Art and the end of the world (as we know it) – A five day course at Schumacher College
Course leaders: The Dark Mountain Project – Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine
Date: 20th — 24th March 2017
Location: Schumacher College, Devon, England
‘The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop.’
– Uncivilisation: The Dark Mountain Manifesto
We live in a time of great unravelling.
The climate is changing, a mass extinction is under way, and our economies, cultures and technologies are changing everything. The future no longer seems to serve as a vessel for our hopes, but a shadow that we try not to think about. Much that we grew up taking for granted will not make it into the world that waits for us there.
So what does it mean to live in such a time? What can we do with this kind of knowledge? And what does art have to do with any of it?
In 2009, Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine published the Dark Mountain manifesto: a call for honesty about the depth of the trouble the world is in – and for recognition of the deep cultural roots of that trouble. From a short self-published pamphlet, the Dark Mountain Project grew into a global network of writers, artists, musicians, performers and creative thinkers, many of whose work has appeared in the pages of the Dark Mountain books or on the stages of the Uncivilisation festival, Base Camp, Carrying the Fire, The Telling and other events.
At the heart of the Dark Mountain Project is the claim that the global crisis we are facing is not a crisis of politics, economics or technology, but a crisis of stories. The stories which our culture likes to tell itself about humanity’s place on Earth and its relationship to the rest of nature are like bad maps, leading us towards unmarked hazards. We have narrated ourselves to the edge of a cliff.
If this is true, what can we do about it? And what, in particular, can writers, artists and other creative workers offer in response? If we have been telling the wrong stories, how would we recognise the right ones – and how could we begin to give them a voice?
This course is open to anyone who wants to engage with these questions and is willing to bring their own creativity into play. Through a mixture of workshops, teaching sessions, creative exercises and space to explore the big issues, it aims to give writers, musicians, performers and artists of all kinds a stronger sense of their place in a time of upheaval, change and unexpected possibilities.
Bring a notebook, a clear head, a sense of excitement and a willingness to be honest. Please leave false hopes and all-encompassing solutions at home.
Art and Energy inspires a drawing class in Crediton, Devon
by Naomi Wright
It is the beginning of term and we stand about discussing our theme for our classes ahead. I suggest art and energy, it interests me for all sorts of reasons. I say I am helping with similar themed workshops with some college students outdoors as part of Regensw’s art and energy programme. I wonder whether it will interest the class. We think about the wide range of meanings for energy. Energy is everything, I say, remembering a recent workshop. In a physical sense, binding the molecules of our being, energy fixed from the sun, in the movement of a river, the heat from a fire, in our food, in the every-day. We have our own energy, in the spirit of the land, in leylines, in happiness, in despair.
So the term at Crediton arts centre has taken this as a theme…. A couple of us are working with an old luccombe oak that has had to be cut down in the local park. We think of the power within, the height and weight of it, the history in it, the energy held beneath in the ground. The dying energy, used by fungus, the last of the leaves to be photosynthisising.
The tree………..
Eileen’s tree
Others in the class discuss their drawings through the eye of an energy lens. Lines are energetic, directioned, growing. The still life is far from still as vegetation takes on a new meaning, pots spin, and all the senses are enlivened.
Rebecca’s pots
We’re all curious in how this will progress… Pat especially, as she has ideas for some new installations.
Naomi Wright is an artist who collaboratively researches the benefits of being outdoors in the elements. In sunshine, wind, or rain she maps and constructs places, things and conversations that make the most of our ecological interplay.
Nautilus Turbine by Hannah Imlach
Nautilus Turbine (tulip wood, birch plywood, acrylic tube and cork, 2016) is a sculptural response to the community-run energy infrastructure of the Isle of Eigg, Scotland. The piece focuses on the island’s hydroelectric scheme which provides the majority of power, and the social, environmental and economic factors that have made the islanders’ self-sufficiency possible.
Nautilus Turbine takes the form of a personal turbine, activated by a swimmer. Its multiple kinetic elements are inspired by the logarithmic patterns of shell spirals and industrial turbines. At its essence, the piece explores the exertion and responsibility taken on by the people of Eigg in generating their own power and the autonomy, freedom and environmental understanding this has afforded them.
The Isle of Eigg community are celebrated for their success in campaigning and fundraising to purchase the land on which they live, previously held (like much of Scotland) by private landowners. This community ownership has allowed the Islanders to develop many aspects of their infrastructure, most notably their pioneering renewable energy scheme. By capitalizing on their landscapes resources and making the island a site for piloting innovative technologies, the community were able to install a combination of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric turbines, replacing the noisy and polluting generators formally used. Most importantly to the success of their model, the islanders are all aware of their allotted energy allowance and individuals have been trained to monitor, maintain and repair the technology.
Nautilus Turbine takes the form of a personal turbine, activated by a swimmer. Its multiple kinetic elements are inspired by the logarithmic patterns of shell spirals and industrial turbines. At its essence, the piece explores the exertion and responsibility taken on by the people of Eigg in generating their own power and the autonomy, freedom and environmental understanding this has afforded them.
The piece was created during a three-phase residency: with The Bothy Project at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg, to collect initial research, at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, to develop and create the sculpture, and then returning Eigg to document the work at Laig weir, which supplies the island’s largest hyrdoelectric generator. The project was greatly aided by advice and logistical help from Eddie Scott, Lucy Conway and Neil Robertson from the Isle of Eigg and the photographic documentation was created with the assistance of Lila Matsumoto, Thomas Butler and Alice Mary Cooper, who performed with the sculpture at the Laig weir site.
The project was supported by the Royal Scottish Academy through their 2015 Residencies for Scotland award.
Off Grid Festival – Exeter – 11-14 August
OFF GRID FESTIVAL IS BACK FOR 2016 We’re super-excited to announce that, subject to a successful Crowdfunder campaign, Off-Grid Festival will be returning in 2016 with an all new event. The festival will take place from August 11th to 14th at the new Biophilia Project on Goffin Land near Exeter, Devon with a limited capacity.
MUSIC – The best of the local and grassroots. Come watch the pick of the acts each night in our beautiful timber-frame barn
Featuring…
- Five Finger Discount
- Hazaar!
- Voodoo Swamp
- Andy Letcher
- Insomniac Jack
- The TTs
- Dora Darling
- Fly Yeti Fly
- Avalon Roots (TBC)
- Nick Rosen – The Story of Off Grid in the UK
- Jay Tompt – REconomy and Local Entrepreneur Forums
- Johnny Gordon-Fairleigh – Stir to Action / The Future of Work
- Adelia Tisdall – Positive Money
- Julian Pratt – Land Value Tax
Jonathan Dawson – Schumacher College- Brett Scott – Alternative Finance (TBC)
- Anna Laycock – The Finance Innovation Lab
- Mary Daniels – Alternatives and NCS
- Jamie Catto – What about Intimacy?
- David Parkes – Community Juice
- Marcus Letts – Euboea.io
- Anton Chernikov – The Exponentials
- Gill Wyatt – Exeter Community Energy (ECOE)
- Trudy Turrell – Resisting Development as a Community
- Michael Thomas – Transition Network – Is Transition a revolutionary movement?
- Tony Conway – Vale Das Lobas: Innovation and Ancient Traditions
- Ecological Constellations with Audaye Elesedy
- Legal Surgeries (Low-Impact Planning and Renewables) with Sonya Bedford
- Social Enterprise Funding Surgeries with Alex Lawrie
- DIY Solar Panels & Battery Packs with Demand Energy Equality
- WeTheUncivilised – New documentary showing in our Off Grid Cinema. More films TBC
- Off Grid Kids Area and Forest School
- Serenity Field – Therapies and Well Being
- Crafts and Alt. Tech Area
- Wildwoods Bushcraft Zone with Sylvan Adventures
- Sauna
- Local and Organic Food at the Field Canteen
- Local and Organic Beers, Ciders and Wine
Love the look of all this? Then buy your ticket now.
Less than 200 remaining!
Paper Circuits Popup Project with 4th Grade
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Originally posted on Expect the Miraculous:
? I’ve been wanting to explore paper circuits for quite awhile, but I haven’ taken the plunge to do it. We got many supplies for paper circuitry through a Donors Choose project. We’ve tinkered with the LEDs, conductive tape, and coin cell batteries some in our makerspace, but a…
Recipe: Making Charcoal Paint using Egg Tempera Medium
Thanks to artist Jo Bushell for sending us this recipe. With support from Silvanus Trust she researched and developed this method of making charcoal paint and used the method in a number of wokshops exploring energy and transformation.
Biochar is charcoal used as a soil amendment. Like most charcoal, biochar is made from biomass via pyrolysis. Biochar is under investigation as an approach to carbon sequestration to produce negative carbon dioxide emissions.[1] Biochar thus has the potential to help mitigate climate change via carbon sequestration.[2][3] Independently, biochar can increase soil fertility of acidic soils (low pH soils), increase agricultural productivity, and provide protection against some foliar and soil-borne diseases.[4]Furthermore, biochar reduces pressure on forests.[5] Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon, and can endure in soil for thousands of years.[1]
Making Charcoal Paint using Egg Tempera Medium
- pestle and mortar
- approx 5 lemon-sized lumps of charcoal (best quality available)
- facemask (if not in a well ventilated area)
- container with lid for storing charcoal powder
- 10 free range eggs (organic or best quality possible)
- large bowl for discarded egg whites/tissue (must be glass/ceramic for breaking eggs)
- kitchen roll
- cocktail stick or pointed twig
- medium mixing bowl
- table spoon
- bottle of water
- couple of small ramekin type dishes
- paint brushes (or use fingers, leaves, pine cones or other found objects)
Step one: First you will need to grind the charcoal lumps into powder form by placing them one at a time into your mortar and then pounding with the pestle until the lumps have reduced down to a fine powder. Decant into a sealable container between grinding each lump – the dust is very fine!
Step two: Take an egg and crack it on the edge of the large bowl. Separate the egg yolk from the white using the two broken parts of its shell; gently passing the yolk from one to the other whilst letting the white of the egg drip down into the bowl beneath. Discard the bowl containing the whites and replace with the mixing bowl. Place a piece of kitchen roll onto the palm of your hand and let the yolk tip from the shell onto the towel (somewhere close to the edge) taking care to hold it steady so that it doesn’t roll off onto the floor! Taking the cocktail stick pierce the membrane sack of the yolk allowing the yellow contents to drip into the mixing bowl below. Repeat this with the rest of the eggs. This is your Egg Tempera Medium.
Step three: Spoon out roughly the same amount of charcoal powder as there is yolk and mix them together into a smooth paste. Try it out on a piece of paper/bark until you are happy with the thickness and translucency. If the paste is too thick to use then VERY GRADUALLY add water a spoonful at a time and stir in. Decant into your ramekins for ease of use. This paint dries quickly so don’t hang around!
Step four: Use natural, hand-made paintbrushes or fingers to try out mark-making with your charcoal paint onto pieces of wood or the inside of a piece of bark. It’s very smooth to paint with and, when it’s dry, you’ll find it has a lovely, glossy finish!
*If you have an egg allergy then try using Linseed oil mixed in equal parts with Water Mixable Fast Drying Oil Medium as a substitute for the egg. Alternatively, honey can be used (take note, however, that the honey medium takes a couple of days to dry properly).
Demand Energy Equality – Energy Tree in Bristol (2015)
There were many aims of the project: build something functional and beautiful that engages the public in energy in an extremely uncertain time; work with people combating drug & alcohol use and demonstrate the power of building collectively; celebrate the community energy movement; present a positive vision of possible energy futures – and of course reach people with our message of the need to reduce our energy demand as a society.
What’s more, it provides free public phone charging and WIFI (though you’ll have to tackle our Energy Quiz to access the latter!).
The 20ft metal sculpture uses bio-mimicry to imitate a natural tree form, with 36 ‘leaves’ composed of solar photo-voltaic (‘solar PV’) panels, fabricated by participants from the Bristol Drugs Project during practical energy workshops delivered by Demand Energy Equality. The electrical power produced is stored in batteries at its base and fed through the Tree’s ‘roots’ out of the soil through publicly accessible charging cables. A live data stream, visualised below, allows us to measure the Tree’s power output on a minute-by-minute basis.
– Bristol Drugs Project volunteer
The back story
In September 2012 we invited community groups to help us build our Solar Tree, on the Edible Futures growing project, Brislington, south east Bristol. One of the organisations that joined us was the Bristol Drugs Project, a charity working with people across Bristol recovering from alcohol and drugs use. You can find out more about the project and BDP’s involvement in this short film.
Fast forward 9 months to Spring 2013, and we received a call from BDP inviting us to collaborate with them on an extended programme of work with their service users, with a second ‘Energy Tree’ as a public focal point for the achievements of all those involved.
As well as demonstrating the positive experiences previous participants had gained from being involved in the original Solar Tree project, this was a fantastic opportunity to expand the reach of our educational workshops and contribute to the brilliant work BDP and its service users do.
The only problem we had left was where to put our 20ft steel sculpture: designed as a public engagement tool it seemed like something the good people at At-Bristol would be interested in. So we got in touch. They were. And it turned out they owned Millennium Square.
Fast forward another 9 months and with the support of a Lush Charity Pot award and a strategic grant from Bristol 2015 European Green Capital we were able to assemble the Energy Tree in Millennium Square in time for its public launch on 21st April 2015.
