artlink magazine vol 25 no 4

Ecology: Everyone's Business
Vol 25 no 4

http://www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=2224
Art in relation to the environment and ecology engages a distinct subgroup of artists around the world. They deal with waste and obsolescence, water, air and earth, health and toxicity. Eco-warrior artists work with science, technology, farming, water resources, recycling industries, health, to make art which communicates the urgency of action on climate change. This issue includes the recent work of
Gregory Pryor, Michael Harkin, Ken Yonetani, Melissa Hirsch, Liz Woods, Lloyd Godman, Ian Hamilton, Bronwyn Wright, John Dahlsen, Ann Wizer, Alice Crawford and Chris Mulhearn.
The 'green architecture' sector is critiqued by eco-architects Paul Downton and Emilis Prelgauskas and there is discussion of how the art sector as a whole needs to address the environmental impact of its activities.
A social ecology where artists led by Jean Bojko work with the populations of small, neglected villages in France gives another perspective on what art can be and do.

Ecology Network
Joni Taylor, feature
Free soil http://www.free-soil.org is an international collaboration of artists, activist, researchers and gardeners who take a participatory role in the transformation of our environment. Founded in 2005 by Amy Franceschini (USA) Stijn Schiffeleers (Belgium), Nis Romer (Denmark) and Joni Taylor (Australia), it aims to foster discourse, develop projects and give support for art practices that reflect and often change the urban and natural landscape by working on issues such as sustainability, environmental art and greening cities.


Picturing Climate Change
Simon Torok, feature
CSIRO science writer Simon Torok summarises the facts about how global warming is affecting every one of us in Australia. The marks of climate change, so far, are less tangible and Torok proposes that it is the challenge for art and science to help people see it. Torok initiated a project during his time in England which aimed at bringing art and climate science together through the use of objects and images to visualise our future climate and in turn provoke a strong emotional response amongst audiences.

Ecology: Everyone's Business
Art in relation to the environment and ecology engages a distinct subgroup of artists around the world. They deal with waste and obsolescence, water, air and earth, health and toxicity. Eco-warrior artists work with science, technology, farming, water resources, recycling industries, health, to make... More »
Browse Vol 25 no 4 | Purchase back issue


Adelaide and Beyond
Thinkers, artists, regional arts, art in schools, human rights, biotechnology, environmental art, youg artists in Adelaide. Cover by Kristian Burford. Guest editor Stephanie Radok.... More »
Browse Vol 24 no 1 | Purchase back issue


Taking in Water
Artists are focusing on water as a subject from environmental, political and social perspectives as well as aesthetic. In recent years there have been many exhibitions and projects around water, wind, weather, irrigation systems, pollution, tides, waste, threats to waterways, and the nature of islan... More »
Browse Vol 21 no 1 | Purchase back issue


Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Guest editor Hannah Fink. There is a current of nausea running through this issue...yet this queasiness has perhaps more to do with a dis-ease with the manner in which we take our pleasures than the creative impulse itself. Food as cultural history, cookbooks, artists as cooks, artists' recipes, be... More »
Browse Vol 19 no 4 | Purchase back issue


Public Art in Australia
The last issue looking at public art was in 1989. Since then the act of putting an artwork into the public arena has become a theatre of conflict, misunderstanding and mismatch of expectations of the parties involved. Issues of community consultation, funding, location, relevance, corporate policy... More »
Browse Vol 18 no 2 | Sold Out


Art & the Spirit
Wide-ranging responses to issues of spirituality in the visual arts. Looks at the role of indigenous art and its relationship to land. Examines significant contemporary exhibitions addressing art and the spirit. ... More »
Browse Vol 18 no 1 | Sold Out


Culture/Agriculture
Looking at the Landscape, the cultural meanings of what we grow, region = bioregion, botany and the body, farming as art, bush tucker as well as reviews of exhibitions and books make up this feast of an issue. ... More »
Browse Vol 15 no 1 | Sold Out


Thinking Craft, Crafting Thought
A special issue which in arguing the old art/ craft debate is proposing usable theories for practice. What is the future for craft? Re-evaluating 'women's work', craft, science and technology. Reviews... More »
Browse Vol 12 no 2 | Purchase back issue


Art, Architecture & the Environment
Special issue. Art as conservation of natural and built environments, art as ecology, new alliances, eco-design, autonomous houses, ecopolis, earth building, housing co-operatives, collaborative designs, sustainable cities. Great articles and photos.... More »
Browse Vol 11 no 4 | Sold Out

Full Articles in Vol 25 no 4
Editorial
By Stephanie Britton
— More »
Artrave
Artrave by Edblog
— More »
Ecology: Everyone's Business
Editorial by Stephanie Britton
What does the onset of climate change mean to an artist today? We have known about species extinction for decades, and the death of ecosystems; artists whose work evolved around these issues first emerged during the sixties. — More »
Black Death: Species Extinction in WA
Feature by Gregory Pryor
After 25 years of living in Victoria, Gregory Pryor's rediscovery of and new found appreciation for the Australian landscape came about due to his relocating to Perth. Subsequent to this profound experience whereby he felt he was viewing the Australian landscape for both the first and last time, Pryor set out to create a body of work which entailed around 200 detailed drawings made from the Western Australian Museum's archives. Through detailed examinations of individual flowers and specimens, Pryor was able to metaphorically travel across a huge amount of Australia and locate specific relationships between these flowers and the lands ancient human inhabitants. — More »
A Silent Walk: The Sculpture of Stephen Hart
Review by Louise Martin-Chew
QUT Art Museum, Brisbane 4 August - 23 October 2005 — More »
Adam Cullen: Maintaining the Rage
Review by Tracey Clement
Adam Cullen: Maintaining the Rage Kaliman Gallery, Sydney 1 - 24 September 2005 — More »
Alex Spremberg: Paint-Works
Review by Ted Snell
Gallerie Dusseldorf, Perth 25 September - 16 October 2005 — More »
Brook Andrew: Hope & Peace
Review by Penny Craswell
Stills Gallery, Sydney, 3 August – 3 September 2005 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 5 July – 7 August 2005 Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, 23 November – 18 December 2005 — More »
David Martin: In Visible Light
Review by Briony Downes
Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Tasmania 8 July - 7 August 2005 — More »
Flux2: New Art from Western Australia
Review by Ric Spencer
Flux2: New Art from Western Australia Brendan Van Hek, Ben Sullivan, Bennett Miller, Helen Smith, Pilar Mata Dupont and Tarryn Gill Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth 18 September - November 2005 — More »
Mark Siebert: Out of Circulation
Review by Stephanie Radok
Downtown Artspace, Adelaide 7 - 24 September 2005 — More »
National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition 2005
Review by Elvis Richardson
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 15 July - 9 October 2005 — More »
Red Shoe Delivery Service
Review by Juliet Peers
Melbourne International Arts Festival George Adams Gallery, the Arts Centre and various locations around Melbourne 7 - 22 October 2005 — More »
South Australian School of Art International Drawing Conference: Drawing is Everything
Review by Sera Waters
South Australian School of Art International Drawing Conference Drawing is Everything Adelaide 4 September - 9 October 2005 Ruth Hadlow: Patternbook South Australian School of Art Gallery Dialecticaline Prospect Gallery Drawing is a Verb Adelaide Central Gallery2 — More »
Space Between Words: A Collection of Subjective Narratives
Review by Timothy Morrell
Queensland Centre for Photography 17 September – 16 October 2005 — More »
Trudi Brinckman: White Plastic Cup
Review by Sharon East
Trudi Brinckman: White Plastic Cup Kelly's Garden Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart 24 - August - 30 September 2005 — More »
White Noise
Review by Luke Jaaniste
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne 17 August - 23 October 2005 Curated by Mike Stubbs — More »

EcoTV: A South Australian Experiment
John Harris, feature
As part of the 2005 Adelaide Film Festival, the inaugural EcoTVC competition for a 30-second television commercial was held to create greater public awareness of key environmental issues. The winner was Peter Miller, a 22-year-old superannuation administrator and writer whose entry showed people hopping around dressed ridiculously as endangered native animals. The commercial ended with the slogan "You'll appreciate the real thing...once they're gone", together with a final shot of a Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby as an example of the real thing that could become extinct.

Artists' Footprints
Richard Smith, feature
Smith offers some suggestions for those interested in the ecological (and social) sustainability of an art work and introduces the notion of 'EarthLabel' as a way of making artworks ecologically and socially accountable - and maybe even more marketable. For more information visit: www.myfootprint.org

Drought and Art: 10% and Falling
Jennifer Lamb, feature
On 2 July 2005 Goulburn Regional Art Gallery held a community forum to discuss the water crisis in the region. The all-important forum only happened because of art, or more specifically because Goulburn Regional Art Gallery had organised the exhibition Water Works of 16 regional artists' works about water sustainability and survival. Gallery director Jennifer Lamb tells the hair-raising story of a town learning to do without water and the role of artists in coming to terms with this.

From the River to the Source: Lloyd Godman's Ecological Explorations
Lawrence Jones, feature
Lloyd Goldman's twin careers of serious and successful organic gardener and practising artist of great creative energy converge in new and constantly surprising ways to make art about the ecological concerns that underly his gardening. Over almost three decades his art has widened out from relatively traditional landscape photography to include elements of performance, audience participation art and multimedia installation to explore the tensions between electronic consumer society and the ecosystem.

Overtaken by Glaciers: The State of Eco-Architecture
Paul Downton Emilis Prelgauskas, feature
Downton and Prelgauskas are advocates for ecological architecture and urbanism and through this article explore a little of what is happening in Australian architecture and compare overseas experiences. Australian progress in the art of ecological living has been fairly slow and although it hasn't matured yet, this article is optimistic in its exploration of some of the encouraging signs. What is missing they say is sufficient enlightened clients and a culture that is ecologically attuned to the artful songs of the biosphere.

Remediation as art with Gavin Malone
Author & Artist: Ms Stephanie Radok, feature
For a decade the art practice of Gavin Malone has been concerned with ecological rehabilitation and cultural interpretation. A former grazing property and thus a degraded ecosystem, the 185 ha property belonging to fellow artist Greg Johns overlooking the plains of the River Murray, has been transformed into what Malone suggests is not just a sculpture park with a Landcare project but actually reconceptualises art as ecology.

XSProject: From the (Dirty) River
Ann Wizer, feature
Artist Ann Wizer has been on a mission to protect the environment and reduce poverty in South-East Asia for many years. She has battled against indifference of the most callous variety. Undaunted she continues to find creative solutions to make a difference. Here she shares the trials and tribulations of working long-term and hands-on with consumer waste in Jakarta - complete with the stench of landfill.