Welcome to the first day of the course! Here’s a map of a 1 – 2km radius around Michaelis for reference.
Author Archives: Ralph
Class 5: Monday 4 March
Class crit of student groups’ first investigations and interventions on sites of their choice.
Class 4: Friday 1 March
Further individual discussions with student groups about their projects, with a first attempt at intervention to be executed over the weekend and presented in class on Monday.
References to project work
Some references to ideas and material that came up in the class’ first site investigations.
Cemetary project: Sky burials, including ref to vultures dying from pharmaceuticals etc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial, http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/solar-replaces-vultures-traditional-sky-burials-vultures-may-come-back.html and this looks like an interesting site in general: http://www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/02/vulture-club-tower-of-silence.html); The American Way of Death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death; and eco coffins.
Oak trees parking: tree-sitting and tree-spiking in the anti-logging and anti-roads movements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_sitting and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_spiking. See ‘monkey wrenching’ more generally: http://earthfirstjournal.org/subsection.php?id=2 and http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/Various_Authors__Ecodefense__A_Field_Guide_to_Monkeywrenching.html Re ecology and value, a resource is Henrik Ernstson’s work at UCT: http://www.rhizomia.net/#!/p/publication-list.html
Woodstock railway site: that washing power in a matchbox made me think of a recent article I read about how poor people in Cape Town buy food and supplies in very small quantities, in little packets for a few rands or cents, as all they can afford; also the alternative ways of valuing people, things and spaces than according to their economic output or consumption. Sorry no links yet! 🙂
Frog canal: performance artist Mark MccGowan pushing a peanut through London with his nose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McGowan_%28performance_artist%29; under road tunnels for wildlife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing and in pictures
Observatory wasteland: notions of alchemy and natural magic… in your later account of how you might use materials from the site, especially re melting and reforming waste glass, I thought of the toaster project (how to attempt to make something from available materials) http://www.thetoasterproject.org/ This relates too to one of my favourite metaphors for DIY replication of technology, a ‘cargo cult’ approach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
Noordhoek vlei: Mark Lombardi’s mapping techniques could be useful for showing the different groups involved in this issue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lombardi; Trevor Paglen is a geographer and artist who does investigative work http://www.paglen.com/; and I thought somehow of this project to make warning signs for nuclear waste that will be readable forever (there are many articles online about it)… http://www.salon.com/2002/05/10/yucca_mountain/
Green Info And Artists And The Environment Websites And Sources
Reply
Here are a few of the many sites on the environment that are now available to you to research – it is unlikely that you will be able to go through all of them during this project so pick a few, delve in and become informed and perhaps inspired, and use them as a jumpoff start to your own projects:
Climate Change info (accessible science):
- One of the newest (launched February 28, 2013!) is ‘Reality Drop’ from The Climate Reality Project, built to spread the truth and destroy denial around climate change. This is the REAL information from scientists’ decades of research, not government or corporations. Give it a try: https://realitydrop.org/?utm_source=ctrpnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch please note that because it is brand new you might experience difficulty getting onto the site.
- To get informed about climate change and be able to answer denialists go to this web site – thoroughly scientific but put together in a way that gives us all access to important information http://www.skepticalscience.com/
- *recommended: on this site you can get a very good description about global warming if you go straight to http://www.skepticalscience.com/big-picture.html
- http://www.ssireview.org/ a great site for new ideas about bettering our world) might prove a useful jumpoff point: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/environmentalism_refreshed_part_1?utm_source=SSRI+Environmentalism+Refreshed&utm_campaign=SSRI+Environmentalism+Refreshed&utm_medium=email
Activism:
- *recommended: http://350.org/ a growing global movement with great resources and a proven history of working with artists – good info packs for what to do in organising events and brainstorming ideas http://350.org/en/diy-creative-projects
- *recommended: Join in EarthHour coming up soon March 23: http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx
- http://www.avaaz.org/en/ Subscribe to Avaaz one of the most effective petition sites – it covers many issues, but often makes a specific contribution to environmental lobbies.
Specifically directed to African environmentalism:
- *recommended: http://www.naturerightsafrica.org/ and read the charter: http://www.naturerightsafrica.org/draft-charter.html
- http://www.africanrainforest.org/ note the Artists for Africa event in New York in April this year.
- Join EarthlifeAfrica at http://www.earthlife.org.za
- Join Wiserearth at http://www.wiserearth.org/
check out what is close to home in South Africa and Cape Town:
- *recommended: http://www.capetowngreenmap.co.za/ lots of info re what’s happening in CT in relation to green events and resources
- http://www.greenworks.co.za/ tips on how to be greener and work towards sustainability.
- *recommended: http://sustainourafrica.org/ large sustainability conference last year in CT – will be doing another one this year and will be looking for artists to contribute. Good resource for links to ‘Change Agents’ – local people who are contributing to change: http://sustainourafrica.org/change-agent-publication.html
- *recommended: http://www.urbansprout.co.za/ green directory on all things green and eco-friendly in SA.
- http://www.greenpop.org/ if planting trees is your thing.
- http://www.groundup.org.za/content/ocean-view-man-explains-how-he-lives-grid-0 goundup is a local news site that deals with all sorts of news (i.e it is not specifically environmental), but check this video for an inspirational story of a man from Ocean View who rigged up his own solar and wind electricity system.
- http://theshift.org.za/ more design-oriented but has a great toolkit for thinking about sustainable design.
- Join the Koeberg Alert Alliance: http://koebergalert.org
Art and Green issues:
- *recommended: http://www.tippingpoint.org.uk/ Based in the UK, but with a global network, it is dedicated to energising the creative response to climate change – it has a bias towards performance-based work. Examples of current projects and many web links.
- *recommended: http://www.capefarewell.com/ In 2001 the artist David Buckland created the Cape Farewell project to instigate a cultural response to climate change. Cape Farewell is now an international not-for-profit programme based in the Science Museum’s Dana Centre in London. It has done many powerful projects with artists. Check out their current art projects at http://www.capefarewell.com/art.html
- http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGcNIsysuI guerilla gardening Joburg 50/50
- http://dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com/ created for COP17 in Durban (2011) what South African artists contributed (and continue to contribute) to creating awareness around environmental issues.
- Check out Joe Zammit-Lucia the ‘Intersectionist’: http://theintersectionist.com/ Joe explores the relationship between growth, sustainability, and the environment within cultural frameworks. His interest is in cross-disciplinary approaches that re-imagine ‘conservation’ and ‘environmentalism’. How do we make ‘environmentalism’ itself more effective and sustainable in the 21st century? On his site he has a blog: http://www.thethirdray.com/ – a blog about artists and the environment – while the commentary is a bit naïve, there is a great list of artists engaged with environmental issues including some we may not generally think of environmentally concerned such as Al Weiwei, Gary Hume and Damien Hirst. You can also check out the little know environmental pieces in Banksy’s production. Finally, given that environmentalists often have a doom and gloom message, it might be useful to check out Joe’s more upbeat take on what has been and is being done: http://theintersectionist.com/2013-reasons-to-be-cheerful/
COP (conference of the Parties)
- Websites dedicated to COP (Conference of the Parties) – the annual UN meeting on climate change with world governments.
http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/ all about COP 15 in Copenhagen (2009) when South Africa entered the debate. There is a section on SA in the site: http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/climate-change-south-africa.html
http://dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com/ created for COP17 in Durban (2011) what South African artists contributed (and continue to contribute) to creating awareness around environmental issues.
Class 3: Thursday 28 February
Ralph was available in the project room from 2 – 5pm for questions and feedback.
NOTE: tomorrow, Friday, I will only be available from 1pm – 3.30pm
Wasteland Twinning
We looked at the website for the international ‘Wasteland Twinning‘ project on the second day of the course, as a possible reference for creative investigation of urban wasteland sites – particularly the ‘Methods‘ section.
Class 2: Wednesday 27 February
Students were asked about their motivations for joining the class – what is their engagement with environmental issues?
Virginia gave a presentation of contemporary art with environmental themes.
We discussed as a class current news about environmental issues, and wrote these up on the board. Issues ranged from food to pollution, gentrification and consumerism.
whiteboard issues
The first assignment was set: to investigate an ‘urban wasteland’ or peripheral zone where the ‘natural’ and artificial combine. We looked at photos from last year’s investigation of an abandoned boat yard in Woodstock, attempting to ‘read’ what we saw. We also visited the website for ‘Wasteland Twinning‘, which has a methods section that students could draw on for creative ways of investigating their site.
Students will work over Thursday, Friday and the weekend, and bring creative documentation of their investigations to the rest of the class on Monday at 2pm.
Boat yard
Class 1: Tuesday 26 February
A brief introduction to the course. We broke early to go to Candice Breitz’s presentation at Michaelis.
Classes 11 – 20: 17 – 30 April
The second 2-week block of the course largely involved student groups executing their final projects, reporting on their progress in class, and engaging in feedback with the course lecturers and other students. This block culminated in the display of documentation and a group crit of their final projects in the shared project room at Michaelis. These final projects were re-exhibited in the project room for examination a few weeks later – documented under ‘Final projects‘ on this site.
Midway break
The first 2 weeks of the class are now past, with students having made their midway presentations. The next 2 weeks of classes starts on Tuesday 17 April. Students will come to the first class equipped with plans for a 2-week programme of work to execute a more fully developed intervention.
Koeberg alert
This group dressed in ‘radiation suits’ and handed fliers to motorists in rush-hour traffic at the edge of the 16km exclusion zone around Koeberg nuclear power station, asking how they’d manage if an evacuation was in process.
The group shows documentation of their intervention.
Andre’s farm
This group created a site-based audio tour which presented different perspectives on ‘Andre’s farm’, an informal farm on the slopes of Signal Hill.
The group presents their work on Andre's farm.
Tree sanctuary
This group made a sculpture from waste fabric around a group of ‘stone pines’, marking them out as a particular species of alien vegetation which is not harmful to the local environment.
The group presents documentation of their suspended circular sculpture.
Ice wall
This group proposed an ice wall encased around a sign warning of the time left before sea levels rise to the level of the site they placed it at in Cape Town.
The group shows their prototype for making an ice-encased warning sign.
Class 10 – Midway presentations: Monday 12 March
Students presented the work they did over Friday, Saturday and Sunday executing interventions on their sites. Their presentations and projects at this midway point are documented under ‘Midway presentations‘ in the menu above.
Kony 2012
Kony 2012 – Students brought up the current (in March 2012) ‘Kony 2012’ viral internet campaign, possibly the most successful internet meme yet. It is an example of both the potential to reach vast audiences, and of the risks in the kinds of messages transmitted in this way, as controversy around the campaign demonstrates. It is worth noting that while the internet can be a way of spreading messages with little to no cost to the producer, a lot of money went into crafting this meme.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/09/kony2012-video-70m-hits?newsfeed=true
http://innovateafrica.tumblr.com/post/18897981642/you-dont-have-my-vote
Class 9: Friday 9 March
Students were free to work on their project today, and were assigned to execute more fully developed interventions at their sites over the weekend, for presentation Monday.
Class 8: Thursday 8 March
Students continued conceptualising, planning and giving form to their projects.
Ralph gave a short presentation introducing the idea of ‘circuits’ and ‘critical vehicles’ in artistic intervention, drawing from the Brazilian artist Cildo Meirele’s work ‘Insertions into Ideological Circuits’, and artist-designer Krzysztof Wodiczko’s work designing ‘Critical Vehicles’. We were interested in ways of communicating to audiences, and how messages might be delivered to them. Students can download the presentation ‘audiences_etc.pptx‘.
Cildo Meirele's Coca-Cola project from his series 'Insertions into Ideological Circuits' (1970s)
The presentation included an example of the viral spread of projects now possible through the internet, looking at Jonah Peretti’s Nike Sweatshop email saga. Students also brought up the current ‘Kony 2012’ ‘meme‘ as an example of the potentials and risks in the viral spread of information.
Class 7: Wednesday 7 March
We continued work on developing student projects in our work space, brainstorming ideas.
In the second half of the class, post-doctoral student and researcher at the African Centre of Cities (ACC), Henrik Ernstson gave a presentation of his work, principally around the Princess Vlei location in Cape Town. Henrik has previously worked with design students in making ‘cosmopolitical experiments‘ in spaces of urban nature in the city.
Class 6: Tuesday 6 March
Today we occupied our work studio, and students began sketching plans and gathering references to put up in the space, alongside a map of the Cape Town area with their sites marked on it.
In the second half of the class we watched the first hour of ‘The Corporation‘, which explains the environmental damage caused by our economic systems, especially the structure of the modern corporation. An important concept to grapple with is the idea of how we ‘value’ environmental goods, and the risks of reducing this to monetary value in order to acknowledge them. The idea of the ‘commons’ was raised.
Class 5: Monday 5 March
This class was mostly spent on review of work done over the weekend, as students located their sites and tried out their first ‘sketches’. We’ll post some more documentation of this.
Class 4: Friday 2 March
Visiting Swedish artist Paula von Seth presented her work to the class. Paula was in Cape Town as part of a multidisciplinary group, including artists, looking at environmental projects here. Her own practice draws on interventionist art practice, teasing out subtle human interactions around trust, relationships and humour. Her work was useful to this course in demonstrating ways in which art can do work in the world, interrogating and communicating to a public. A past residency of hers: http://www.gasworks.org.uk/residencies/detail.php?id=306
Students divided themselves into groups of 3 to 4 people, and were assigned work over the weekend: to find a site and respond to it, intervening in ways which engage with environmental issues and urban nature. Documentation of this work due on Monday 5 March.
Class 3: Thursday 1 March
We undertook two site visits in this class, one to a derelict site in Woodstock – an old boat yard – the other to the landscaped Greenpoint Urban Park. Students were asked to list all elements in both spaces, considering what seemed ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’. Our intention was to complicate our ideas of what is ‘natural’ or ‘nature’. Students also photographed the sites.
In our discussion after the site visits, students spoke about the differences between the two spaces, and how each could be considered ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ in their own ways. The Greenpoint park presented an obvious, perhaps ‘idyllic’ natural space, with a biodiversity garden, many trees and plants, birds and so on – but in its order and formality it was ‘unnatural’ in comparison to the ‘natural’ chaos of the Woodstock site. The derelict Woodstock site had more synthetic or manufactured, ‘unnatural’ elements in it, being filled with old boat hulls, bits of rope, paper, fragments of wood, broken roof tiles, and so on. It didn’t present an idyllic ‘nature’; but in its disordered mix of unnatural with ‘natural’ elements – grass and trees growing up through the detritus, natural forms taking over or reclaiming the synthetic space: in this way it was a natural space.
Our intention was not to elevate one site over the other, but to understand how the meaning of what is ‘natural’ shifts according to its definition. We also spoke about the possible attraction to artists of derelict spaces, with the exciting sense of trespass in investigating them – which are perhaps different criteria to other citizens’ use of space. Of interest to us too was questions of audience and access; who could be targeted in each space? And we spoke about how an interventionist approach to each space might work: what are the affordances of each space, and how might an artist mimic, subvert or amplify elements of each space.
The Interventionists
The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere – A widely-cited exhibition of contemporary interventionist art and design work curated by Nato Thompson and Gregory Sholette at the MASS MoCA in 2004: “Over the course of the 1990s, the term “intervention” was increasingly used by politically engaged artists to describe their interdisciplinary approaches, which nearly always took place outside the realm of museums, galleries and studios. A decade later, these “interventionists” continue to create an impressive body of work that trespasses into the everyday world — art that critiques, lampoons, interrupts, and co-opts, art that acts subtlety or with riotous fanfare, and art that agitates for social change using magic tricks, faux fashion and jacked-up lawn mowers”. An imperfect proof of the exhibition calogue can be downloaded for free along with other essays on Gregory Sholette’s website.