Nature

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

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

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

01.05.2013

Internaturalism

Collective exhibition, 8 May – 29 September 2013, and international symposium, 8 May, at PAV (Via Giordano Bruno 31, Torino, Italy)

On Tuesday, 7 May 2013, at 6.30 pm, the PAV will open the collective exhibition Internaturalism, curated by Claudio Cravero. The exhibition aims to investigate some of the research and practice of the branch of contemporary art generally known as “ecological art” or “Bioart”, demonstrating the links and connections to current ecological debates. The works of art on show in Internaturalism assume an essential role as vehicles of social understanding of the world around us, and succeed in constructing concrete meaning from often abstract issues related to the environment and ecological drift (from loss of biodiversity to pollution and global warming). Emerging from the works of the sixteen artists in the exhibition are visions and narratives of nature that coincide with the concept of “internaturalism”, namely the capacity to imagine a hybrid between the different meanings of nature, understood not only as the common good of humanity but of all living beings.

The exhibition

Among the works on display is Perpetual Amazonia, an environmental video installation by Lucy + Jorge Orta. Commissioned in 2010 by the Natural History Museum in London, it is the narration through images and prose of an expedition undertaken in the Peruvian rainforest. The study of nature is also explored from an ethological point of view in the work of Henrik Håkansson, through a video-documentary that examines the behaviour of insects and birds. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

27.04.2013

Ecocide

Cathy Fitzgerald published on her blog “An Arts and Ecology Notebook” an interesting long post about enforcing the legal notion of “ecocide”, and about the work of UK legal barrister (and performer of mock trials) Polly Higgins, who defines ecocide as follows:

“Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished.”

A motion to “end ecocide” was presented by Cathy Fitzgerald and unanimously adopted by the Green Party of Ireland and Northern Ireland at the 2013 Green Party annual Convention in Galway on 13 April, 2013.

Read more: click here.

By Sacha Kagan

22.04.2013

JALAN JATI (TEAK ROAD)

On show at the John Hope Gallery Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (UK) until July 7th 2013

The results of three years of research and production, the interdisciplinary exhibition from Singapore, Jalan Jati (Teak Road) opened at the Edinburgh Science Festival on 21 March 2013 and runs at the John Hope Gallery Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh until July 2013.
Jalan Jati (Teak Road) traces the material, genetic, historic and poetic journeys of a teak bed found in a Singapore karang guni junk store back to where the original tree may have grown, via photography, woodprint collage, animation and DNA tracking technology.
Read more at Migrant Ecologies.
By Sacha Kagan

20.04.2013

Fish Story Talk and Artmaking Workshop in Memphis, TN (USA)

A pre-opening event for Memphis Social, at Crosstown Arts – Organizer: Aviva Rahmani, ecological artist

Address: 427 N Watkins St, Memphis, TN 38138 (USA) – Date: Monday, May 6, from 6 pm to 7:30 pm

Where do the lives of fish and people meet in Memphis? An evening of talk and artmaking will map the answers! Middle and high school students and community members welcome. The results will become part of a public exhibition at the Memphis College of Art. Please reserve your place. Refreshments will be served. (Suggested donation to cover materials and refreshments: $30.)

Registration details- ghostnets [at] ghostnets [dot] com – More info- www.ghostnets.com – See also the Memphis Social calendar of events: click here

Update from Aviva Rahmani:

  • “Saturday, May 4th I’ll take a canoe trip with project team member Dr. Eugene Turner, down a section of the Wolf River.
  • Tuesday, May 7th, from 6:00-7:30pm at Crosstown Arts, I will lead an evening of participatory talk and performative drawing about Memphis waterways for young people, their families and local environmental activists. Refreshments will be served. Limited space, please RSVP to ghostnets [at] ghostnets [dot] com.
  • Friday, May 10th from 5:00 -8:00pm at 477 South Main, The Hyde Gallery at the Nesin Graduate School Memphis College of Art (Downtown campus), an installation of the assembled insights and documentation from the river trek and workshop will be open to the public.
  • Saturday, May 11th from 2:00-3:00pm at 477 South Main, The Hyde Gallery at the Nesin Graduate School Memphis College of Art (Downtown campus), I will host an open, public webcast comparing bioregional habitat concerns. Webcast participants will include ecological art practitioners: Yvonne Senouf and Corinne Weber of M.E.L.D., curators of shows on global warming and endangered river systems; Amy Lipton, ecological art co-curator with Tricia Watts for ecoartspace; Juliette (Xiaoying) Yuan, Chinese curator of works that can only be experienced on line; artist Eve Andree Laramee who works on radioactivity; artist Ruth Hardinger whose work focuses on fracking; artist Lenore Malin who experienced Sandy in NYC; Fish Story team member Dr. Eugene Turner, wetlands biologist, restorationist and dead zone expert; Fish Story team member Dr. Jim White, a paleoecologist who identified the role of plants in mediating climate change, and Aviva Rahmani. The webcast will be recorded and available for download.”
By Sacha Kagan

19.04.2013

Eden3: Trees are the Language of Landscape

Exhibition – April 22 to May 25, 2013
Tent Gallery, in Art Space and Nature – Edinburgh College of Art – Evolution House (corner of Westport and Lady Lawson Street) – Edinburgh, EH1 2LE, Scotland
Hours: Tues-Fri 12noon to 4:45PM or by appointment on Saturday.

The Collins & Goto Studio presents an on-going series of works with trees, including Eden3, an installation of trees and technology that provide an experience of photosynthesis through sound, and Caledonia: The Forest is Moving, a series of expeditions and related inquiry about specific forests. The exhibition includes a brief overview of previous work from Pennsylvania and California to provide context for the current creative inquiry.

This work has evolved through collaboration with other artists, musicians, scientists and technicians. The exhibition is partially sponsored by Trilight Industries, Glasgow. Engineering support for the development of Eden3 is provided by Solutions for Research, Bedford. Special thanks to Helen de Main, Sogol Mabadi and Chris Fremantle.

Opening – Thursday April 25, 4 to 6 PM
Artist’s Talk – Thursday May 16, 4 to 6 PM
Collins and Goto will host an open discussion with friends and colleagues about their work and the role of art in relationship to a changing environment.
Space is limited please RSVP if interested in attending the artist talk rsvp [at] collinsandgoto [dot] com

Reposted from eco/art/scot/land

By Sacha Kagan

16.04.2013

The Fargo Project: Jackie Brookner at TEDxFargo City 2.0

For humans to survive, ecological artist Jackie Brookner says it is not enough to change the ways we fuel, feed, entertain and shelter ourselves. Something much more basic has to happen. We need to mainstream a different understanding of who we are, as individuals and as a species. She calls this “the being of human,” and says it is about the “verbing” of our existence.

Within this context, Brookner introduces The Fargo Project, the recipient of a prestigious “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Fargo Project is transforming a functioning 18-acre storm water detention basin into a prairie commons, through a community driven process that fosters collective creative agency.

By Sacha Kagan

11.03.2013

Call for participation in survey on soil and art

If you have used earth materially or symbolically in your creative practice, or in some way addressed the value, function, or meaning of soil in your art,  you are cordially invited to take part in an online survey about soil and art.

“Although the arts play a critical role in sustainability discourses, the actual opinions, knowledge and practices of artists are rarely a subject of scientific inquiry. This is why your voice is so important!” With your help, the researcher in charge of this project, Alexandra Toland, hopes to identify a wide spectrum of art projects that bring new awareness to the thin layer of matter on which all life is based, and to gather information on the various conditions under which such works are made.

This survey makes up part of Ms. Toland’s PhD research (at the Technische Universität Berlin) on the artistic use, interpretation and representation of soil and soil conservation issues. All data is collected with utmost integrity for research purposes. Specific details about individual projects and persons will not be disclosed without respondent’s consent. As a symbol of appreciation for your participation, Ms. Toland would like to feature your work on the soilarts.org research platform.

Deadline: April 15th 2013

By Sacha Kagan

22.02.2013

Project seeks to map and reduce ocean noise pollution

In an effort to reduce the undocumented and unlimited rising of oceanic noise pollution, the US government is completing the first phase of a project by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which seeks to document human-made noises in the ocean and transform the results into the world’s first oceanic sound maps.

The first results of the project are publicly available and have shown that the noise levels in the ocean are too high, especially in areas where sea mamals and whales spend most of their time.

The hope is high, that by providing detailed information on the current state of the ecosystem, political actions will follow. As most commercial vessels are registered abroad and the better part of noise pollution is happening in international water, the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body responsible for improving marine safety and reducing ship pollution, which also has the authority to set acoustic standards, is sought to be the lead change agent in this development.
But even with the preliminary results available, non-binding guidelines are the furthest political measure being discussed on the international level.

In any case, adjusting the shipbuilding to include noise reducing measures, the most feasible method to actively reduce the noise emission of a ship, will have a delayed effect, with ships having lifetime’s of 30 to 50 years.

For the entire article on nytimes.com, click here.

By Nikolai Huckle

31.01.2013

Economics of Happiness Conference 2013

March 15-17, 2013 – Byron Bay, Australia

The not-for-profit organization ISEC (International Society for Ecology and Culture) is, after the success of the first conference held last March in Berkeley, California, hosting the second international Economics of Happiness Conference in Australia. The conference is an annual event of the global grassroots movement whose mission is to promote systemic solutions to today’s environmental, social and economic crises led by ISEC, which has also led to the production of the corresponding documentary in 2011(trailer included in this post).

The interactive program will consist of plenary sessions, workshops, and social and creative time, participants will have a rare opportunity to learn from and share with some of the foremost leaders in the worldwide localization movement. The conference also offers the chance to make new connections, build on current projects and find new inspiration.

The list of speakers includes: Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, Donnie Maclurcan, Michael Shuman and Helena Norberg-Hodge.

For more information, the full list of speakers and to register, visit theeconomicsofhappiness.org

By Nikolai Huckle

25.01.2013

SCANZ 2013: Wananga-Symposium

Developing the culture to create a sustainable civilization

Feb 1st–3rd, 2013 – New Plymouth, New Zealand

SCANZ (Solar Circuit Aotearoa New Zealand) is New Zealand´s premier art, technology, culture and ecology event and involves a symposium, creative residency, and public events and exhibitions. Occurring biennially, it has typically involved a mix of Aotearoa New Zealand and international artists, producers, theorists and curators. SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature will be the fourth event and will be organized by Ian Clothier, Trudy Lane, and Nina Czegledy of Intercreate, in partnership with aligned organizations within the arts and sciences and with tangata whenua. Read more »

By Nikolai Huckle

07.01.2013

Shifting Baselines Residency and Exhibition Project

Gallery Talk & Exhibition Opening
Monday, January 7, 2013 – 6pm @ Santa Fe Art Institute

Shifting Baselines Exhibition
January 8 – 25 – Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm @ Santa Fe Art Institute

Shifting Baselines, an exhibition curated by ecoartspace founder Patricia Watts, opening on the 7th of January, 2013,  will show existing and new work from installation artist Hugh Pocock and painter Cynthia Hooper, a Northern California painter and video artist who teaches at College of the Redwoods in Eureka.

Shifting baseline is a scientific term used to describe the way changes in the environment can be measured against previous reference points (baselines) that represent significant changes from the “original state.” For example, places that swarmed with a particular species hundreds of years ago may have experienced long-term decline, but it is the level of recent decades that are considered the appropriate reference point for current populations. In this way large declines in ecosystems or species over long periods of time were, and are, masked. There is a loss of perception of change that occurs when each generation redefines what is “natural.” This term has become widely used to describe the shift over time in the expectation of what a healthy ecosystem baseline looks like.

The exhibition will also be the inaugural event of the Santa Fe Art Institute’s 2013-14 season of programming – Contested Space, focusing on arts role in communicating and exploring new territory in an already mapped out world.

To learn more about the Shifting Baselines residency and exhibition, please go to the ecoartspace blog and the Santa Fe Art Institute blog.

By Nikolai Huckle

06.01.2013

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project Book and eBook now Available

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project (2012) is now available as free pdf, as paperback at Amazon US / UK and as e-book at Kindle Store.

Erik Sjödin is an artist and researcher based in Stockholm and Bergen. His practice explores interdependencies and interrelationships between humans and non-humans as well as questions of being and becoming.

Erik’s work is primarily constituted of transdisciplinary research and interventions in the public realm. His projects are often of an exploratory nature and take shape over several years. He frequently collaborates with and consults experts such as scientists, farmers, chefs and craftspeople.

Reposted from The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts Website

By Nikolai Huckle