Tag Archive | Schumacher College

Piano Suite IX ‘SIGNIFICANTUS’ is performed in collaboration with local guest speakers; scientists, artists and other thinkers

TOURING FROM AUTUMN 2016

You can see a performance of this piece at Feeding the Insatiable – Real and imagined narratives of art and energy for a troubled planet. A creative summit at Dartington Hall November 9-11

“I created this project because I want to stimulate more conversations about positive prospects that are presented by climate change.

Significantus features the performance of my ninth piano suite, presented in collaboration with guest speakers. Scientists, artists and other thinkers respond (as I have in music) to the notion that “talking about a world that has risen to the challenge of climate change is an exciting opportunity” (Paul Allen, Centre for Alternative Technology). Audience members are also invited to make spoken word contributions.

My quest is that the conversation then spreads out from concerts venues, carried forward by both audience members and by this website.

This website is for documenting the texts that arise from the performances. A trail of words will be added as performances come and go, connecting town to town, venue to venue, speaker to speaker, audience member to audience member, website visitor to website visitor.” (Lola Perrin)

Some quotes that have inspired the project:

“WE ARE ON THE CUSP OF A NEW PHILOSOPHICAL ERA REVERSING 500 YEARS OF SCIENCE TELLING US HOW INSIGNIFICANT WE ARE.” (MARK MASLIN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON)

“As more and more people across global society piece together the internal and external layers of this alarming big picture; this collective, compulsive human violation of our planetary life-support system becomes one of the deepest and most pervasive sources of anxiety in our time.

Society has created taboos against the public expression of such emotion and anguish, so we struggle to realise that so many of us feel the same. We are held fast, sleepwalking through the shopping malls, distracted, paralysed and overloaded in a continuous barrage of information.

Over recent decades such collective fear and disempowerment have transformed the way we think about the future; from that exciting 1960s world of excitement, progress and anticipation – to a dark and uncertain world of fear. But if we only talk in terms of fear, chaos, collapse and devastation, we aren’t going to equip, empower and enable people – if we are unable to imagine a positive future, we won’t create it.” (Paul Allen, Centre for Alternative Technology)

May 10, 2016

in Events, Opportunities, Research
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First Friday’s Arts and ecology network

www.artdotearth.org are holding a monthly networking lunch at Dartington in Devon

You can join this network and find out about the events through the facebook page

First Fridays are informal opportunities to share food and talk to friends and strangers. You can find generic information here. They are usually followed immediately by an artist talk.

In June, the artists talking are you. We’re inviting you to talk about some work in progress, or very recently completed work. You can present for ten minutes and have ten minutes for feedback and critique. That’s not long, but long enough for something useful to transpire, we hope!

There are, of course, limited slots – otherwise we could be there all weekend. You can reserve one here. They are available on a first-come-first-served basis and once they’re gone, they’re gone. However that means that if you can’t make your slot or you change your mind, it’s essential you let us know.

May 10, 2016

in Opportunities
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MA/MFA Arts & Ecology

Schumacher College has announced a new programme in Arts & Ecology, including a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts. The awards are validated by Plymouth University and will be accepting their first students in September of 2017. Courses will be accepting applications from September 2016.

This postgraduate programme is aimed at artists with an established practice who yearn for new connections and conversations, require time out for intensive study, reflection and refreshment, and who wish to interrogate and challenge their work in order to foster a creative practice fit for the ecological, social, and ethical challenges we all face. In this programme, you are encouraged to develop or deepen an eyes-wide-open practice that pays attention to integration rather than alienation and which is open to or led by dialogue, inter-relationships, and a clear ethical imperative. You will be nurtured and sustained in developing a creative ecological practice open to the wonder, enchantment and richness of the world, attuned to and in sympathy with ecological systems and sensitive to the threats they might face.

The programme proposes Arts & Ecology as a metadisciplinary field of study and practice, encouraging artists to develop a practice with a deep and meaningful engagement with the world around them that becomes central to their practice.

Go here for more information, or contact the programme leader, Dr Richard Povall.

April 22, 2016

in Artworks, Musings, Resources
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Deep Time Walk App – Crowdfunder

The Deep Time Walk App is a walking audio history of the living Earth enabling anyone, anywhere to experience the vast expanse of deep time.

We are creating a mobile app that enables anyone, anywhere to experience a walking audio history of the living Earth. Help us develop this tool for educational awareness and support a project that will raise funds for scholarships at Schumacher College.

The new Deep Time Walk App is a walking audio history of the living Earth giving users a detailed and dramatised experience of the planet’s 4.6 billion year big history as they are guided on a physical 4.6 kilometre walk across time. Award winning playwright Peter Oswald has collaborated with ecologist Stephan Harding (Schumacher College) to create a unique script that provides an enticing and poetic dialogue between ‘The Scientist’ and ‘The Fool’ as they journey through deep time. The script was recently recorded with actors Chipo Chung (“The Scientist”) & Paul Hilton (“The Fool”). The production is directed by Jeremy Mortimer, who has created over 200 dramas for BBC Radio.

With each metre walked representing one million years, users of the Deep Time Walk mobile app listen to the story of the evolution of the 4.6 billion year big history of the Living Earth – from a disc of rocky debris, through the formation of the Earth, its oceans and atmosphere, the appearance of bacteria, nucleated cells and, eventually, multicellular organisms. At the climax of the walk the last 20cm (200,000 years) represent the timespan of humanity, and in the final 1/5th of a millimetre (200 years), the walker witnesses the miniscule time (in geological terms) that has elapsed since the start of the industrial revolution. A prototype for the mobile app has been designed by Art Director Fred Adam, a locative media expert which works by tracking how far and how fast you walk, and presents a corresponding acoustic soundscape to the walker as they journey through time.

With the script written, the audio recorded (here’s a sample) and the app prototyped we now need to raise £21,000 to complete the project. This money will be used to edit and mix the sound recordings, create symphonic soundscapes to accompany the narration, code the iOS and Android applications and go through two beta testing versions ready for launch in autumn 2016. Surplus profits from the sale of the app will be used to fund scholarships for students at Schumacher College.

1. Please make a pledge

NOTE: We are giving exclusive access to a beta-version of
the Deep Time Walk App for either iOS or Android to the first 50 supporters to pledge.
£10 (US$14): THANK YOU – for supporting the Deep Time Walk App project; we’ll notify you when we launch with our early bird discount price for the iOS and Android app.

£25 (US$36): AUDIO PACK – exclusive recordings from Satish Kumar (30 minute meditation), Stephan Harding (The Deep Time Well, Riding the Clouds, Carbon Cycle and Ode to the Elements) and Martin Shaw reading an exclusive extract on Deep Time from his forthcoming book Scatterlings.

£55 (US$80): VIDEO LEARNING PACK – a digital version of the Animate Earth film, as well as over 6 hours of new tutorials on Resilience, Ecology and Gaia Theory by Stephan Harding to download.

£70 (US$100): SMALL BUNDLE – Both the audio and video learnings packs.

£75 (US$110): SCRIPT COLLECTOR – a signed printed and bound copy of the Deep Time Walk Script written by Stephan Harding and Peter Oswald

£100 (US$140): AUDIO COLLECTOR – exclusive signed CD pack including the Deep Time Walk audio experience – otherwise not available unless listened via the Deep Time Walk app.

£150 (US$215): COLLECTORS EDITION – both the signed script and the special edition CD pack of the Deep Time Walk audio experience signed by the production team.

£180 (US$260): BIG BUNDLE – Both the Script and Audio collector editions + Audio and Video Learning packs PLUS an invite to the launch event.

£250 (US$360): PRIVATE WALK – with Stephan Harding and an invite to the launch event.

£300 (US$430): LAUNCH DINNER – feast for 2 plus invitations to our launch event.

£500 (US$720): EPOCH SUPPORTER – all of the above rewards – media packs, collectors editions, private walk for 2, dinner feast for 2 and launch invite.

£1000 (US$1430): ERA SUPPORTER – all the above, and listing on our website with great thanks for being a core supporter of the Deep Time Walk project.

£2500 (US$3585): EON SUPPORTER – all of the above, plus listing in the about screen of the Deep Time Walk App with eons of thanks for being such a core supporter of the project.

P.S. You can always pledge more money than the pledge tier if you like, so if you’re feeling really generous you could pledge £200 for the £150 level if you wish, or even choose not to receive a reward. It’s up to you!

2. Spread the word

Please help spread news of the project on http://www.facebook.com/deeptimewalk, Twitter @deeptimewalk, as well as emailing it to friends and family! Our website address for sharing is http://www.deeptimewalk.org. 🙂

3. Get in touch

If you would like to know more about the project, have a question, would like to partner, tell us what you think, please get in touch at hello@deeptimewalk.org

Thank you for your support and help to make the Deep Time Walk App a reality!

March 21, 2016

in Events, Opportunities, Research
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Call for proposals – Feeding the insatiable – a creative summit – November 9-11 2016

Feeding the insatiable

real and imagined narratives of art and energy for a troubled planet

a creative summit

http://feedingtheinsatiable.info

November 9 -11 2016

Dartington Hall, Devon, England

Encouraging all manner of energy generation through creative intervention and invention and new approaches to scientific enquiry including the quirky, the impossible, the micro and the personal. Encouraging debate – practical, philosophical, metaphysical, and theoretical – bringing creative minds from many disciplines to bear on these pressing issues.

Who is it for?

This is an interdisciplinary event; we anticipate proposals and participation from artists, writers, designers, engineers, industry professionals, philosophers, ecologists, and all those interested in new approaches to energy, energy policy and ecosophy.

Of course, all are welcome.

Topics of interest

Not intended to proscriptive or prescriptive, this list of topics suggests the areas we are likely to explore. However we are open to all relevant ideas, from the philosophical to the most practical and pragmatic.

visioning change
imaginative and invented narratives and technologies
micro-generation and body-derived energy
plant and other organic power generators
transformational potential of art
beyond communication
energy and metaphor
message and instrumentalisation
slow art, process
non-literal big data visualisation
envisioning the profound
aesthetics of art/science
using imagination for social change
emotion / science
sensible / actual
new ways of seeing
new ways of knowing
evolving meaning
celebrating authenticity and ethos
energy in the animal world
exploring chasms between artists and industry
energy futures and questions of design
ethnographics, big data, climate change, understanding

Types of submission

Submit any ideas that inspire you and which you think may have a place during this event. Given its deliberately constrained scope and size, there will be limited slots available, so please inspire us.

We are interested in submissions that embrace the following formats. Note that in each case we will add time for Q&A, but please think about how interaction with the audience can be built into your offer. Formats might be:

academic paper presentations lasting no more than 20 minutes (with 10 minutes for Q&A)
panel discussions, live interviews, and other discursive formats, lasting between 30-50 minutes. There is potential to broadcast these live.
presentation of artwork, indoor or outdoor
walking and other outdoor activities, particularly ones that engage with theoretical or philosophical thought in addition to their creative content
workshops, lasting 90 minutes (please indicate how many participants you can support)
if you are geographically distant, you can send papers for inclusion in the publication only. These submissions will be considered along with all others, on the understanding that you are unable to attend the event itself. There will be a nominal registration fee to help cover publication costs.

The deadline for submission is 22.00 GMT on May 8th, 2016. We are requesting 250-word abstracts or outlines, which must be submitted through the event website at http://artenergysymposium.info/proposal-form/. We are unable to accept any submissions after the deadline.

February 23, 2016

in Artworks, Events, Opportunities
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ICE Arts & Energy 200 – Looking for sites

ICE Arts & Energy 200 – A clean energy generating art competition

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), working in collaboration with Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) and the sustainable energy experts Regen SW, are developing a high profile art competition completed in time for the Institution’s 200th Anniversary in 2018 and a permanent art installation forming part of the long-term legacy.

ICE Arts & Energy 200 will challenge will challenge artists and designers to collaborate with civil engineers, to construct an iconic piece of public art that also generates energy at scale.

This project is currently in development and we are looking for an appropriate site, partners and funds. Please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved with this project.

THE IDEAL SITE WILL BE:

Visible by many people, potentially from a main transport route
Able to harness renewable energy resources
Contained within a rich conceptual or historical backdrop from which artists can be inspired
Suitable for Planning purposes and with a grid connection or energy user
Located in a space that is visually captivating
Owned by an entity that will be a good partner
Accessible for learning

A shortlist of artists will each win:

A cash prize and a concept design stipend to develop their idea further in the second stage.
The opportunity to collaborate with a high profile civil engineering company to develop the proposal
Inclusion in a publication and documentary about the project
Participation in an art exhibition at the ICE’s prestigious headquarters in Westminster and at the actual project site
The opportunity to win the final commission, which will be located in a highly visible location.
The competition will be judged by a prestigious panel of experts from the arts, engineering, and energy sectors, and with input from local stakeholders and community members.

Through the design and build of this innovative piece of public art that generates energy we will celebrate:

The ICE Bicentenary in 2018 – marking the moment when the cost of renewable energy development is on par with other energy generation technologies
The talents of artists and engineers working together
The power of communities to bring about change
The history of energy generation and a new vision of the future

We will focus attention on some of the important questions of our age:

How will we power our economy going forward?
How can we respond to the challenges presented by climate change and extreme weather events?
How civil engineers build the essential infrastructure upon which society depends
How individuals and communities can affect change and be at the centre of the decision making process
What role can artists and designers play in challenging society and in bringing about change?

THE PARTNERSHIP:

ICE
Established in 1818 and with over 85,000 members in 187 countries, ICE is the oldest professional engineering body in the world. ICE’s vision is to place civil engineering at the heart of society, delivering sustainable development through knowledge, skills and professional expertise.
ice.org.uk

Land Art Generator Initiative
Through competitions and educational outreach LAGI is showing how innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration, culture, and the expanding role of technology in art can help to shape the aesthetic impact of renewable energy on our constructed and natural environments. The goal of LAGI is to design and construct a series of large-scale site-specific public art installations that uniquely combine art with utility-scale clean energy generation.
landartgenerator.org

Regen SW
Regen SW is an independent not for profit established in 2003 that uses expertise in sustainable energy to work with industry, communities and the public sector to revolutionise the way we generate, supply and use energy.
regensw.co.uk
power-culture.com

Schumacher College
Schumacher College is an international centre for nature-based education, personal transformation and collective action. Come here for short courses and postgraduate study with the leading thinkers, practitioners and activists of our time. The College is launching an Arts & Ecology programme, leading towards a new MA in Arts & Ecology in 2017.
schumachercollege.ac.uk
artdotearth.org

LAUNCH EVENTS:

17 March 2016 – 9-10am Smart Energy Marketplace, Sandy Park, Exeter
A invitation only event for potential project partners to find out more and or get involved in the project
12 October 2016 Schumacher College, Devon
Project launch
13-15 October 2016 Schumacher College, Devon
Arts and Energy Symposium
www.artenergysymposium.info

“As we move towards our renewable energy future we should recognize the inherent differences that exist between the old and the new means of energy production and the change to built manifestations that consequently follow from this shift. When power generation facilities were adapted for the urban environment in previous eras, they necessarily responded to the aesthetic considerations of the time required of them to integrate with the fabric of the community. As the days of the gas or coal fired power plant at the farthest outskirts of the city come to a close, we will find more and more integration of energy production within the fabric of our commercial and residential communities. The need for large-scale exurban generation will always be there, but it will be augmented more and more by urban and rural micro-generation and mid-scale generation.

We live in a world that cross-culturally puts a high emphasis on design. As energy generation necessarily comes in closer proximity with the real estate that it powers, issues of aesthetics that drive acceptance are becoming more and more debated. A holistic approach to a renewable energy infrastructure has a place for both macro and micro-generation.

Macro installations in the landscape should also take care in their design to integrate with their surroundings both visually and environmentally. Micro installations should take care in their designs to integrate with the fabric of the urban community. Just as buildings and public art and land art exist as interventions in the fabric of the environment, so must power generation constructions—from our green fields to our suburbs to our downtowns—react responsibly to their role as permanent additions to our shared experience.

We have, on the one hand, an ever increasing drive toward designing buildings and cities to run on 100% renewable energy. The design community and city planners are moving in this direction driven by the collective will of society. On the other hand, we have technologies proliferating that are still rather utilitarian in their form such as the standard horizontal axis, three blade wind turbine. And these utilitarian forms are seeing some pushback from individual communities, especially as they come closer and closer to the city. The first warning signs of this are seen in rural mountaintop residential communities and coastal communities but this debate will only get more and more heated as the devices integrate into more dense urban environments.

What is needed in order to bridge the gap—between the larger desire for a renewable future and the community level negative reactions to the application of the systems required for it—is an artistic movement that can set a course towards aesthetic considerations in sustainable infrastructure.

Because, after all, sustainability in communities is not only about resources, it is also about harmony.” Land Art Generator Initiative

LAGI is currently working with Glasgow City Council to develop an art and energy project to regenerate a plot in Port Dundas.

October 12, 2015

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The Art of Invitation – An invaluable course in creative engagement

Ruth Ben Tovim from Encounters Arts is delivering a unique and powerful course with colleagues Anne-Marie Culhane and Lucy Neal in November this year.

Public engagement is hard to do. Many of us have been invited to participate in something that feels tokenistic and the inner cynic rises. We have attended public consultations that are boring and difficult to understand. We are swamped with information about this or that and so much of it feels impossible, or irrelevant or blatantly uninterested in our humanity.

This course teaches skills essential for those involved in community engagement; In this (relatively) new art-form The Art of Invitation (sometimes known as participatory arts or transitional arts practice), participants explore what it takes to reach people effectively to stimulate meaningful interactions.

power culture

SIGNIFICANTUS – A unique keyboard conversation- Created by Lola Perrin