Announcement of 2019 Nick Reeves Award to WATERWEEK
We are delighted to make the 2019 Nick Reeves Award for arts and environment to WATERWEEK, in recognition of the achievements of the project led by Clare Whistler and Charlotte Still over the past six years in East Sussex and its continuing imaginative impact. The judges were particularly impressed by the breadth and depth of their inventive commitment to issues of rivers in the landscape, public awareness of water management and the poetics of water. They commended the project's ethical and collaborative principles, and its creative empowerment of the community.
WATERWEEK 2019. ‘Silent Science’ comedy performance piece by Boot Puppet Theatre on Eastbourne beach. Photo Charlotte Still
This Award is organised annually by CIWEM's (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) Arts and Environment Network in association with CCANW, in celebration of outstanding contributions in the field of environmental arts. Details of previous awards can be seen on the CIWEM website, you can download their press release and read a copy of their latest magazine.
COP26 and the World Congress of Soil Science, Glasgow 2020-22
Next March, CCANW is embarking on an ambitious arts programme with several new partners, and spanning two major UK environmental conferences to be held in Glasgow. The first, in November next year, COP26 – the UN climate change summit – promises to be the most important gathering on climate change since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015. The WCSS, hosted by the British Society of Soil Science, follows in July/August 2022. Though focussed on Scotland, we hope to deliver activities elsewhere in the UK.
Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow
Because of our experience of 'Soil Culture', which became the UK's most significant contribution to the UN International Year of Soils (2015), our focus during these years will be on SOILS. Soil health and climate change are intrinsically linked and soils are the second largest carbon sink after our oceans. Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns around the world lead to serious soil erosion and loss of carbon.
However, in the UK, the latest 'State of Nature' report finds that, even more than climate change, it is agricultural management that has had 'the greatest single impact upon nature over recent decades, with the greater majority of that impact being to drive species populations downwards'.
CCANW would welcome contact from artists other arts organisations interested in participating in activities around COP26 and the WCSS.
Science Walden: Emergency Response Time symposium, Dartington
Our research project with Science Walden, the transdisciplinary research group based at Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology (UNIST) in South Korea continues.
Please join us on November 15 for Emergency Response Time, a one-day symposium exploring how artists are working with collaborators from many disciplines to explore issues around climate and the planet in their work. The day will be structured loosely to allow for contributions from many delegates; the day will also feature research and projects currently underway from the teams selected to participate in the residency happening immediately prior to this event. The symposium takes place at Dartington Hall (Devon); booking and more information.
We are also working on a book, Climate, Culture and Community, featuring work across disciplines and cultures addressing how art can contribute to the climate debate. If you believe your work could be included, please contact Richard Povall.
Read more about Richard Povall and art.earth here
The Water We Want: WAMU-NET 1st Youth Prize Contest
Children and young participants worldwide are invited to work collaboratively within their schools and colleges and submit a photograph, drawing or short video for a chance to be featured in a global on-line exhibition, and win one of the six final cash prizes. There are 2 age groups, 6-12 and 13-18 years, and we are looking for novel ideas and perspectives on the importance of our water heritage and its relation to climate change – the theme of UNESCO World Water Day 2020.
CCANW has been involved with the Global Network of Water Museums (WAMU-NET) since 2017 and is an associate member which advises on the arts. Any educational institution in the area of the South-West is welcome to write to us for further details. Deadline for final submissions to CCANW 15 March.
You can read the latest news from another WAMU-NET member, Sara Ahmed of the Living Waters Museum in India.
Arts Council England urged to declare climate emergency Culture Declares Emergency, a collective of over 200 individuals and organisations in the arts and cultural sectors, including CCANW, has criticised shortcomings in ACE's draft 10 year strategy which 'neither addresses the urgency of the climate and ecological emergency, nor grasps the chance to trumpet boldly the pivotal role arts and culture play in bringing about societal changes'. ACE's final report is expected in December.
You can see a video of Extinction Rebellion's Bath Rebels staging a powerful 'Drowning in Oil' action outside the Government Oil and Gas Fiscal Summit in London on 11 Oct .
Bath Spa University – opening of new Locksbrook campus
BSU's spectacular new campus on Locksbrook Road opened earlier this month, based on the Herman Miller furniture factory originally designed by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 1976, and now providing state-of-the-art facilities for the Schools of Art and Design. A first exhibition in their new gallery shows the work of the winners of the 2019 Porthleven Prize, continuing until 2 December open daily 10am-5pm. Future exhibitions include Lost for Words: John and Astrid Furnival. Further details
CCANW is developing several new collaborations with BSU led by its Research Centre for Environmental Humanities and involving its MA in Curatorial Practice. Over the Summer, a student of Media Communication has been helping to develop our press and media database.
The following free public lectures take place at the BSU Newton Park campus:
DIRtywork, performance lecture by Rosalind Crisp, 13 Nov.
Whale falls, suspended ground, and extinctions never known. Michelle Bastion, 11 Dec.
'If only more artists were following the ‘ecological lines’ laid out in this important book. It combines acute critical commentary, scientific analysis, and in-depth responses from artists whose innovative works and lives offer fresh approaches to so-called civilisation’s greatest challenges, from local to global.' Lucy R. Lippard(writer, activist, curator)
Oliver Ressler, video still from 'Everything’s coming together while everything’s falling apart: Ende Gelände / End of the Road'.(12 min. 2016). Featured in the book.
