).
From the Ashden Directory Blog:
Our DVD contribution to Earth Matters On Stage is now online. The interviewees address the question: ‘What Can Be Asked? What Can Be Shown? British Theatre in the Time of Climate Instability.’ (The interviews can also be watched individually.)
Quoting Rilke, Dan Gretton considers the value of quickening the pace of artistic response and cautions against the narcissism of frenzy.
On her allotment, Clare Patey explains how a year-long project changed the quality of the conversation amongst its participants.
From his office in the East End, Paul Heritage raises the question ofthose who are talked about rather than those who are talking.
With the Lake District as her backdrop, Wallace Heim asks how climate change differs from other political situations and how this might alter the ways in which theatre can be made.
Finally, Mojisola Adebayo performs the first moments of her play Moj of the Antarctic and wonders if some people in theatre think they’re above climate change.
You also can watch each person’s contribution as a separate sequence:
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Dan Gretton
Dan Gretton, co-founder of PLATFORMÂ
responds to Mojisola Adebayo’s question, ‘How far is art worth the damage?’ watch here
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Clare Patey
Clare Patey, artist and curatorÂ
responds to Dan Gretton’s question, ‘Can you talk about the role that slowing down and reflectivity plays, both in your creative process and your interaction with your audiences?’ watch hereÂ
Wallace Heim, co-editor Ashden Directory, academicÂ
responds to Paul Heritage’s question, ‘How can we listen to, see, feel and learn from those who are talked about rather than those who are talking in the great climate change debate?’ watch hereÂ
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Mojisola Adebayo
Mojisola Adebayo, artist, theatre-makerÂ
responds to Wallace Heim’s question, ‘What would you keep from theatre and performance practice and what needs to change in response to climate instability?’ watch hereÂ
The film is edited by Adam Clarke and directed by Wallace Heim.
‘What can be asked? What can be shown? British theatre and performance in the age of climate instabilit
RECREATURA is a non-profit organisation supporting innovative and creative art projects in order to support an active European citizenship. The two-day conference concerning “Volunteering in times of crisis†takes place on March 2 and 3, 2012 and aims to promote volunteering in European cities. Against the backdrop of the consequences from the recent crisis and high unemployment especially among young people in Spain, the conference will discuss the effects of the crisis on active citizenship and volunteering.
