Emergence

Emergence presents РWorld Caf̩: A sustainable enquiry at WSD2013

Summit ConferenceFri 13 Sept 14.30 – 16.00

Rowe Beddoe

Fern Smith and Rhodri Thomas co-founders of Emergence 
will facilitate a participatory inquiry into the role of the arts and artists as change-makers. World Café is an open and informal technique which uses the collective wisdom of groups to address a number of over-arching questions of relevance to the people present in the room.

The questions will be related to the people and projects we have individually encountered which inspire us to create a more sustainable practice in our life and work. This will be an invaluable opportunity to meet and share with other designers, theatre makers, producing and receiving houses and to follow a line of enquiry in an open, honest and structured manner.

The World Café methodology is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue.

The World café will be preceded by an introduction to the work of Emergence, the ideas which have inspired it and it’s impact to date on the arts scene in Wales and beyond.

Open to all.

Price: £6

http://www.wsd2013.com/whats-on/emergence-presents-world-cafe-a-sustainable-enquiry/

Emergence Presents: Doin’ Dirt Time at WSD2013

Emergence_DoinDirtTimeFri 13 Sept 13.30

Caird Studio

Doin’ Dirt Time by Suzi Gablik

Based on a transcript of an astonishing interview by internationally renowned arts commentator Suze Gablik, Doin’ Dirt Time raises questions about the traditional role of the arts in society, as two artists dedicate themselves to a radical new art form: living life as a sacred act.  An experiment in future-oriented, stripped-back theatre performanced by Fern Smith, Philip Ralph and guest artist.

“Seek not the ways of men of old, seek instead the ways they sought”

Open to all.

Price: £6

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Spirited Discussions Pt. 3

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Wednesday afternoon 14th August, third discussion around the issues of art, science, environment, monitoring, CO2.

Andrew Patrizio started us off by taking us back to Renaissance Florence. His summer reading had been Michael Baxandall’s Painting and Experience in 15th Century Italy. In that he found a description of the particular characteristics of the mercantile mind, the ability to gauge quantity, weight, volume and space accurately. According to Andrew, Baxandall argues that the circumstances in which Florence was a nexus for trade meant that a significant proportion of the population were involved in activities requiring gauging. By gauging I imagine we mean forming accurate judgements about things which can be weight and measured, but where some of the technologies for doing that which we take for granted didn’t exist or were relatively unsophisticated. We can perhaps imagine parallels with the emergence of monitoring in the 21st Century. Can we imagine the flows of energy through the grid when we are told about the impact of everyone turning on their kettle in the break for advertisements during a major sporting event? Or that animation of aircraft moving across the Atlantic and then moving back? As we have previously discussed, the calibration of our experience of CO2 through art is a particular challenge.

Renaissance Italy was at a critical point of social, economic and cultural development and the arts were deeply enmeshed in that. Trade was central, but the ramifications are much wider. The emergence of the new painting characterised by the use of perspective, but equally importantly including specific identifiable individuals such as patrons in real space with divine figures also treated as if they were human, is well known. We can imagine the pleasure that a painting which expressed space through perspective, and depicted fabric realistically, would bring to a person who could fully appreciate the space, volumes and sumptuousness – the play between the aesthetic and the mercantile mind. The late 20th and early part of the 21st Centuries has as Andrew drew our attention to, been characterised by conceptual, performative and participatory practices, sculpture in the expanded field, systems theory, data visualisation and new media.

In Renaissance Italy we know the practices of art and science were not separated out in the way that they are now. The enquiry into what can be understood about the world, whether through philosophy, science or art, was a process that individuals participated in as what we might now call public intellectuals, rather than as distinct disciplines. The methodologies were broadly similar and compatible if the manifestations were different. We know of Leonardo’s sketchbooks but we are less familiar with Piero della Francesca several treatise on mathematics of which the most well-known are those on perspective. The emergence of the artist researcher who plays across these two fields is a relatively recent not always welcomed development. It is criticised on the one hand as institutionally driven, and on the other perhaps because it seems to ‘explain’ the work, which by rights should stand on its own. The 20th Century in particular has been dominated by a resistance to the instrumentalisation of art, a resistance to a ‘unified reading’ of the work of art. The artist researcher, write of papers as well as maker of art seeks to understand the world and share that understanding. The artist researcher might seek to intentionally change the world (though probably not through simplistic cause and effect processes).

Setting aside the question of who writes papers and who makes artworks, Andrew was asking us to think about the comparison between then and now, the extent to which we are living through a period of more than just social, cultural and economic change. The shift taking place in Renaissance Italy might be characterised as the emergence of the idea of the human as being at the centre of everything, able to shape the world according to our desires and for our convenience. The word ‘environment’ means the circumstances or conditions that surround one, or that surround and organism or a group of organisms. It is predicated on an assumption of a ‘thing’ which has ‘an environment’. Without a ‘thing’ there is no ‘environment’ because the word is describing that relationship. Perhaps the Renaissance is the point in modern history where the human moves to be the de facto ‘thing’ – where the human environment division is crystallised. If we look at the paintings we see the human at the centre of the environment, the focal point.

We feel that we are living through another key paradigm shift, or rather that we need to be living through a paradigm shift, because the current paradigm, that we can use the planet and everything on it for our own convenience and comfort and it will just carry on, isn’t working anymore. If 500 years ago it seemed that we needed to learn how the world worked so that we could control it to make it safer (and make no mistake life was short and painful 500 years ago), at that point it seemed that nothing we could do would impact on ‘nature’. Science and technology offered ways to protect ourselves, live longer, avoid illness, be warm and comfortable.

If we accept that our world view is changing again, that the Anthroposcene is the result of a trajectory that has social, economic and cultural roots in the deep past, it is interesting to imagine the arts’ involvement in the process 500 years ago. Did artists sit around and worry about being instrumentalised? How would they have felt about Samuel Beckett’s statement, “Art has nothing to do with clarity, does not dabble in the clear and does not make clear.” Of course that resistance of Beckett’s is precisely because art has been implicated in the paradigm that created the problem. And Beckett has contributed to our understanding of the world. But Ian Garrett, one of the founders of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, led us into another possible construction of the avoidance of ‘making clear’ in a simplistic sense (where frankly Design Communication has the task of ‘making clear’). He talked about the project Fallen Fruit which used maps in a way which is reminiscent of the work of Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, where the layering of information creates a density that requires thought and interpretation. CO2 Edenburgh layers information on carbon dioxide monitored in the City over greenspace and urban fabric, it performs the movement through the landscape of CO2, and overlays the social cultural activity associated with the Edinburgh Festivals. It could add economic layers or regular traffic movement layers, or any number of other factors. The point is to create questions in the mind of the person engaged with the work of art.

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

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Emergence presents: Resilience in the Face of Challenge Creu Cymru at WSD2013

ImageFri 13 Sept 9.30 – 11.00

AHC Conference room

Creu Cymru is the development agency for theatres and arts centres in Wales. It currently has 44 member organisations who pay an annual fee to receive a range of services. With support from the Welsh Government’s Support For Sustainable Living Fund, Creu Cymru is working with Cardiff University, Julie’s Bicycle and Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales to develop a project to support the theatres and arts centres of Wales in becoming more resilient in facing the challenges of the 21st Century, particularly addressing the following 3 areas: energy and waste – consumption & treatment, the supply chain – examining theatre production and touring, communicating to audiences the issues and potential solutions

This session is designed to give theatre makers and producers an opportunity to hear how the project is progressing and work together on collaborating over programming and artistic response. The event will be a learning seminar to share best practice and showcase this project to an international audience.

Price: £6

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Creu Cymru partner with Julie’s Bicycle to help fourty two Welsh arts venues go green

Whether a former miners’ institute, an Edwardian theatre or modern iconic buildings such as the Wales Millennium Centre or Galeri Caernarfon, arts venues occupy an important place in the communities of Wales. Today sees the start of a major, ground-breaking initiative to support forty two arts venues in Wales to become greener and leaner.

The venues are all members of Creu Cymru – the development agency for theatres and arts venues in Wales. They will be asked about the way they manage their use of energy and water, their waste disposal and other environmental issues. Those who choose to will take part in a more detailed investigation with on-going support.

Based on the results of the investigation venues will be given the tools and advice needed to strengthen their environmental, social and economic sustainability. By becoming more energy and resource efficient, managers of the venues will be able to save money. They will be helped to develop new strategies and communicate these to staff, contractors, suppliers and audiences. Overall, this initiative will make them fit for the future and better able to respond to the challenges of a changing world.

The initiative will address three areas;

  • energy and waste (consumption and treatment)
  • the supply chain (theatre production and touring)
  • communicating to audiences the issues and potential solutions (imagining the future)

The initiative is part of Emergence – an on-going programme of work led by Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales and Volcano Theatre Company that aims to make sustainable development a core organising principle of the arts in Wales. This Creu Cymru Emergence initiative has been made possible by the Welsh Government’s Support For Sustainable Living grant scheme through a partnership comprising Creu Cymru, Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, the ESRC BRASS Research Centre (Cardiff University) and London-based arts and environmental sustainability experts Julie’s Bicycle.

BRASS and Julie’s Bicycle will provide the technical expertise. Both organisations have a track record of success in investigating and offering solutions for the environmental and social sustainability of the arts. Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales will use the information and learning that comes from the work to inform consultation on the development of the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Development Bill.

The Creu Cymru membership consists of Wales’ most cherished theatres and arts venues that have for generations acted as hubs of social and cultural activity. With this initiative, they will be able to continue to do this in the context of a changing world and make an important contribution to the development of a sustainable Wales.

Wales’ Volcano Theater Releases Free Resource for Creative Industries to tackle Climate Change

Free resource to help creative industries tackle climate change and understand their role in creating a more sustainable society now available online

Creative industries can play a fundamental role in developing a sustainable future for the planet, both by addressing the direct impact on the environment from their own practice, and through the influential impact their work could have within society.

But for many working in the arts, addressing these complex issues can be a daunting task.  A new initiative based in Wales is encouraging creative practitioners to take direct action to develop a sustainable future for the planet, and by bringing together scientists and artists, the project is helping drive the issue of sustainable practice within the arts to the forefront of the political agenda within Wales.

The project, entitled ‘Emergence’, began as a collaboration between Swansea based theatre company Volcano and Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, supported by Arts Council Wales and The British Council.  In 2010/11 The arts community in Wales attended three major events to raise issues, discuss alternatives, and suggest practical solutions for a more sustainable future.

The series of conferences focused on creating an impetus for change within the arts, challenging practices and motivating artists and creative companies to discuss and develop practical solutions to reduce their environmental impact.  In addition, the project encouraged artists to consider the role of the arts in influencing behaviour, and how they can begin to inspire change within society through their work.

The project has recently published a conference report in an engaging and informative 30 page document.  This ‘Emergence’ document is now openly available as a free download,  both in English and Welsh, and provides an invaluable resource for all those working in the arts, and anyone interested in the development of sustainable practice within this field.

The document can be downloaded online through the Volcano website here:

http://www.volcanotheatre.co.uk/398/news/emergence-the-document.html#/image.php?id=321

The Emergence document collates inspiring and educative transcripts from expert speakers on the subject of climate change, fair resource use, well being and the transition towards a more connected sustainable society.

From scientist Jean Boulton to the artistic director of National Theatre Wales, John McGrath, the pioneering talks documented within ‘Emergence’ provide inspiration, information and practical ideas for artistic practitioners, venues and companies alike.

The value of the project and the report has been widely applauded, Louise Wright from British Council Wales says ‘Emergence has worked from the ground up…it has been a creative catalyst’.

The conferences have already kick started investigations into current practice – a study by Cardiff University measuring the environmental impact of ‘Night Out’, an Arts Council Touring Scheme, was initiated by Arts Council Wales following the conference.  During the launch event major key players such as The Wales Millennium Centre and Welsh National Opera agreed on the creation of a focus group to look at sustainable practise within these flagship organisations, actively supported by the Theatres Trust and Julies Bicycle.  In addition many individual delegates have changed behaviour and implemented new strategies to reduce their environmental impact, as the project continues to gather focus and momentum within Wales and beyond.

 

Two environmental philosophy blogs

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The following two environmental philosopher’s blogs provide regular posts with interesting views and analyses on themes such as emergence, ecocriticism, ecocinema and others:

  • Adrian J Ivakhiv’s blog “immanence – thinking the form, flesh & flow of the world: ecoculture, geophilosophy, mediapolitics”: http://blog.uvm.edu/aivakhiv/

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

ARTIST AS ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

Fragile Spring: found cardboard box, India ink, 6

A nice mention of the CSPA and partners in Filter….

Revealing the value of the intangible has long been the domain of shamans, homeopaths, permaculturists and conceptual artists – and is perhaps one of the best hopes we have for rapidly shifting our culture towards one of increased efficiency and sustainability. Many contemporary artists are finding themselves inadvertently part of a new of movement that includes a sense of responsibility for defending the environment. Frustrated by a system based on mindless overconsumption of limited resources, they are choosing to develop creative, alternative ways to live, work, and communicate. Organisations such as Ecoartspace, The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts , theSheila T. Johnson Design Center at Parsons/The New School for Social Research and Art & Science Collaborations, Inc are assisting in the emergence of this new interdisciplinary field.

via Filter Magazine – filter.anat.org.au.