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15.05.2013

Call for participants: “Field_Notes – Deep Time”, 15th – 24th September 2013, Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, Lapland/Finland

“Field_Notes – Deep Time” is a week long art&science field laboratory organized by the Finnish Society of Bioart at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Lapland/Finland. Five working groups, hosted by Oron Catts, Antero Kare, Leena Valkeapaa, Tere Vaden, Elisabeth Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse, together with a team of five, will develop, test and evaluate specific interdisciplinary approaches in relation to the “Deep Time” theme.

“Field_Notes – Deep Time” is in search of artistic and scientific responses to the dichotomy between human time-perception and comprehension, and the time of biological, environmental, and geological processes in which we are embedded. The local sub-Arctic nature, ecology, and geology, as well as the scientific environment and infrastructure of the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station will act as a catalyst for the work carried out.

Dates and places:

15th – 22nd September 2013, field laboratory at the Kilpisjärvi
Biological Station
23rd, 24th of September 2013, conference in Helsinki Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

14.05.2013

Moveable micro-city to innovate culture of sustainablity

Paint a picture of Europe’s sustainable thinking, knowledge and experiences. That is one of the assignments for a ‘green performing city’, Art-Epi, which will be launched in Denmark on 18 August 2013. The project aims to find new ways of cultivating innovation and development in the sustainable sphere – socially, scientifically, artistically, culturally, tourist- and business-wise.

An experiment blending arts, architecture and science is taking shape in the centre of the Danish mainland, Jutland: a moveable micro-city of 100 inhabitants, organised around a series of sustainable, environmental and resource-conscious building activities, lectures and workshops.

This year, Art-Epi will roll out a laboratory and a pilot project where “sustainable thinking of the future will be stimulated and co-created”. The micro-city will rise on the moor of Præstbjerg in Mid-Western Jutland from 18 August til 19 October 2013.

The goal is that Art-Epi, with all its initiatives and ideas, will travel in Europe the next couple of years. After that Art-Epi will return to Denmark and visit Aarhus when the city becomes the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2017, gathering and presenting all the experiences and inspirations from four years of travelling.

Reposted from Culture|Futures – read more at http://www.artepi.dk

By Sacha Kagan

13.05.2013

ufaFabrik’s 2nd Forum: Creative strategies of sustainability

creative-strategies-conf-in9th – 14th of September 2013, ufaFabrik, Berlin (Germany)

Building on the experience of their first event in 2012 (on which we reported on Cultura21′s webmagazine: click here to read our article in German language) this one-week seminar organized by ufaFabrik in Berlin for cultural operators proposes a common reflection and “a time of intense experiences sharing around the potential creative strategies of sustainability”. The participants will get indicators for their own professional backgrounds. This week aims to offer an opportunity for a reflection, discussion and discovery of some practical examples of existing practices. It will be composed by six full-days of activities including: workshops, lectures, exploring sustainable places and projects in Berlin, initiation about straw bale building, artistic expression, social interaction. (The Seminar is organised within the framework of the “Engine Room Europe” project of the European network Trans Europe Halles.)

The number of participants is limited to 20 people. For the participants all travel and accommodation costs will be covered. There might be a small fee for food (related to the financial standards in your home country) and extra costs (upgraded hotel standard).

If you are interested, you can send an email to csos [at] ufafabrik [dot] de or fill in the application form and send it at the latest by 28 May 2013.

By Sacha Kagan

12.05.2013

Td Summer School 2013: Transdisciplinary Research at the Science | Society Interface

“Td Summer School 2013: Transdisciplinary Research at the Science | Society Interface”  will be held at Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany, from September 1 – 10, 2013. The Td Summer School 2013 offers a “Td Training Module” (Sep., 1-6) and a Special Training Module in “Constellation Analysis” (Sep., 9-10) in cooperation with the Center for Technology and Society at Technical University of Berlin. The Modules can be attended separately.

For further informations see www.leuphana.de/cm-td-training and this PDF file.

Furthermore: For people interested in the First Global Conference on Research Integration and Implementation, Canberra, Australia and Online (http://www.i2sconference.org/) Leuphana University Lueneburg is organizing a Co-Conference (Sep., 9-10) which can be combined with the Td Summer School 2013.

For further informations on the I2S Co-Conference please contact Prof. Dr. Ulli Vilsmaier: vilsmaier [at] leuphana [dot] de

By Sacha Kagan

11.05.2013

Artists, Art Communities and Creative Initiatives in the Urban Spaces of Russia and Europe

Open Interdisciplinary Seminar series “Scientific Environment”, 6th meeting of the 2013 spring session

 May 14th 2013, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University (Russia), ul. Smolnogo 1/3, entrance 9, room 229, 18:00

Speakers:

  •  Sacha Kagan (Leuphana University Lueneburg, and Cultura21): “Creative cities and the challenge of sustainability”
  • Nikita Basov and Anisya Khokhlova (St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of sociology): “Communication Practices of Knowledge Generation: Comparing Creative Communities in St. Petersburg”
  • Anna Zhelnina (Higher School of Economics at St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences) and Alexandra Nenko (Higher School of Economics at St. Petersburg): “Self-Organizing Urban Initiatives: Actors and Practices of Creative Transformation of the City”

This event is organized by the Center for German and European Studies (a collaboration between the St. Petersburg State University in Russia and the University of Bielefeld in Germany).

Website (with abstracts): click here

By Sacha Kagan

10.05.2013

Beyond the Surface: Environmental Art in Action

A conference investigating relationships between art and the environment

May 31, 2013, 9 am – 5 pm, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia (USA)

Bringing artists & arts professionals to Philadelphia to explore ways art can create environmental awareness while restoring ecological systems. With: Lillian Ball, Sam Bower, Jenny Laden, Stacy Levy, Amy Lipton, Eve Mosher, Frances Whitehead.

“No longer content with scratching the surface of environmental problems, these artists want to move beyond the surface to engage audiences in becoming part of the solution.”

5-7 pm: Reception celebrating Rain Yard, the Schuylkill Center’s new permanent environmental artwork by Stacy Levy.

Conference Details & Online Registration: click here

By Sacha Kagan

09.05.2013

This is not a video camera

TEDx talk by Chris Lunch (founder of InsightShare) about “participatory video”, which is an interesting way to do participatory action research (and which he discusses in the context of development projects):

Find out more about his work at http://www.insightshare.org/

By Sacha Kagan

08.05.2013

Maya Lin: Here and There

Apr 26, 2013 – Jun 22, 2013, at Pace Gallery, in New York (USA)

New work by Maya Lin exploring her longtime interest in environmental issues, including rising currents and climate change, and expanding her engagement with natural and geographic forms. Click here for the gallery’s website

An article on the exhibition was published in the New York Times (on April 25th):
“…in a sense, Hurricane Sandy also woke up Ms. Lin. Soon after the floodwaters receded, she decided she wanted her latest show at Pace — her first conceived specifically for a commercial gallery — to fix on Manhattan and its surrounding landscape, environmental history and waterways.

“I really wanted people to understand more about literally what’s right under their feet,” she said. “I wanted to really focus on revealing aspects of New York, which we might not be thinking about from a natural, topographic, environmental point of view.”
 
Read the full article here, by Carol Kino.

Her website, mentioned below, is well worth visiting:

“…the show’s most unexpected aspect is a space devoted to her Web site What Is Missing? (whatismissing.net), begun in 2011 as part of a larger memorial to vanishing species and habitats worldwide. “I see it as a guerilla artwork,” she said.”

By Sacha Kagan

07.05.2013

CAL FESTIVAL – 20 + 21 June 2013, Utrecht, Holland

Utrecht (the Netherlands) Celebrates Peace with Community Arts – A two?day symposium at which Dutch artists join their colleagues from Afghanistan, Palestine, Guatemala, Peru, Rwanda, Serbia, Northern Ireland and elsewhere to explore what connects them. According to Eugene van Erven (University of Utrecht): “Probably the most complete gathering of artists working in war zones around the world will come to Holland to share their practices, motivations and inspirations for Dutch community arts practitioners and anyone else interested in this kind of work”.

To download the detailed program and find out how to attend: click here

By Sacha Kagan

06.05.2013

Disappearance as work in progress: Approaches to ecological romanticism

maldives-khoj-2013
Part of the Maldives pavilion in Venice Bienniale 2013

Wednesday, 8 May 2013, 6 pm – 9 pm, Khoj Studios terrace, S – 17, Khirki Extension, New Delhi (India)

Khoj International Artists’ Association and Ravi Agarwal present an evening discussion addressing critical artistic practices that can help recover multiple ecologies and rethink ideas of progress.

Participants: Navjot Altaf, Amar Kanwar, Ravi Agarwal, Prof. Vikram Soni, Ravi Sundaram (moderator) and Camilla Boemio (from Rome via Skype)

For more information: www.khojworkshop.org

By Sacha Kagan

06.05.2013

New Directions in Social Ecology: From Climate Action to Housing Justice

San Francisco (USA),  June 12th – 22nd 2013

Each year, the Institute for Social Ecology hosts intensive seminars for students, activists, and community leaders to come together to explore sets of dynamic and urgent social and ecological issues. They are partnering with the California Institute for Integral Studies based in the SOMA district. Classes will include the politics and philosophy of Social Ecology, international social movements for direct democracy, alternatives to capitalism, climate justice with a focus and emphasis on urban housing and land struggles. There will be local field trips that will allow participants to get to know the community in which they are studying.

Read more: Click here

By Sacha Kagan

05.05.2013

Paddling Theater on the Minnesota River

Theater in canoes as part of the Minnesota River History Weekend &Minnesota State Water Trails 50th Anniversary

On May 18, 2013, PlaceBase Productions and performers from the Upper Minnesota River Valley area (in the USA) will stage a Paddling Theater Production on the Minnesota River as part of Minnesota River History Weekend and Minnesota State Water Trails 50th Anniversary. From their canoes, the audience will engage with stories, songs and characters from local river lore, presented both as live theatre and live-action radio drama in the original production: With the Future on the Line: Paddling Theater from Granite Falls to Yellow Medicine. Characters from throughout history will emerge on the river’s banks, to lead the audience on an interactive journey into the past, bringing the stories of the Minnesota River Valley. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

04.05.2013

CSPA Quarterly: 10th Issue

The Center for Sustainable Practices in the Arts released the tenth issue of its quarterly online magazine. It contains content from contributors who were part of their first issue, along with a few new perspectives. Click here to read more

By Sacha Kagan

03.05.2013

Uranium Film Festival starts soon in Rio de Janeiro

51 films from 20 different countries will be screened between May 16th and May 26th 2013 in the cinema of Rio de Janeiro´s famous Modern Art Museum (MAM). The International Uranium Film Festival is an annual festival dedicated to all films, short and feature documentaries, movies and animated films about nuclear energy, atomic bombs, nuclear accidents, uranium mining, depleted uranium weapons and radioactive risks. The best short, feature and animated films of the festival are awarded with the “Yellow Oscar”.

uranium_convite-eletronico_port

Two important new films of the Festival are for example: The feature documentary film “Uranium – To Die For – (HaZman Hatzahov)” by Shany Haziza from Israel about the most dangerous black market of radioactive uranium from the Congo. And “Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project” by Adam Jonas Horowitz: A documentary about nuclear bomb tests in the Marshall Islands.

By Sacha Kagan

02.05.2013

Exhibition: Trouble the Water

Legion Arts, 1103 Third Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA (USA), May 3 – June 16 2013

Legion Arts presents an exhibit in which a dozen contemporary artists from around the world explore issues related to water: droughts and floods, climate events and climate change, as well as the economics, distribution, uses and scarcity of this incomparable commodity. Trouble the Water is curated by Diane Barber, Houston, Texas.

Featured artists include Janet Biggs (New York), Erika Blumenfeld (Qatar), Maarten Demmink (Netherlands), Chris Turner with Helen Friel & Jess Deacon (UK), Sant Khalsa (California), Mark Klett (Arizona) & Byron Wolfe (California), Nathalie Miebach (Massachusetts), Carlos Montani (Argentina), Yuka Nakajima (Japan), Lori Nix (New York), Susannah Sayler & Edward Morris (New York), Dustin Yager (Minnesota).

Public reception from 5 to 7 pm on Friday May 3. Read more here

By Sacha Kagan