Gentle Actions: Art Ecology Action, Oslo

Samantha Clark is participating in 'Gentle Actions: Art Ecology Action' at the Kunsternes Hus Oslo which opens with a symposium event this weekend, 23rd October and will run until 14th November.

For more information about the exhibition, seminar programme, film screenings and events, go to http://gentleactions.wordpress.com/about/.

S.P.I.L.L./S.T.I.L.L. is the result of a three-way collaboration between Sam, the US-based artist Anne Katrin Spiess and Norwegian ecophilosopher Per Ingvar Haukeland (University College of Telemark).

Sam's contribution project S.T.I.L.L. is documented here and will be updated over the duration of the exhibition.

MashingUp: Art+Labour, 9th November, CCA Glasgow

Art+Labour is a public conversation exploring the conditions and experiences of creative labour in the cultural industries - working conditions, pay, working hours; freedom and autonomy, pleasure and obligation; insecurity and uncertainty; social reproduction, networking and isolation - and artists' organising within it - unions, artists' associations, or self-organised studio/exhibition spaces. What diverse forms of employment do artists undertake? Who are their employees? How secure and how flexible are these forms of employment? What are the conditions of employment and how are these changing? What can we say of artists' autonomy in relation to contemporary labour practices? How do cultural workers effectively organise around labour issues? What would it mean for artists to withdraw their labour in defence of conditions in one's primary or secondary employment? With successive governments' emphasis on arts' social function, how does communality express itself in competitive Creative Industries? What is industrial about the Creative Industries; where do 'Cultural' producers sit within the policy frame of the 'Creative' Industries? How do we as cultural producers recognise our own positions and dependency on/within/alongside the public sector? With the entrepreneurial restructuring of the arts in Scotland and in the face of selective public sector cuts throughout the UK, how constructive are artists' isolated appeals for a state of exception? What is so unique about artists in the social factory? These are some of the questions to be addressed during this public conversation. 

The discussion is open to anyone - cultural workers, artists, students, interns, precarious and self-organised labour affiliated to academia - concerned with issues of art, labour and economics. The event will begin with a series of short position statements from invited speakers followed by discussion among panelists and audience. 

Panelists include: 

Angela McRobbie Professor of Communications, Dept. of Media & Communications, Goldsmiths 

Scottish Artists Union The representative voice for artists in Scotland

Graham Jeffery Reader: Music and Performance, rhe School of Creative and Cultural Industries, UWS

Katarzyna Kosmala Reader, Centre for Contemporary European Studies, UWS 

Gesa Helms Researcher and artist


Brett Bloom Member of Chicago-based art collective Temporary Services who recently produced 'Art Work : A national conversation about art, labour, and economics' 

Owen Logan Researcher, School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen

Facilitated by Gordon Asher Effective Learning Tutor, UWS Centre for Academic & Professional Development

Event is free but ticketed, tickets available from CCA Box Office: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD tel : +44 (0)141 352 4900 http://www.cca-glasgow.com 

"MASHING UP" : Art+Labour is organised by Leigh French, co-editor of Variant, and Sophie Hope, member of Making A Living, in co-operation with Graham Jeffery of the School of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of the West of Scotland, and supported by CCA, Glasgow. 

 “MASHING-UP...” A Public Lecture Series presented by UWS and CCA This ongoing lecture series stimulates critical, transdisciplinary research communities to discuss advanced knowledge and to build networks of excellence among producer communities. ‘Mashing up’ [definition] "a mashup is a web page or application that combines data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service. The term mashup implies easy, fast integration...to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data" (Wikipedia, 2009). The lecture series exhibits the values of new media culture to explore synergies between institutions, ideas and disciplines. This aspiration originates with the UWS and CCA partnership, which extends to the specific areas of inquiry that we pursue. It advances the core mission of each organization to initiate applied, international research opportunities through experimental, local dialogue to foster collaborative, bottom-up, sustainable practices of development. #mashingup We want attendees to blog, photograph, film, tweet and do all they can to share the content of these talks to democratize access to knowledge.

"The visual imagination: across boundaries". UWS @ ACSA Conference, Bangkok.

Alessandra Campoli and Martino Nicoletti, both PhD candidates at UWS, will present a paper at the international conference organized by Asian Cultural Studies Association, at Assumption University in Bangkok (1-3 November 2010)
The 2010 conference theme is "The visual imagination: across boundaries"


Imagination has more than often been conceived of as an art of forming mental images, particularly in relation to objects and phenomena not completely perceived in reality. But if imagination resorts to images then does not the notion of the visual imagination imply a sense of redundancy? If, on the other hand, the word “visual” refers us to the sphere of sensory perception then how can we utilize the sense of sight to arrive at a realistic representation of illusion? In what sense then are images visual and in what sense are they imaginary?


These and similar questions, concerning the concept of imagination, the role of visual representation, or the use of images, have been addressed by artists and art theorists throughout the world. As a creative force, imagination has been integral in understanding individual artistic endeavours, seen as a key concept in aesthetics and art theory. And since art is a form of cultural expression, it is only natural to expect the visual imagination to abound in cultural connotations. This conference seeks to explore the connections between the visual forms of artistic expression and the concept of creative imagination across cultures.


Alessandra will present a paper devoted to the concept of ephemeral in Thai contemporary media arts. Martino will explore visual imagination in Nepalese shamanic rituals.

Document 8 International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival @ CCA Glasgow 26 -31 October

Document International Film Festival raises awareness of social justice issues at local and international levels.

On Wednesday 27th October 2010, 12-6pm students, filmmakers, artists,activists and academics will explore human rights issues addressing the questions of witnessing and representation.
Katarzyna Kosmala and Kirsten Mcleod will deliver workshop based sessions.
Katarzyna (3.40pm) will lead the session on representation of sex as labour in the context of New Europe: Making commodification more visible? and Kirsten (2.30pm) will deliver a workshop on community film and human rights locally.

We have a number of allocated tickets available. Please contact us if you would like to take part in the Student Forum.

Samantha Clark in Stromness: ecology/art/landscape

Last week Samantha Clark gave a presentation to the second forum meeting of
CORE (Creative Research into the Natural Environment) which was held
at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney 23rd September. The CORE
network, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, brings together
artists, writers, landscape architects, anthropologists and
scientists to explore creative responses to environmental change,
with a view to forging interdisiciplinary collaborative research
projects on the theme of 'Measuring the Environment: Morphology/
Mythology'. Also presenting in Stromness were Dr Jo Lee Vergunst,
anthroplogist based at the University of Aberdeen, Dr Richard Irvine,
anthropologist from the University of Cambridge, and (via Skype) David
Storch Leed, a young Inuit from the remote community of Rodebay,
North West Greenland.

Sam gave a presentation on her recent project 'A Year of Breathing'
which is leading onto a new project 'STILL' for Gentle Actions, a
series of art and ecology events at Kunsternes Hus, Oslo which will
take place next month. These interconnected projects explore our
personal and bodily relationship with global atmospheric carbon,
raise the issue of what we choose not to do, and explicitly value
stillness as a counterpoint to urgent calls for 'action' on
environmental concerns.

A Year of Breathing Blog site is here: http://
www.yearofbreathing.blogspot.com/

The blog site for Gentle Actions is here: http://
gentleactions.wordpress.com/about/
Watch this space as the project unfolds.

and more info here: http://weadartists.org/oct-23-nov-14-gentle-
actions-conference

While in Stromness, Sam also was a participating lecturer in a week
long international workshop for Landscape Architects. EMILA (European
Masters in Landscape Architecture) brought together students and
academics from five European institutions (in Spain, Germany,
Holland, France and Scotland) to explore and consider future
scenarios for the predicted rapid social and environmental change
facing the Orkney Islands as they develop new renewable energy
infrastructures.

Kirsten McLeod: screenings and events

Doctoral researcher Kirsten McLeod is presenting work at two events in October and November. As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, a short film Kirsten produced is being shown at GMAC/Streetlevel Gallery at Tron 103 on Thursday 7th October between 7-10pm. It's titled "Playtime" and is about  remembering and rediscovering the joys of childhood fun. The film is also part of the touring exhibition, Time Out: Arts Showcase and will also be screened at Cardonald Library on  14th October 1-7pm and Pollok Civil Realm: 21st,  1-7pm. There is also a photography exhibition, Mutter Shutter associated with the project. 

As part of the Viewpoints Community Film Festival, Kirsten is organising a Community Media Networking Day at CCA Glasgow on Thursday 18th November for practitioners and participants of community media to network, show their work and discuss issues surrounding community based media. It is a free event, between 12-6pm, with a showcase of young people's films in the evening produced by SWAMP and Plantation Productions. More details to follow, but if you are a community based filmmaker, or know of anyone who would like to take part or come along, do contact Kirsten at kirstenmac [at] clara.co.uk.

Ayr Alternative Arts Day, 25th September

We are working with our friends at Ayrtime and South Ayrshire Council to support Ayr Alternative Arts Day on Saturday 25th September. It features a number of UWS connections:  curated by doctoral researcher Chris Dooks, part of the day includes performances by Boy Angel Productions, a company set up by UWS graduates Lindalouise Martin and Dougie Grieg.  UWS Reader in Music and Performance Graham Jeffery will also be performing From the River to the Sea, an audio piece put together with sounds from the walk from the campus to the harbour in Ayr.

The day also includes readings from acclaimed authors Eleanor Thom, author of The Tin-Kin, Jason Donald, author of Choke Chain and Karen Campbell, author of The Twilight Time, After The Fire and Shadowplay.And artist Alex Norris will present his work on The Art of the Diary. Full information on the Ayrtime website.