Environmental Aesthetics

Thoughts on TJ Demos’ Art after Nature

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Art after nature: TJ Demos on the post natural condition, in Artforum (April 2012) is, as Suzaan Boettger pointed out, important because it represents a key moment demonstrating that ecoart is impacting on mainstream contemporary art’s discourses (maybe).

Perhaps more importantly, the piece concludes with the work of artists who are at this moment, as has happened at key points in the past, choosing to position the focus of their work outside the artworld. Artists such as Nils Norman, whose work Demos focuses on, as well as Fritz Haeg, Superflex, Marjetica Potrc, Art not Oil, Allora & Calzadilla and The Yes Men all engage directly with the biopolitical and the eco-financial (though the work of many of these can be seen in galleries and museums pretty regularly, e.g. Haeg’s Animal Estates 1.0 was included in the Whitney Biennial in 2008). It would be trite to say that economic crisis turns art away from the market, and in any case it wouldn’t be true of the artists profiled in this article, most of whom have been pursuing critiques of markets for decades.

This isn’t Demos’ first foray into art and ecology: he wrote one of the introductory essays for the 2010 Radical Nature show at the Barbican and has also written about the work of Nils Norman in other contexts.

The double entendre in the title Art after nature, alluding to both Timothy Morton‘s Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics and also to art chasing nature, signals the philosophical and phenomenal complexities of the issues he is engaging.

He opens with a discussion of the installation Black Shoals Stock Market Planetarium (Autogena and Portway, 2001/04) and, through unpacking the denatured core of this work, frames the challenge through Frederic Jameson‘s challenge to the naturalisation of finance. Is the market part of human nature? Jameson argues that the naturalisation of the market “cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.” This is of course a key theme of the moment, demonstrated not least in the occupy movement.

Curiously Jane Jacobs, who, whilst not being a Marxist, you might assume to be on the same side of the argument, made a case for economics precisely as natural. Her text, The Nature of Economies, argues that economics works in the same way as natural systems, not metaphorically, but literally. Jameson is directly challenging the consequences of this line of thinking. Whether Jacobs is right in her argument (see here), the wider issues of the naturalisation of economics and in particular markets is deeply problematic.

Demos summarises the relationship between economics and environmental crisis, and uses key art works to frame questions around whether environmental crisis should be understood wholly within economic terms (as it is in the Stern Report of 2006, commissioned by the UK Government).

Dave Pritchard’s comments based on a deep understanding of environmental policy and politics, (previously highlighted here) also question this assumption. Pritchard highlights the trajectory of environmental thinking from the emergence of deep ecology through the increasing reliance on the economising (for instance as ecological services) of the environment as a tactic adopted by the environmental movement to engage politicians and economists.

This double process of economising, by both the mainstream culture and the environmental movement, provides a context for recent statements from George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the UK cannot afford the green agenda (“…environmentally sustainable has to be fiscally sustainable too…”). He couldn’t make this argument effectively if it was not already accepted that economics was the ‘natural’, or pre-eminent, mode of assessment.

Demos highlights Amy Balkin’s Public Smog (2006-11) which provides another point of critique of the financialisation of the environment and raises some deeply ironic moments in relation to assumed value. The reportage of a conversation with a bureaucrat around the need for international agreement on the “outstanding universal value” of the atmosphere in order for it to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, is frankly, priceless.

Demos next turns to the 2007 Sharjah Biennial entitled Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change, and in particular Tue Greenfort‘s work Exceeding 2 Degrees (2007). Demos, framing it as an evolution of current tropes of contemporary art, introduces the idea of eco-institutional critique. Greenfort’s work draws together a number of elements globalised production framing environmental crisis through an installation comprising room temperature and furniture. A thermo-hydrograph installed in the gallery demonstrates that the air conditioning of the museum has been reduced allowing the space to be warmer by 2 degrees Celsius (the target maximum increase identified in the Stern Report as a limit around which Climate Change Policy should be constructed). The thermo-hydrograph sat on a table made in Japan out of Malaysian wood and sold in Dubai. The money saved by reducing the cooling of the Art Museum was donated to a Danish environmental organisation to protect an area of two square miles of rain forest in Ecuador. The work is fully entangled in the complexities and paradoxes of globalisation and environmental crisis. Demos says, “…although it rescued only a tiny plot of land, Greenfort’s work successfully demonstrated the connections between economic, ecological, and institutional systems.”

Demos tips his hat to the pioneers who were, from the late 60s, creating works “within a ‘mesh’ of social, political and phenomenal relations.” His list includes Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Peter Fend, Hans Haacke, Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, and Alan Sonfist. He draws out a key point: they go beyond the simplistic glorification of nature which tended to “posit nature as a separate realm of purity needing protection from industrial degredation, pollution and economic exploitation.”

The question of positioning, framed in terms of creative practices, is in Demos’ interpretation a microcosm of the larger arguments around the status of ‘nature’. Those who argue against, for instance, GM crops (e.g. Vandana Shiva) are according to Demos, “necessarily maintain[ing] a nostalgic belief in the natural and defend[ing] it as a sphere in need of protection.” Demos seems to miss the real territory of debate: he refers to the argument for naming the reality of the ‘Anthropocene‘, but he misses the argument from Deep Ecology for the valuing of all living things and the acknowledgement of interconnectedness. This is a critical issue, because environmental philosophy is not polarised around those who are nostalgically arguing for the protection of nature, versus those who embrace the human shaping of the whole world. Rather the key is to challenge human hubris. The argument for the current geological age being called the Anthropocene is that human activity is affecting all aspects of the planet and that evidence of human activity is manifest in all environments: plastic particles in the oceans, CO2 levels in the atmosphere, consequent mass extinction. In this respect the naming is accurate. But humanity has sought to control the environment through the modern period, shaping it to suit our convenience, first in relation to habitation, but increasingly in relation to all our desires. If the conceptualisation of Anthropocene reinforces an assumption of ‘use’ rather than, for instance, ‘stewardship,’ or if it underestimates our capacity to precipitate broad-scale accidental calamity, then it is in significant danger of reinforcing the destructive aspects of human culture. Does using the term ‘Anthropocene’ sharpen the question around our place in the world, or does it re-package an existing assumption of dominance?

But returning to Demos’ narrative, he concludes by focusing on the ways in which some practices of art and ecology move beyond the tropes of institutional critique. In this he picks up on remarks made by Nils Norman (e.g. on the Bad at Sports interview), in which Norman questions the effectiveness of institutional critique and suggests that artists need to reduce their mobility and focus on development of work in particular locations. This is a practice adopted by others (including PLATFORM who take great care in judging where to travel, using trains even when travelling to the Middle East, and only travel when the reason includes practical ways of engaging with local activists and artists).

Demos draws out the implications of Norman’s project Edible Park, undertaken with Stroom den Haag, initially by juxtaposing with the previous proposal for the site developed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Where OMA developed a masterplan for the Binkhorst area of the Hague incorporating an Formula 1 racetrack, skyscrapers, a beach, amusement park and leisure facilities, “Norman’s low-tech ‘counter master plan’ joined organic agriculture and practices such as rainwater harvesting, forest gardening, and composting to craft his model of eco-communalism and bioregionalism, realised in collaboration with a local group of permaculture activists. Norman also worked with Dutch architect Michel Post to build a central place-making structure, a “roundhouse” with passive solar front windows and strawbale construction.”

Demos relates this project as an initiative which responds intelligently to the crisis in the economics of capitalism. His juxtaposition of Edible Park with the OMA masterplan highlights its function as embedded or durational critique, not merely an ecological version of institutional critique. The contrast with Tue Greenfort’s Exceeding 2 Degrees for the Sharjah Biennial is informative. The latter is the tactics of the avant garde attempting to shock the audience through the cleverly formulated and intensely referential highlighting of weakness (mea culpa, mea culpa). But it never leaves the artworld. In contrast Edible Park is a durational and engaged work which negotiates between local ambition and critical positioning, seeking ways to draw attention to alternative configurations of the city, within the city and through the city.

Norman raises the question clearly in The Guide to This World & Nearer Ones (2009), Creative Time’s temporary public art project on New York’s Governors Island. He’s quoted saying,

“I’ve been looking at the history of bohemian artist movements to find a possible place of dissention. Is Bohemia still a place where artists can experiment and develop strategies outside the mainstream? The normalising effect of the market makes this now almost completely impossible, and Bohemia has been instrumentalised by people who make direct links to ‘creatives,’ bohemian lifestyles and a new class of urban entrepreneurs through city regeneration. Where can alternatives be developed? Where is it possible to drop out and develop new languages and codes.”

From this perspective, is it good that Artforum is paying attention to ecoart?

Thanks to Dave Pritchard for additional comments.

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

NEW MONEY: Business Models for a Sustainable Future

a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics)
September 30-November 23, 2011
Opening Friday September 30, 2011/7-9pm

141 Eyewear, Jiasian, Taiwan Eye Clinic, Photo courtesy of Kyle Yamaguchi and 141 Eyewear

NEW YORK – Exit Art is pleased to announce NEW MONEY: Business Models for a Sustainable Future, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics). This exhibition of videos, photographs, and socially conscious products highlights more than a dozen companies with business models that have environmental and social consciousness at their core, emphasizing sustainability and social responsibility. The companies and organizations included in the exhibit approach markets in new and innovative ways that foster cooperation, awareness, social and environmental justice, sustainability, philanthropy, stewardship, and humanitarianism.

BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDED IN EXHIBITION:
141 Eyewear; a.d.o.; Ahkun; Amani; Ecoigo; Ecoist; Ecovative; Interface; Kiva; Microplace; Mr. Ellie Pooh; MYC4; Of Rags; Our Goods; Out of Print; Playback; Raise India; UniquEco; WeWood; Zambikes

The One for One business model is as simple as it sounds: for each good purchased, a good is donated to those in need. With this “buy one, give one” philosophy, businesses enable their consumers to give something back in a transparent manner. Unlike other charity concepts, the One for One idea incorporates a form of philanthropy directly into its business model, proving that profitability and charity don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Though this concept may seem economically risky, many One for One businesses have been successful in pinning their hopes on the consumer’s conscience and willingness to pay more for their product in order to support a cause.

Building on human rights, Fair Trade businesses aim to ensure fair wages for producers in developing countries, which enable them to cover the basics of food, shelter, clothing, education, and medical care. By doing so, Fair Trade businesses directly counter poverty, the exploitation of workers, and “race to the bottom” practices. The Fair Trade model not only fosters direct person-to-person connections between businesses and producers but also intends to strengthen communities involved in the production of their goods. Many Fair Trade businesses support cooperative systems, in which producers hold shares in the business, enjoy equal returns from the market, and contribute to the decision making process. Often, revenues are reinvested into community development projects and education and empowerment programs.

Bartering networks enable individuals to offer their own resources in exchange for things or services they need. Instead of isolated competition, this business model strengthens the power of sharing and fosters a respect for skills and service. It also establishes a system for the reuse of goods based not on their monetary value but on the individual’s appreciation and need for the product. Mutual respect and trust are therefore key elements in the bartering system. While the monetary system has made exchange infinitely easier than the difficult task of matching one person’s needs with another’s resources in a small community, the rise of the Internet has enabled bartering networks to create larger markets where it is much simpler to match trading partners.

The impact of enormous economic and population growth, urbanization, and rapid consumption have led to climate change, ozone depletion, the fouling of natural resources, and the loss of biodiversity. Businesses built around the concept of sustainability make an enduring commitment to ecological principles in order to stop this environmental exploitation. By incorporating environmentally friendly practices into their production processes, these “green” enterprises strive to have little or no negative impact on the global or local environment. Instead the aim is to establish a balanced and non-exploitative relationship with the ecosphere, in which waste is properly disposed of and harmful emissions are reduced.

The majority of formal banks provide few financial services to low-income individuals. In some countries, more than 80 percent of the population has no access to financial services, making it difficult to start a business, buy a home, or attend school. Microfinancing attempts to fill that gap, by offering a way for individuals to lend money to impoverished people in order to help with sudden needs. Average people who want to support a specific project provide micro-loans; the microfinancing organization serves as an intermediary between recipient and lender and provides accountability and transparency for the transactions. By supporting an emerging low-income business, the lender receives his or her money back with an interest rate.

Social Economy Networks are development projects that form the missing link between different types of sustainable businesses. Committed to establishing an alternative economy, these networks aim to strengthen the relationships between bartering networks, fair trade shops and socially just businesses. Whereas some Social Economy Networks function as platforms for partnerships, others share their expertise and develop business models that serve as inspiration for other enterprises. Through education programs, lectures, or trade shows, they also raise awareness about sustainable business practices and demonstrate that a social and sustainable economy is possible.

NEW MONEY: Business Models for a Sustainable Future was conceived by Wilson Duggan and organized by Lauren Rosati and Verena Straub.

ABOUT EXIT ART
Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We are prepared toreact immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a 29-year-old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and artist Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always changing.

ABOUT SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics)
SEA is a diverse multimedia exhibition program that addresses social and environmental concerns. It assembles artists, activists, scientists and scholars through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and lecture series that communicate international activities concerning environmental and social activism. It provides a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially- and environmentally-engaged work, and a forum for collaboration among artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives. Conceived by Exit Art Co-Founder / Artistic Director Papo Colo.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT
General exhibition support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation; Pollock-Krasner Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

EXIT ART 475 Tenth Ave at 36th St NYC / 212-966-7745 / www.exitart.org
Open Tu–Th, 10am–6pm; Fr, 10am–8pm; Sa, 12–6pm. $5 suggested donation.

Fracking

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The minor earthquake in Cumbria last week brought fracking to the UK headlines.

Fracking is a technology for extracting gas from unconventional geological formations.  Very topical in the North Eastern US where there hasn’t been a huge oil industry, but where now fracking is being considered as a means to extract gas.  The problem is that the chemical cocktail which is forced down the wells can affect whole watersheds, polluting the watertable and poisoning the land.

Josh Fox’s film Gasland has received extensive media attention, revealing some of the unintended consequences of fracking

SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics)’s project Fracking: Art and Activism Against the Drill, at Exit Art Gallery, New York City, December 7, 2010 – February 5, 2011.

But extracting oil from Shale has a long history in Scotland – the area around Broxburn in West Lothian has a number of bings which are the result of the 19th Century shale mining industry – different process, but no less environmentally damaging.

PS. John Latham redefined these, the Niddrie Woman and the Niddrie Heart, along with the Five Sisters, as artworks and historical monuments, during his APG Feasibility Study at the Scottish Office in 1979-80.

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

CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY

Courtesy of Stefan Irvine

June 3 – August 5, 2011
Exhibition Opening Friday, June 3, 2011/ 7-9pm
One Day Symposium Saturday, June 11, 2011 / 10am-6pm
SEA Poetry Series, June 14, 2011 / 7-9pm
Preview of DIGIMOVIES, Thursdays starting June 16, 2011

NEW YORK – CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) and the second annual ECOAESTHETIC exhibition, investigates various forms of contemporary slavery—from human trafficking and the sex trade; to the exploitation of farm and domestic workers, immigrants and prisoners; to sweatshop, bonded, and child labor—through a bombardment of images taken by leading photojournalists documenting this issue. A symposium will unite scholars, humanitarians and activists in dialogue in order to draw critical attention to this under-recognized local and international issue.

According to the United Nations, it is estimated that more than 27 million people are enslaved worldwide, “more than double the number of those who were deported in the 400-year history of the transatlantic slave trade to the Americas.” In his seminal text Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Kevin Bales, one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on modern slavery, defines contemporary slavery as distinguished by the low cost of slaves, high profits, surplus of potential slaves, and the disposable, short-term as well as hereditary relationships between slaves and slave holders/traders. From prison labor in America to sex trafficking in Southeast Asia, and child soldiers in Africa, CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY exposes the horrors of slavery that still exist today in all corners of the world.

Contemporary Slavery exhibition conceived by Papo Colo.

Exhibition organized by Herb Tam, Associate Curator, Lauren Rosati, Assistant Curator, Jeanette Ingberman, and Papo Colo.

CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY SYMPOSIUM at EXIT ART

SATURDAY, JUNE 11 / 10am-6pm
Reception / 6-8pm

EXIT ART, 475 Tenth Ave (between 36th and 37th Streets), New York, NY 10018, T. 212 966 7745
http://www.exitart.org/exhibition_programs/current_programs/slavery.html#prison
Tickets: $5 – Single Panel; $20 – Day pass with lunch at Exit Art
RSVP and to purchase tickets. http://www.exitart.org/support/rsvp.html

Schedule:

  • 10:00am – 10:30am – Coffee
  • 10:30am – 12:30pm – Panel 1: The Long Chain of Slavery from Plantation to Prison
  • 12:30pm – 1:30pm – Lunch
  • 1:30pm – 3:30pm – Panel 2: The Slave Next Door: Local and Global Labor
  • 3:30pm -4:00pm – Coffee
  • 4:00pm – 6:00pm – Panel 3: Trafficking, Sex Workers, Migration, and Slavery
  • 6:00pm – 8:00pm – Reception

The Long Chain of Slavery from Plantation to Prison

10:30am – 12:30pm
Moderator: Eddie Ellis
Panelists: Gloria Browne-Marshall, Scott Christianson, Joanna Weschler

The Slave Next Door: Local and Global Labor

1:30-3:30pm
Moderator: Ron Soodalter
Panelists: John Bowe, Benedetta Rossi, Barbara Young

Trafficking, Sex Workers, Migration, and Slavery

4:00-6:00pm
Moderator: Tiantian Zheng
Panelists: Dina Francesca Haynes, Jennifer MacFarlane, Norma Ramos

OVERVIEW

In the past thirty years, thanks to globalization, new media technologies, and shifts in social, financial, and political patterns, there has been a recognition and resurgence of a wide range of human rights abuses commonly known as “slaveries.” From traditional types of lifelong servitude to forced labor in the sex, prison, farming, and domestic workers industries, as well as debt bondage, slavery persists internationally both in ancient and modern forms. This symposium is intended to bring together diverse communities, controversies, and conversations to address these varied but related concerns.

  1. Not all slaveries were abolished in the US in 1865 with the thirteenth amendment. One type remains sanctioned by the state, which is as “punishment for crime.” The first panel, “The Long Chain of Slavery from Plantation to Prison,” will examine the legacy and contemporary guises of slavery in relation to prisons in the US and abroad.
  2. The second panel, The “Slave Next Door: Local and Global Labor,” will investigate what are more commonly understood as traditional types of slavery and their current forms. These can be hidden, as is often the case with domestic workers, or in plain sight, as seen in restaurant workers or in contexts where such servitude has been accepted as traditional custom and law.
  3. The third panel, “Trafficking, Sex Workers, Migration, and Slavery,” will deal with types of “slavery” that have perhaps received the most attention in the US and internationally: forced labor and trafficked persons in the sex industry. The increase in–and/or visibility of–these disparate forms of human suffering and exploitation are linked to some of the following often intertwined factors: a rise in migration; more powerful corporate globalization; conflicts within and among states; changes in criminal justice and prison labor policies; racial, gender-based, and other forms of discrimination; inequitable redistribution of wealth; and new media technologies. This symposium is intended to ignite and inspire new creative possibilities, ideas, and strategies for understanding and dealing with one of the distinguishing features of our time: “our slaveries.”

PANELISTS

The Long Chain of Slavery from Plantation to Prison

Eddie Ellis is the founder-director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, an independent criminal justice think tank formerly at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York, where he is a Research Fellow with the Dubois-Bunche Institute for Economic and Public Policy and was an adjunct instructor. In 2006, he was a member of the Transition Team for Criminal Justice for New York’s Governor–elect Eliot Spitzer. He has served as a consultant on justice policy issues to the Domestic Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush and for numerous organizations including the Council of State Governments, New York State Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute, and the Vera Institute of Justice. Ellis is the host and executive producer of the critically acclaimed weekly public affairs program, “On the Count: The Prison and Criminal Justice Report,” broadcast over WBAI-FM in New York City.

Gloria Browne-Marshall is a former Civil Rights attorney, teaches Constitutional Law as well as Race and the Law classes at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Professor Browne-Marshall is the Founder/Director of The Law and Policy Group, Inc. as well as a playwright of seven produced plays and the author of the books Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present, The U.S. Constitution: An African-American Context, and The Constitution: Major Cases and Conflicts.

Scott Christianson is an award-winning author, investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, curator, and human rights activist specializing in American criminal justice and slavery. He has published hundreds of articles in The Nation, the Village Voice, The New York Times, Washington Post, Mother Jones, the Journal of American History, and other newspapers, magazines and journals. Some of his books include With Liberty for Some: 500 Years of Imprisonment in America; Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House; Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War; and The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber. Christianson has helped several wrongfully-convicted prisoners gain their freedom and a film he directed with Egmont R. Koch made its debut this month on ARTE (France) and WDR (Germany).

Joanna Weschler is the Director of Research and Deputy Executive Director of the Security Council Report, an organization affiliated with Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, which she joined in 2005. From 1994 until 2005, Weschler was the United Nations representative for Human Rights Watch. As the first person appointed by Human Rights Watch to this position, Ms. Weschler developed and articulated HRW’s strategy toward the United Nations. Prior to her position at the U.N. and the Security Council, she was the Poland researcher for Helsinki Watch; Brazil researcher for Americas Watch; and Director of HRW’s Prison Project. She has conducted human rights investigations in countries on five continents and written numerous reports and articles on human rights.

The Slave Next Door: Local and Global Labor

Ron Soodalter has pursued a variety of careers. With degrees in American History, Education, and American Folk Culture, he has worked as a teacher, folklorist, museum curator, scrimshander, Flamenco guitarist, television producer, and author. In addition to his two current books, Hanging Captain Gordon and The Slave Next Door, Soodalter has recently written for several publications, including Smithsonian, The New York Times, Civil War Times, and New York Archives, and is a featured columnist for America’s Civil War. He is the recipient of the International Regional Magazine Association’s 2010 Gold Award. An acknowledged authority on both the historical and modern-day slave trade, Soodalter currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute.

John Bowe has contributed to The New Yorker, GQ, The American Prospect, PRI’s “This American Life” and others. He is currently a contributing writer with The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy. He is a recipient of the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award; the Sydney Hillman Award for journalists, writers, and public figures who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good; the Richard J. Margolis Award, dedicated to journalism that combines social concern and humor; and the Harry Chapin Media Award for reportage of hunger- and poverty-related issues.

Benedetta Rossi is RCUK Fellow in International Slavery at the Department of History of the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom). She is Director of the MA Program in International Slavery Studies and exiting co-Director of the Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS). She works on the history of government, labor, mobility, and slavery in West Africa. Her edited book Reconfiguring Slavery: West African Trajectories has recently been published (2009) and she is currently coordinating a publication project on slavery and migration in West Africa.

Barbara Young is the National Organizer for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She was a domestic worker for 17 years, and is well acquainted with both the exploitation domestic workers face and the potential of domestic workers to organize for lasting change. She is an active member of Domestic Workers United (DWU), one of the NDWA’s founding affiliate organizations, and has provided consistent and inspiring leadership for the NDWA since its founding.

Trafficking, Sex Workers, Migration, and Slavery

Tiantian Zheng received her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Yale University in 2003, and currently teaches as Professor of Anthropology in the department of Sociology / Anthropology at SUNY Cortland. Her book Red Lights is the Winner of the 2010 Sara A. Whaley book prize from the National Women’s Studies Association for its significant contribution to the topic of women and labor. She is the author of four books on sex, gender, migration, HIV/AIDS, and the state: Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China (2009); Ethnographies of Prostitution in Contemporary China: Gender Relations, HIV/AIDS, and Nationalism (2009); HIV/AIDS Through an Anthropological Lens (2009); and Sex-Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice (2010). She also edited an issue of the Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies titled “Anti-Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice in Wagadu” (2008).

Jennifer MacFarlane is a Brooklyn-based humanitarian photographer. In 2006 Jennifer traveled to Cambodia to do a story with Marianne Pearl for Glamour magazine on the brothels in Cambodia and Somaly Mam, a heroic woman who has risked her own life to rescue these girls. Jennifer realized that their stories needed to be told and has used every opportunity to raise awareness about this subject (from exhibiting her photos in fashion boutiques in SoHo and spearheading innovative events) to bring attention to the beautiful young girls who stole her heart in Cambodia.

Norma Ramos is a longstanding public interest attorney and social justice activist. She is an eco-feminist, who links the worldwide inequality and destruction of women to the destruction of the environment. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), which is the world’s first organization to fight against human trafficking internationally, now in its twenty-second year. She writes and speaks extensively about the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls as a core global injustice, and has appeared on such shows as Charlie Rose, Larry King Live and Tavis Smiley.

Dina Francesca Haynes is a Professor of Law at New England Law, Boston, where she teaches courses related to immigration, international law, ethics, refugee and asylum law, international women’s issues, human trafficking and Constitutional law. She spent a decade practicing international law, in such positions as Director General of the Human Rights Department for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and as Human Rights Advisor to the OSCE in Serbia and Montenegro. She has also worked for the United Nations, serving as a Protection Officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Croatia) and has been received positions with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Rwanda and Afghanistan). Professor Haynes was also an attorney for the United States Department of Justice and clerked on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She researches and writes in the areas of human trafficking, labor exploitation, immigration law, human rights law, post conflict reconstruction, international organizations, humanitarian law and migration. She has published one book on post conflict reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has another (co-authored) book with Oxford University Press, entitled On the Frontlines, on the topic of gender and postconflict reconstruction out in September 2011.

CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY SYMPOSIUM conceived and organized by Mary Anne Staniszewski, Associate Professor, Department of Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Symposium coordinated and organized by Herb Tam, Associate Curator, Lauren Rosati, Assistant Curator. Additional advice and support from Mark Looney.

SEA POETRY SERIES NO. 7

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 / 7-9pm
With Tonya Foster

The SEA Poetry Series emphasizes diverse ways in which poets address social and environmental issues in their work. Presented in connection with specific SEA exhibitions, the series aims to investigate and expand the exhibition theme through the lens of contemporary poetry. After each reading, an artist from the exhibition or a community member working within the exhibition theme briefly responds to the poet. Past poets in the series have included Jonathan Skinner, Marcella Durand, Laura Elrick, The Canary Project, James Sherry and Julie Ezelle Patton. Panelists TBA.

SEA Poetry Series conceived and organized by E.J. McAdams, poet and Associate Director of Philanthropy at The Nature Conservancy, New York City. $5. Cash bar. Q and A to follow.

Tonya Foster is the author of poetry, fiction, and essays that have been published in a variety of journals from Callaloo to The Hat to Western Humanities Review. She is the author of A Swarm of Bees in High Court (Belladonna Press) and co-editor of Third Mind: Creative Writing Through Visual Art. She is currently completing a cross-genre piece on New Orleans, and Monkey Talk, an inter-genre piece about race, paranoia, and surveillance. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the City University of New York Graduate Center. A recipient of a number of fellowships, notably from the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and City University of New York, Foster teaches at Bard College. A native of New Orleans, she writes and resides in Harlem.

SEA Poetry Series support provided by Poets and Writers Inc.

DIGIMOVIES

Thursday evenings starting June 16, 2011
Additional dates and times TBA

DIGIMOVIES is a new movie theater at Exit Art exclusively devoted to presenting digitally-produced independent cinema. Outfitted for state-of-the-art presentation, the 70-seat DIGIMOVIES theater provides an intimate and lively setting for screenings and discussions.

DIGIMOVIES is conceived by Papo Colo. DIGIMOVIES screenings organized by Matthew Freundlich, Project Manager.

Film Screenings: DIGIMOVIES presents a selection of documentary and narrative films that examine various forms of modern-day slavery, including human trafficking, forced prostitution, child labor, debt bondage, and person-to-person ownership. Select screenings will include discussions with filmmakers, journalists and scholars. Films and screening dates TBA.

DigiMovies support provided by the Rockefeller Cultural Initiative Fund.

ABOUT EXIT ART

Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We are prepared to react immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a 29-year-old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and artist Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always changing.

ABOUT SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics)
SEA is a diverse multimedia exhibition program that addresses social and environmental concerns. It assembles artists, activists, scientists and scholars through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and lecture series that communicate international activities concerning environmental and social activism. It provides a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially- and environmentallyengaged work, and a forum for collaboration among artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives. Conceived by Exit Art Co-Founder / Artistic Director Papo Colo.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

This exhibition and symposium was supported by a major grant from the New York Council for the Humanities. Additional support provided by the Puffin Foundation. General exhibition support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation; PollockKrasner Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

EXIT ART 475 Tenth Ave at 36th St NYC / 212-966-7745 / www.exitart.org
Open Tu–Th, 10am–6pm; Fr, 10am–8pm; Sa, 12–6pm. $5 suggested donation

Cross-Cultural Ecocriticism(s)

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Waves and Undertows – a major conference taking place at Rutgers, NJ, on 25th Feb seeks to highlight key strands in contemporary ecocriticism framed by the following statement:

The Conference will reflect on the gains and shortcomings of the so-called “third wave ecocriticism,” or the current rise of approaches which transcends national and ethnic boundaries and compares the cultural aspects of the human-nature interaction across cultures. More specifically, the conference will focus on the rise of postcolonial ecocriticism, the impact of new varieties of ecofeminisms and popular environmentalisms (including the environmental justice movement) throughout the world in literature and film; and the contributions and challenges posed by another emergent field: critical animal studies. As ecocriticism spreads across cultural traditions, it is restating the need for expanding further its object of study to new forms of textuality and discourse in different media. Overall, therefore, the conference will explore too current rethinking of environmental aesthetics and ecological thought in the Humanities.

CrossCulturalEcocriticismsConferenceFeb2011.pdf (application/pdf Object).

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

FRACKING: Art and Activism Against the Drill

Courtesy of Jacques del Conte

December 7, 2010 – February 5, 2011
Opening Tuesday, December 7 / 7-9pm

NEW YORK – Exit Art announces Fracking: Art and Activism Against the Drill. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a means of gas extraction that accesses gas trapped more than a mile below the earth’s surface. This exhibition, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), will expose this process of gas extraction that is contaminating water supplies worldwide. Through documentary videos, photographs, commissioned works, public responses and literature, it will engage the public in dialogue on this issue through public lectures and calls to action and encourage audiences to continue educating themselves and their communities on fracking and its detrimental effects.

Exit Art invited the public to respond to the issue of fracking by submitting a postcard through the mail with original artwork on one side and a written statement on the other. The dozens of responses we received will be on view, forming a collective call to end fracking; postcards will be accepted throughout the run of the exhibition and will be added as they are received.

Organized by Lauren Rosati, Assistant Curator, with Peggy Cyphers, Ruth Hardinger, and Alice Zinnes.

MORE INFORMATION on FRACKING

Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a means of gas extraction that accesses gas trapped more than a mile below the earth’s surface. When a well is fracked, small earthquakes are produced by the pressurized injection of millions of gallons of fresh water combined with sand and chemicals, releasing the gas, as well as toxic chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive materials that contaminate air and water.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed under the guidance of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, exempts fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act and major provisions of other protective laws, virtually eliminating the gas industry’s liability and E.P.A.’s regulatory oversight. Exemption from the Community Right to Know Law also absolves the gas industry from being required to report the actual chemicals used in the drilling processes—chemicals that can severely contaminate the water supply and cause serious illnesses. A drilling moratorium is in effect in New York State until the D.E.C. issues fracking regulation, potentially paving the way for drilling to commence in New York in 2011.

PUBLIC EVENT

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 / 7-9pm

Fracking and Its Effects: A Panel Discussion

Host: Mark Ruffalo, Actor / Activist
Moderator: Tracy Carluccio, Activist
Panelists: Joe Levine, Lobbyist / Activist; Michael Lebron, Grassroots Organization; Al Appleton, Policy; Michel Boufadel, Civil Engineer; Christy Rupp, Artist; and a representative from “Gasland” to be announced

This panel discussion brings together leading experts and activists on hydraulic fracturing, representing multiple facets of this issue.

Mark Ruffalo is an actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is also a vocal critic of hydraulic fracturing, having recently appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss the issue and the 2009 FRAC Act.

Tracy Carluccio is the Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. She has served on several township boards, inter-municipal steering committees and community organizations related to issues of water and environmental preservation.

Al Appleton is the former Commissioner of NYC’s Environmental Protection Agency and an international expert on water issues. He is also a Senior Fellow at the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems and an international consultant on issues of watershed and water utility management, financing, and land use.

Michel Boufadel is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University and the Director of its Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on oil spills and the Marcellus Shale natural gas deposits.

Michael Lebron is the key figure behind the collective lawsuits in Dimock, PA and is currently working with citizens of Bradford and Wyoming Counties, PA. He is also a spokesperson for litigants in cases related to hydraulic fracturing.

Joe Levine is the co-founder of NYH20 and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Upper Delaware River Basin from the ravages of deep-shale gas extraction and the threat posed by the natural gas industry. Visit http://www.damascuscitizens.org.

Christy Rupp is an artist and activist who has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally since 1977. Her most recent body of work deals with fracking, mountaintop removal and oil drilling in the Amazon.

“Gasland” is a documentary film directed by Josh Fox that focuses on communities affected by natural gas drilling. It was released in 2010 and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize.

ABOUT EXIT ART

Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We are prepared toreact immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a 28-year-old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and artist Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always changing.

ABOUT SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics)

SEA is a diverse multimedia exhibition program that addresses social and environmental concerns. It assembles artists, activists, scientists and scholars through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and lecture series that communicate international activities concerning environmental and social activism. It provides a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially- and environmentally-engaged work, and a forum for collaboration among artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives. Conceived by Exit Art Co-Founder / Artistic Director Papo Colo.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

General exhibition support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation; Pollock-Krasner Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. We are grateful to Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and Delaware RiverKeeper for their help and expertise in the complex issues of fracking.

EXIT ART – Call For Proposals for Projects on Fracking

Exit Art announces an exhibition on fracking, on view from December 7, 2010 to February 5, 2011. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a means of gas extraction that accesses gas trapped more than a mile below the earth’s surface. Fracking: Art and Activism Against the Drill, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), will expose this process of gas extraction that is contaminating water supplies worldwide. Through documentary videos, photographs, commissioned works and literature, it will engage the public in dialogue on this issue through public lectures and calls to action; and encourage audiences to continue educating themselves and their communities on fracking and its effects. It is organized by Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati, and Peggy Cyphers, Ruth Hardinger, and Alice Zinnes. As part of this exhibition, Exit Art invites artists and the general public to respond to the issue of fracking by submitting a postcard-sized artwork and brief written response.

PLEASE SUBMIT:

a 4 x 6” postcard with original work on one side (original drawing, painting, collages, photograph, etc.) and a brief written statement responding to fracking on the other side. Postcards must be mailed or dropped off in person during regular hours.

ALL postcards must be received by Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

MAIL TO:

Exit Art
Attn: Fracking
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018

All received works will be exhibited and handled by the public. Works will not be returned and will become property of the Exit Art Archive. No phone calls, please.

MORE INFORMATION on FRACKING

When a well is fracked, small earthquakes are produced by the pressurized injection of millions of gallons of fresh water combined with sand and chemicals, releasing the gas, as well as toxic chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive materials that contaminate the air and water. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed under the guidance of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, exempts fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act and major provisions of other protective laws, virtually eliminating the gas industry’s liability and E.P.A.’s regulatory oversight. Exemption from the Community Right to Know Law also absolves the gas industry from being required to report the actual chemicals used in the drilling processes—chemicals that can severely contaminate the water supply and cause serious illnesses. A drilling moratorium is in effect in New York State until the D.E.C. issues fracking regulation, potentially paving the way for drilling to commence in New York in 2011.

via EXIT ART – Programs | Call For Proposals.

Announcing ECOKIDS, a project of SEA, opening Friday, September 24, 7-9pm

ECOKIDS

September 24 – November 24, 2010

Opening Friday, September 24, 7-9pm

FEATURING

Cool Coventry Club; Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO); Forest Project; Help Light NJ; Kids Face; Kids Saving the Rainforest; Kids vs. Global Warming; Plant for the Planet; Project Sprout; Pump ‘Em Up; Sahabat Alam; Tree Musketeers

NEW YORK – ECOKIDS, a project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), is an exhibition that showcases the work of outstanding youth activists who are working to raise awareness and solve environmental issues.ECOKIDS demonstrates that youth movements are leading the call for positive action on environmental challenges.

From student-run organic farms to climate change awareness campaigns, the youth organizations featured in ECOKIDS are based in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tennessee, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Costa Rica, Germany, Canada and Indonesia. Through the exhibition, workshops and partnerships with school groups and teaching artists, Exit Art provides a public platform for the presentation of youth environmental organizations, projects, and initiatives. Founded by youth activists from elementary to high school age, these “eco-kids” demonstrate that children have the ability to solve environmental issues in the present, andnot simply the future.

Workshops, events and tours will be hosted by The Canary Project, Wave Hill, and Solar 1.

PUBLIC EVENTS FOR KIDS

GREEN PATRIOT POSTERS: Citizen Youth Design Camp NYC
Saturdays, October 2, 9 and 16 / 2-5pm

Organized by The Canary Project
with collaborations by Tara DePorte/Lower East Side Ecology Center and the Intrepid Museum
Age: High School
FREE

GREEN PATRIOT POSTERS: Citizen Youth Design Camp NYC is connected to The Canary Project’s ongoing Green Patriot Posters concept – a campaign centered on posters that encourage citizens to take part in building a sustainable economy. In this camp, youth participants will learn about cities and sustainability from guest speakers; learn how to design and create posters; and design a campaign to get their posters and message out into the world. The posters produced by youth participants will then be included in the exhibition ECOKIDS. For more information on this program, please contact Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati atlauren@exitart.org.

The Canary Project (Ed Morris and Susannah Sayler) has commissioned posters from design leaders as part of Green Patriot Posters, and developed an on-line community for sharing and voting on original designs. The project is being featured in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Triennial Why Design Now?, and will be published in a book by Metropolis/DAP in Fall 2010. For more information on the Green Patriot Poster project, please click here.

Sustainable Design Workshop
Thursday, September 30, 4pm

Organized by Solar 1
Age: 7 and up, *Parents must be present
FREE

The Sustainable Design class will familiarize students with concepts related to architecture, community planning, and product design. Students will explore the environmental consequences and benefits of design on all scales and how it affects the environment and our health. Using recycled materials, each student will design and construct a small, sustainable building. At the end of the workshop, the students will draw a map of the city and choose a place to “build.”

Parents will be able to sign up for this program beginning September 1, 2010. To sign up, please visitwww.exitart.org. For more information on this program, please contact Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati atlauren@exitart.org.

ECOKIDS exhibition and programs organized by Lauren Rosati, Assistant Curator.

ABOUT EXIT ART
Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We are prepared to react immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social, political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a 28-year-old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette Ingberman and artist Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art is always changing.

ABOUT SEA
SEA is a unique endeavor that presents a diverse multimedia exhibition program and permanent archive of artworks that address social and environmental concerns. SEA will assemble artists, activists, scientists and scholars to address environmental issues through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and lecture series that will communicate international activities concerning environmental and social activism. SEA will occupy a permanent space in Exit Underground, a 3000 square-foot, multi-media performance, film and exhibition venue underneath Exit Art’s main gallery space. The SEA archive will be a permanent archive of information, images and videos that will be a continuous source for upcoming exhibitions and projects. Central to SEA’s mission is to provide a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially- and environmentally-engaged work, and to provide a fo rum for collaboration between artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives. SEA conceived by Papo Colo.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT
General exhibition support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation; Pollock-Krasner Foundation; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; Exit Art’s Board of Directors and our members.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Exit Art is located at 475 Tenth Avenue, corner of 36th Street. Hours: Tues. – Thurs., 10am – 6pm; Fri., 10am – 8pm; and Sat., noon – 8pm. Closed Sun. and Mon. There is a suggested donation of $5. For more information please call 212-966-7745 or visit www.exitart.org.

APInews: Public Conversation: Public Art & Sustainability

Artists will lead a conversation about public art and sustainability during “Waterpod: Autonomy and Ecology,” an exhibition at New York’s Exit Art this winter. The show is a survey of a five-month voyage around the boroughs of New York by Waterpod, a floating, sculptural structure and community-building space designed as a futuristic habitat and an experimental platform for assessing the design and efficacy of living systems. It visited the five boroughs and Governors Island from June to October 2009. The discussion, February 4, 2010, includes Jennifer McGregor of Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx; public artist Mary Miss; Mierle Laderman Ukeles, a “maintenance artist” known for her service-oriented artworks; Mary T. Mattingly, Waterpod founder; and members of her team. The exhibition, January 9–February 6, 2010, is part of Exit Art’s SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) program. Posted by Linda Frye Burnham

via APInews: Public Conversation: Public Art & Sustainability.

APInews: Vertical Gardens Extended at Exit Art

 Exit Art in New York City has extended the run of an interesting show: “Vertical Gardens,” a project of Papo Colo’s SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics). Extended through June 6, 2009, “Vertical Gardens” is an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof. It features over 20 projects, both imaginary and real, by artists and architects that envision solutions for building greener urban environments. Special events have included talks by public-health scientist Dickson D. Despommier, founding director of the Vertical Farm Project; and SITE Founder James Wines on ways to meet the demands of economic crisis, energy efficiency and sustainable design without a loss of aesthetic quality; plus poetry readings and composting workshops. SEA is an endeavor that presents a diverse multimedia exhibition program and permanent archive of artworks that address social and environmental concerns. [LINK]

via APInews: Vertical Gardens Extended at Exit Art .