Fear&Loss - Industrial Karoo group exhibition

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

- From The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot 1925

A word by the curator

The installation Fear&Loss speaks of the possible environmental damage should the Dutch oil giant Shell be granted an exploration license to drill for shale gas in the Groot Karoo – the place of my home, community and livelihood.  

Fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - involves pumping toxic chemicals and fluids under high pressure five km deep into the earth’s core. This causes the seams in the layers of sediment to break apart for gas and oil extraction. Large volumes of water are needed for this and these fluids and chemicals cannot be recycled and remain in the earth, causing the fear of contamination of the underground water supply. In the Karoo, this is drawn from its reservoir of interconnected aquifers through the use of boreholes and springs (http://www.greenpeace.
org). 

My work has evolved out of my own deep concern and passion for this widely-ignored part of our country. Despite larger questions that arise, the work is also intensely personal since it addresses a situation that will impact dramatically on me, my family, and community. As such, my intention is that the work may raise awareness in its creation of a specific and intimate
installation space. 

Fear and Loss focuses on the impact of global capitalism and consumerism on individuals and small communities. Eliot’s poem, The Waste Land (1922) reveals the emotional and physical scars and damage left by World War I and expresses the unspoken wish that this type of tragedy will not be repeated. But Fear&Loss represents the probability that man-made disasters will. Creative works, such as the poem The Waste Land, or the visual art installation Fear&Loss, remain tools for communication, to reach out beyond our immediate realm of understanding and lay bare our hope for humanity.

- Katie Barnard du Toit 

 

Say Goodbye to Plastic Bags

In Manchester, this environmental performance is planned for 3 July - International Plastic Bag Free Day. We could do something similar in South Africa, can't we?

Addition (28 July 2014):

On local soil, in Greyton and Montagu:

Thank you, Jurgen from Simonskloof Mountain Retreat for sharing this poster!

Earthlife Africa Press Release: The climate circus is in town!

An international conference concerned with clean air, the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Association’s (IUAPPA) “Clean Air Congress” in Cape Town at the end of September, is being sponsored by some of South Africa’s biggest air polluters.

Sasol (which is the emitter of the largest point source of climate changing greenhouse changing gases in the world); Eskom (who are currently requesting an exemption from compliance with South Africa’s National Air Quality Act and supporting plans to build yet a third mega-coal fired power station, notwithstanding radioactive emissions from its Koeberg nuclear power plant); Engen (with a long history of harm to residents of South Durban); Shell (linked to human rights and environmental violations in the Niger delta, and one of many who wish to carry out polluting hydraulic fracturing in our country) and Exarro, our 2nd largest coal mining company. We find it surprising that no mention is made of the fatally toxic and radioactive air pollution planned by the smelter plants of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) at Pelindaba.

“The Clean Air Congress is shown for what it is – an opportunity for South Africa’s Climate Clowns to sponsor a green-washing circus” said Muna Lakhani of Earthlife Africa Cape Town. “The irony is compounded by the fact that the Mayor of Cape Town and the MEC for the Western Cape (who are featured speakers at the Congress) support this process.”

Over 60 civil society organisations find this Congress problematic. An indication of the potential for “green-wash” can be found in the draft programme (fourth revision), which has as a heading “Health Impacts and Perceptions.”

“The health impacts of air pollution are not ‘perceptions’, they are a fact!” commented Des D’sa of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA). “Our children and other residents suffer from high rates of upper respiratory tract problems due to poor air quality in South Durban.” 

They are calling for companies to take responsibility for their actions, and for government to hold them accountable, in a transparent manner.

Roegshanda Pascoe, of the Manenberg development co-ordinating structure, says “Our people are hurting with the high and rising electricity prices, and with nuclear and more coal power stations, prices will just keep on escalating. Since the first price increases, we have seen an increase in domestic violence linked to unaffordability of electricity, and other social impacts. It is time government takes the steps necessary to change our vision to one of energy security for all, in a safe and sustainable way.”

Community members feel that government must take their lead from our Constitution, and fully engage civil society in our supposed “participative democracy” in fully informed and thorough consultation before taking decisions on behalf of communities, especially the poor.

The media is encouraged to cover this congress, and ask the questions that civil society are asking, viz:

1. Why is a parastatal even asking for an exemption from our National Air Quality Act, when a substantial body of evidence confirms harm from coal fired power stations?
2. Why is fracking even being considered, when it is at least as problematic as coal, certainly from a climate change perspective? Has nothing been learnt from water, land and air pollution impacts elsewhere in the world, accompanied by social devastation?
3. Why is government complicit in these kinds of “greenwashing” exercises, yet finds it impossible to hold companies to account for the known harm that they do?
4. What is the point of IUAPPA convening such a congress under these auspices, when even they (IUAPPA) confirm: “Air pollution causes over 800,000 deaths and tens of millions of respiratory and other illnesses each year. It damages ecosystems and affects quality of life, reduces economic activity and reinforces the cycle of poverty in many areas of the world.”

Civil society that is concerned with plans for more climate change-inducing coal fired power stations that is now on the cards in South Africa, dangerous and expensive nuclear power, polluting and socially and environmentally devastating hydraulic fracturing (fracking), problematic coal mines and the high price of electricity, have come together to protest this gathering of our polluters and government representatives.

The protest is planned for Sunday the 29th of September between 2pm and 4pm opposite the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Cape Town Mayor, Councillor Patricia de Lille, and representatives from the named polluting companies have been invited to receive a memorandum outlining the concerns of civil society that believe the polluter-pays-principle should be strictly enforced. This initiative has thus far received the support of more than 80 organisations.

Come and join us!!

This initiative is supported by:

Earthlife Africa Cape Town; CAPTRUST; Community Consent Movement; Manenberg Dev Co-ord Structure; Southern Cape Land Committee, Groundwork, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance,  Cochoqua Tribal House (Khoi San), Coalition for Environmental Justice, Million Climate Jobs Campaign, The South African United National Anti-nuclear Mobilisation Initiative (TSUNAMI) comprising over 60 organisations; Coalition Against Nuclear Energy (CANE) comprising numerous community-based organisations, professionals and NGOs.

THE GUN & THE PEN by Stan Aneto

THE GUN & THE PEN – Stan Aneto 2013

My gun's got loaded 

my pen on the white paper of tears

should I be more concerned 

about animals and plants 

than humanity on a final push of extinction...?

They call me the earthman

Coined from an untamed affair with nature

an unscripted romance ordained by divinity

Long before my placenta was trimmed

it is a sacred calling to curate and caress

but should I be more concerned

about plants and animals

than humanity on a final push of extinction...?

The mind of poetry is insatiable

Bottomless like the pit of hell

Cos the issues on my table are endless

I am much worried about the shedding of blood

As I am worried about frequent flood

I am much worried about genocide

As I am worried about ecocide

I am much worried about nuclear warning

As I am worried about global warming

I am as much worried about mindless shelling

As I am worried about senseless tree felling

I am much worried about human rights

As I am worried about animal rights 

I am much worried about corruption

As I am worried about pollution

For I see the inordinate pursuit of riches

Increasing the scale of endangered species

The mind of poetry is insatiable

Bottomless like the pit of hell

So I bless my pen and paper

Artist Feature: Imke Rust

Keep an eye open for work by Imke Rust, who is making waves... Her work casts a critical eye on the controversial mining and industrial developments on the Namibian coast, and her exhibition showing this work has been rejected by the Swakopmund Arts Association due to it being labeled as "an irrelevant and scientifically dubious campaign against the economically important uranium mining in Namibia".  Rust works in a variety of mediums and techniques to express her views and raise awareness towards the concerns and feelings of the community. Find out more on her website: imkerust.com.

Dorob (NOT) 4Sale 2013

Temporary installation of 15 signs at 5 different locations along 

the C34 road in the Dorob National Park, Namibia.

Dimensions of Signs: 60 x 80cm

Correx Board, digital prints, spray paint, iron poles & cable binders

11 – 29 January 2013

Permanent webpage:  www.dorob4sale.wordpress.com and 

life cellular phone number with prerecorded answering message.

Read more about this work

 Subrosa 2012

Temporary Installation of 99 black roses in the Namib Desert

22° 43’ 01” S – 14° 33’ 47” E,  April 2012

Original Dimensions: 90 x 270 x270cm

Black rubbish bags, barbed wire, wire

Read more about this work

Tokoloshe Trap 2012

Temporary installation of 1521 white thorn pairs from the Acacia Karroo tree arranged into 39 circles in a side tributary of the Swakop river bed, Namib Desert.

22° 38’ 10” S – 14° 43’ 40” E, April 2012

Original dimensions: 5 x 600 x 250 cm

Medium: Acacia thorns

Read more about the inspiration behind this work

"Imagine the Unthinkable" installation by Strijdom van der Merwe

"Imagine the Unthinkable", Strijdom van der Merwe, Installation View, exhibited at Circa on Jellicoe, JHB. Photograph from the BEELD.

Land artist Strijdom van der Merwe created an art installation entitled "Imagine the Unthinkable" as part of his exhibition 'Drawing clouds in the Karoo' at Circa on Jellicoe, Johannesburg. The installation comments and expresses the effects or nature of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, planned for the arid and beautiful Karoo basin. Fracking entails drilling into the earth, and extracting natural gas from the shale layers by flushing a cocktail of chemicals and water down the shaft and into the rock layers to fracture the shale and release the gas captured in these layers. Strijdom's work makes use of maps of the actual sites for which drilling and fracking is planned, and uses sound as a device to accentuate the unnatural and disturbing nature of the process.

As with most industrial and mining processes, there is a lot of money to be made, and the companies who benefit from this have no qualms in doing what is needed to stake their claim and make their profits. At the cost of the environment, and the local people who need to live with the consequences - in this case the very high risk of contaminated ground water and reduced air quality caused by toxic pollution (particularly from the spent fracking fluid 'dams' and from cracks in the drilling shaft).

Van der Merwe does not perceive himself as a protest artist. His work usually rather enhances or encouarges an appreciation for nature's beauty. He aims to strengthen or accentuate the landscape's inherent beauty, and through this sometimes make people more aware about desertification, global warming and nature conservation. He often works in the Karoo, and therefore the risks or threat that fracking poses are a very real and personal matter.

Read more about the art installation:

• Stilte, skoonheid – en verset, on the BEELD website
• Review of Strijdom van der Merwe at Circa on Jellicoe by Ann-Marie Tully
• The fracking intrusion of a sacred space, by CHARLES LEONARD 

Read more about fracking in the Karoo:

• Treasure the Karoo Action Group: www.treasurethekaroo.co.za
• Greenpeace against Fracking
• Beginner's Guide to Fracking, on Karoo Space
• Fracking in the Karoo, by Cape Chameleon

Zapiro: www.zapiro.com

350 Moving Planet - Cape Town

"In Cape Town, a collection of green leaders have come together to create a massive event that will celebrate environmental successes while simultaneously demanding change from our leaders.

The Cape Town Moving Planet event will feature a huge march/parade with floats, costumes, puppets and more, with thousands of people, young and old, marching to make change. The event will seek to raise awareness of climate-friendly alternatives to damaging practices like driving your car, cutting down trees, and many other harmful actions. As fun and exciting as it will be, the event will also be a petition, demanding change in the policies and programs put forth by our government that damage the environment.

Alongside the march we will also be hosting an exciting bike ride to promote cycling as an active mode of transportation.

The event should be very exciting and seeks to represent all members of the Cape Town community. We would love it if you got involved, as we want this to be the most powerful and exciting event to date. We are still in the early planning stages of this event, so more specific details like the time and location are to come, but we are excited and hope you are too!"

For more information:

About the Moving Planet action day:
www.moving-planet.org/about
www.350.org

GET INVOLVED!

Event Page for the Cape Town event: www.moving-planet.org/events/za/cape-town/978
Facebook Page for the Cape Town event: www.facebook.com/pages/350-Moving-Planet-Cape-Town/137845456301050


Some of the amazing organisations represented by the people that have joined for this event so far:

• Project 90 by 2030
• Shikaya
• GreenPop
• Fairtrade South Africa
• ...350 Africa
• LitterAWEH!ness
• Anti-fracking Group
• WESSA
• Ecobuzz
• UCT Green Campus Initiative
• Public Health Movement (PHM)
• Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN)
• Cape Town Bicycle Map
• Green Your Art (GYA)
• Skateboarders Association
• UNIMA South Africa
• COPART
• Jungle Theatre Company
• Anglican Church

Anti-fracking Activists call for a National Boycott of Shell

An excerpt from the press release issued by Earthlife Africa Cape Town:

Earthlife Africa is calling for a nationwide boycott of all Shell service stations and all Shell products, from Tuesday 17th May – which coincides with Royal Dutch Shell’s AGM in the Netherlands, and is also, co-incidentally, the United Nation’s World Information Society Day - to show their displeasure at plans to “frack” large parts of our country.

“We ask people to go to their nearest Shell garage, NOT fill up, but ask to speak to the manager and say that they have nothing against the manager personally, but the company is carrying out plans that have potentially horrendous impacts on people and especially scarce water in our country,” said Andreas Spath, Earthlife’s
Anti-fracking co-ordinator.

Shell, the South African government and the natural gas industry portray shale gas as a climate-friendly, low-carbon energy source. In reality, however, preliminary studies have shown that if the entire carbon footprint, including methane (a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) escaping from fracking wells in substantial quantities, is taken into account, natural gas from this source contributes to climate change in a magnitude similar to oil and coal.

“Shell’s record in Africa should be cause for alarm”, said the Reverend Barry Wuganaale, of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum. “Not only for widespread and continuing environmental harm, but they have also acknowledged being complicit in the murder of activists opposing them in Nigeria. They cannot be trusted.”

Read the full press release here: http://www.earthlife.org.za/?p=1591



VALLEY OF DELINQUENCY, charcoal and pastel on paper.
Duncan Stewart
[See more of his work]

25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster

Illustration: Matt Davidson
Found here (read more about nuclear in Australia)

MEDIA RELEASE: 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster

A Salute to Radiation workers everywhere. - Japanese Consul to receive
messages of condolence and concern from local anti-nuclear groups.

The ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could not have come at a
more poignant moment. While the world's attention is focused on this
unfolding catastrophe we must remember to contextualise current events in
light of the past. The 26th of April, 46 days after the start of the ongoing
Fukushima nuclear crises, marks the 25th year after at similar disaster in
Chernobyl, Ukraine. How tragic to witness, 25 years on, a repeat of the
desperation that drives men and women into a working environment that they
know will kill them, with Chernobyl now being assessed as being responsible
for nearly a million deaths, and with the total fuel at Fukushima many times
that of Chernobyl. 1,760 tons of nuclear fuel versus just 180 tons at
Chernobyl, implying a potential impact some 10 times greater from the
current disaster is, but which is becoming more difficult to quantify as the
Fukushima accident is already ranked as a level 7 disaster which is where
the scale for such events ends.

Our hearts must go out to the "Fukushima 50". Four teams of 50 brave workers
who, on a daily basis, expose themselves to massive quantities of radiation
to help avert a total meltdown. Instead of learning lessons from the
Japanese experience before we aggressively pursue more nuclear options in
South Africa, government approved the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2) (that
will make nuclear power the single biggest contributor of new future
capacity to our national grid), within the first week of the Fukushima
disaster. This, when almost every other country with new nuclear build plans
are taking a step back, and indeed, reducing and cancelling such plans, as
in China and Germany.

"South Africa has an array of alternative, renewable energy supplies that
are cheaper, create more jobs, contribute less to climate change and don't
leave us with a multi-100,000 year waste legacy, said Muna Lakhani,
Earthlife Africa's Cape Town anti-nuclear spokesperson. "It is time that we
reawaken the spirit of the Struggle and remind ourselves that we do have the
power to shape our future."

"Around Fukushima Daiichi Station, on March 23rd, they measured 400
millisieverts - that's per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet
Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to
health, but he didn't explain what this means. All of the information media
are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are
exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from
outer space. But that's one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a
day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400
millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that
safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT
scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it," said
Hirose Takashi, well known author on the nuclear industry.

Independent scientists are warning, contrary to statements from the talking
heads on corporate media outlets who say Japan is not Chernobyl, that the
levels of radioactive material being released in from Japan's nuclear
fallout already rivals Chernobyl levels as at the end of March.



In a more local vein, Earthlife Africa's Cape Town branch secretary, Gray
Maguire, said: "Six months after 90 Koeberg workers were contaminated by
radioactive Cobolt-51, our leaders have yet to announce the names of the
members of the panel of inquiry supposedly convened to look into the
accident. What confidence do we have that even the current problems can be
resolved, far less the imposition of even more nuclear radiation, when the
alternatives are cheaper and create more decent work for our people?"

To this end, members of the media and of the public are invited to a number
of events in the run up to Chernobyl Day (26th April). Earthlife Africa Cape
Town will be hosting a number of events to raise awareness about the
outcomes of our recently approved IRP2; information linked to the global and
local nuclear industry and a way forward.

* 18th April - Monday (12:00pm to 14:00pm - Pier Square, Heerengracht Street, Cape Town, with handover at 1:00pm). - A demonstration of concern about the events at Fukushima, a commemoration of the legacy of Chernobyl, a protest against the IRP2 and the submission of statement of solidarity, of condolence and concern, to the Japanese Consul in sympathy with their plight. Activities include an art installation, music and related activities.

* 21th April - Thursday ( 12:45pm to 14:00pm at 6 Spin Street Cape
Town) "Investigating South Africa's nuclear goals" - by Gray Maguire -
Earthlife Africa Branch Secretary.

* 21st April - Thursday (6:15pm at the Labia on Orange) Screening of
the documentary "The Nuclear Comeback" with a facilitated discussion
afterwards.

This media release was written and issued by Earthlife Africa Cape Town:
Contact:
Muna Lakhani - 083-471-7276 or muna@iafrica.com
Gray Maguire - 084-3355778 or graymaguire@gmail.com

Contributing to the fracking fight

TKAG (Treasure the Karroo action group) are the people who are spearheading the fight to stop fracking in the Karoo. They need funding!

Please go and donate now - if you're really strapped, donate R50 or R100.

TRUST ACCOUNT FACILITY WITH GRAAFF-REINET ATTORNEY AND FOCUS GROUP MEMBER - MR DEREK LIGHT. (most of you saw him on Carte Blanche)

1. ALL FUNDS TO GO INTO THAT ACCOUNT WITH REFERENCE 'TKAG'
2. EXPENSES OUT OF THE ACCOUNT WILL BE SIGNED BY TWO FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS.
3.ANY CONTRIBUTOR MAY VIEW THE STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT AVAILABLE FROM ME ONCE A MONTH
4. ACCOUNT DETAILS:

DEREK LIGHT TRUST ACCOUNT
FNB GRAAFF-REINET
523-000-15065
BRANCH CODE 210-216
swift code: FIRNZAJJ

You can download a copy of the PDF that was handed over to parliament here:
http://www.acutherapy.co.za/images/KarooPolicyObjection%205%20April%200903%20(FINAL).pdf

No idea what 'fracking' is? Have a look at the Treasure the Karoo Action Group blog, or www.fractual.co.za. Also have a look in the latest newspapers.

Excerpt from Lewis Pugh's speech on NOT fracking in the Karoo

“Never did I think there would be a debate in this arid country, of what was more important: gas or water, we can survive without gas, but we cannot survive without water, if we damage our water supply, and fracking will do just that, we will have a conflict again here in South Africa. Look around the world; wherever you damage the environment, you have conflict. Fellow South Africans we have had enough conflict in our land, now is the time for peace... there are many here among us who do not want the dreams of our heroes to be rubbished by an amoral corporate giant. There are many here among us who do not want this—our hard-fought Constitution—treated as mere scrawls on a piece of paper."

- Lewis Pugh at the public meeting held by Golder and Shell about fracking (hydraulic fracture mining) in the Karoo, on Friday, 25 March 2011 at Kelvin Grove in Newlands, Cape Town.

Read the full speech here:
http://lewispugh.posterous.com/the-day-we-stood-up-to-shell-what-was-said-to

Or watch it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5PejoRGmBo

Want to know more?
Go to http://www.treasurethekaroo.blogspot.com/ and www.fractual.co.za

Yes, fracking IS a big issue.

By Dov Fedler on Africartoons.com

Rumour has it that documentary Gasland will be screened at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town on 21, 22 and 23 March. This documentary focuses on the environmental impact and behind-the-scenes-happenings around fracking, also known as hydraulic fracture mining, which is planned in our Karoo landscape.

There will also be a placard action in Cape Town around the same time, keep your eyes peeled and get involved! On Facebook, make sure to join and follow the Chase SHELL Oil out of the Karoo group, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=group_185633661460206&ap=1

....

So what's this fracking Karoo story?

This all quoted from the petition I just signed:

Large parts of South Africa's beautiful, but water-poor and ecologically sensitive Karoo region are under threat of being devastated by mining operations to extract natural gas using a controversial technique called hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking'.

During fracking millions of litres of water, sand and numerous chemicals most of which are toxic, carcinogic as well as teratogenic (they include benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), diesel fuel, naphthalene (moth ball) compounds, boric acid, arsenic, poly nuclear organic hydrocarbons, only to name a few of 500-odd chemicals used), are pumped into boreholes at high pressure to release natural gas (called shale gas) trapped in layers of underground rock.

In the USA, where fracking has been used extensively, there have been hundreds of documented cases of this process resulting in:

- catastrophic drinking water pollution;

- air pollution;

- health concerns for humans and animals; and

- general environmental degradation.

Right now, Shell and other international and local companies are preparing to explore tens of thousands of square kilometres of land in South Africa for natural gas exploration by fracking. Most of the area under threat is already extremely water-stressed and can not afford any water to be either wasted or contaminated by the fracking process which, once in full production, may involve tens of thousands of boreholes and billions of litres of water.

There is a growing groundswell of opposition to the use of fracking in South Africa by a broad coalition of farmers, environmental organisations and ordinary citizens.

Show your support for going against allowing SHELL to use fracking in the Karoo by signing the petition!





...

Climate and our oceans

Wow! Last week was a week to be remembered!! With the successful and inspiring commencing of the first Climate Fluency Exchange and the opening of Plastikos at the Two Oceans Aquarium, it was a week for our planet in Cape Town. Read more about the week at www.dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com


Participants during a creative expression session reflecting on the week's talks, realizations and thought, during the final day of the first COPART Climate Fluency Exchange (image from the COPART blog)

This week don't miss the Public presentation on 14 December: Meet 5 Gyres Institute founders Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, which will be held at 1pm at the Metropolitan Health Group and Qualsa Think Tank, Two Oceans Aquarium.

Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen (image from Two Oceans Aquarium)

I had a read this morning on Simon Bannister's blog. Here is an excerpt:

We have to move forward
It is the way
Round and round
Together we swim
Predator and prey ,
With every turn, the hunger burns
Yes and no, light and shadow.

Reflections true, in hope’s heart they flicker
The picture is complete but the pieces too many.
Scattered like dust, they swirl and fracture
shards of progress, fire moulded to desire.

These banished goods, now cast into the darkness
Broken and twisted, come back to haunt us.
Now, we gaze upon an alien world.
Poison in our spaceship dear, attacked by the virus of fear
The monster must be overcome, it’s treasure won.

Nature’s indifference, moves with the elements
Cause and reaction say, all is fair while forever at play
And where can we find common ground?
Oh yes, once more we swim around.

Read the rest on his blog: www.simontothemax.blogspot.com

...

Updates on COPART's first CFE

Go and have a look on www.dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com for daily updates about COPART's first Climate Fluency Exchange!

Check out CURB

From sandcastles to dirt-stenciling, Curb is doing advertising naturally. Here's a blurb from their What we Do page:

A natural media company

So what's the twig idea? We want to prove that effective and engaging media can be natural and sustainable. To realize our goal, we have a wealth of operational, media and production expertise in every natural material you can imagine. Whether it’s covering a building in flowers, building an exact replica of Windsor castle out of sand or creating a fully fledged amazonian forest in a city centre we can help advise on any creative brief and deliver it naturally and flawlessly.

Check them out at www.curbmedia.com
Let's do this in South Africa too!

First COPART Climate Fluency Exchange!

The first Connecting Our Planet & Re-imagining Together (COPART) Climate Fluency Exchange (CFE), scheduled from the 4th-10th December 2010, in Cape Town. The CFE aims to turn complex climate change information into accessible ways of knowing, as well as accessible practices in our lives. The CFE facilitates a transdisciplinary intersection between scientists and artists; activists and creatives as well as the general public.

This CFE is the first of seven scheduled between December 2010- December 2011, these are week-long social learning processes that facilitates creative and innovative participation and learning for artists, activists, scientists and the public. This event is also strategically scheduled to run concurrently with the COP16 climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. Activities, concepts, ideas, comments and other forms of communication will be sent to a parallel exhibition within COP16.

There will be interactive public activities scheduled for the weekend of the 4th-5th of December, which include public artworks and mobile installations/performances on trains, by the sea side, within the Company gardens and at Iziko Natural History Museum. The rest of the week we will offer a variety of different talks, presentations, film screenings & other showings of artworks/performances.

What makes this week different is that there will be facilitated artful processes that will encourage participants to explore various different artistic genres and "ways of knowing", the turn the information we will be exchanging, into real lived alternatives or practices.

If you would like to know more or find out details on how you can participate contact Dylan armadylan@gmail.com

The COPART CFE is kindly funded by:

Another CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

INFECTING THE CITY 2011: TREASURE

Seeking visual artists, designers, architects for a public arts project

Infecting The City – the Spier Public Arts Festival is themed ‘Treasure’ for 2011. The main aims of ITC are to turn the communal spaces of our City into stimulating, creative, truly public spaces, and to put socially engaged performance and art on the streets where they are accessible to everybody. The Festival (21 – 26 Feb), which gets high profile in the media, will overlap with the Design Indaba and will serve as a streetwise counterpoint to that event.

‘Treasure’ takes in various realms of preciousness: the weird and wonderful performance and musical expressions that underlie the rich cultural diversity of our society and that are seldom seen outside of the communities in which they originate; our heritage sites; and the barely visible workers that make the CBD function. A variety of artists are participating in these realms.

Another of the areas that we are drawing attention to is the vast quantity of valuable resources that are trashed in the City, resources that should be recycled and put to good use. Throughout the Festival week a large scale durational art happening will take place: a selection of artists from diverse backgrounds will work with discarded recyclable materials on the Cape Town Station Forecourt – a huge paved area traversed by thousands of people everyday. We are seeking artists who would like to join this project.

On the Station Forecourt on Monday 21 Feb garbage will be delivered from 5 different socio-economic zones (e.g. Constantia, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Observatory, the CBD). In advance we will have approached citizens in the 5 selected areas and mobilized them to sort their garbage into recyclable components for 2 weeks or so.

Hence we will get 5 lots of garbage that speak to the demographics of consumption and wastage, kind of like an archaeological / anthropological dig into cross-sectional sectors of contemporary Cape Town society. It should provide material for interesting observation and commentary: who uses what; what does it say about lifestyles, diets etc? These demographic ‘Slices of Life’ will comprise mounds of glass, hard plastics, soft plastics, paper, metal etc.

We are putting together a collective of 6 - 8 artists from different backgrounds and with different skills to intervene with the assembled matter. The artists can tackle whatever material they like, sometimes in collaboration with one another, sometimes individually. Turning the 25-odd piles of waste into individual works over the course of the week.

The concept for this intervention is still in development. We aim to build a nuanced, punchy, intelligent framework that is accessible and stimulating to people from all walks of life. As one of the artists working on this intervention we would require you to do some preparation. It is important that the creations made out of this junk are rooted in rich conceptual ground, that they speak to concerns and critiques about our wasteful lifestyles. We are linking up with COPART – a collective of local artists and activists working around issues of climate change and holistic modes of living – and are exploring how best to make this resource available to the participating artists.

As a participant you’ll have the opportunity to get out of your studio and make provocative, socially-engaged works for 5 ½ days with a bunch of creative people on a public square with the mid-February sun smiling upon you; to engage with spectators and curious passersby; to be part of a buzzing, ground-breaking festival; and to be paid for the privilege. Are you up for it?

If this appeals to you please contact me with a CV by Friday 22 October.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brett Bailey

Curator: Infecting The City

Email: brettbailey@thirdworldbunfight.co.za

SUCH amazing work!

Newly formed eco-art organization Such Initiative has launched “Tomorrow’s Joy”; a 100m2 recycled plastic bottle top mosaic, at Mary Fitzgerald Square on 18th September 2010. The 7 x 14m public artwork has been commissioned by Arts Alive and was made in conjunction with 8 community centers (including approximately 140 children and disabled adults) and 31 crafters from Johannesburg.

The artwork was made in 10 weeks beginning during the World Cup. It aims to use public art as a vehicle to learning about recycling and eco consciousness. Through the collection, cleaning, sorting and weaving of discarded plastic bottle tops, participants got a hands-on understanding of the value of recycling and the power of art. Such Initiative wanted to determine academically the shift in thinking and commissioned a social scientist and an environmental art education expert to investigate the lessons learnt by the participants. The findings from these reports show a clear change in their perceptions regarding waste. The reports are available www.suchinitiative.org.

The artwork is on display until 20 October 2010. The entire artwork can be recycled and is available for sale.

Such Initiative is a collaborative arts organization started by artists Usha Seejarim and Hannelie Coetzee. Their mission is to change perceptions through eco-conscious public art.

It's going to be a fun green weekend!

The "Nature-minded Expression" event for the 350 Work Party event on Sunday is self-regulated, self-initiated and self-managed. You as artist or performer are fully responsible for your own 'piece'. The venue is the Celebrate Life festival which will be held at the River Club in Observatory, Cape Town. Remember that a strict No-Trace, No-Harm policy is being adhered to, so leave no trace, mark or residue and also do no harm to people, festival stalls, property or the area. Other than that, have fun and create awareness!!

Also remember to wear GREEN!



PLEASE HELP!

I need your help and participation for Saturday and especially Sunday! We're setting up a small space where people can join in and make things from 'waste materials' especially empty plastic bottles, milk cartons and other food packaging. So what we need is the following:

- You, please commit an hour or more of your time
- Tools like scissors and pliers
- Lots of creative ideas
- And of course any materials that you think we can use!

Please contact ecojunki@gmail.com - your help is needed to make this a success!

For more info on the festival
www.celebratelife.co.za



HUMANEARTH Exhibition #1

If you missed the HumanEarth Brainstorming session at Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, don't worry, you can still participate in the first exhibition! Planned to open on 27 November 2010 in Cape Town, this exhibition will feature new as well as existing work by local artists focused around human interaction with our planet. Send your information, ideas or images of your art to Nastasha Daniels at nastasha797@gmail.com.