Cape Farewell - Floating Lab

Cape  Farewell  Founder  and  Director  David  BucklandIn  existence  since  13  yearsBased  in  London,  opera;ng  interna;onally

Presenta;on  by  Nina  Horstmann

Cape  Farewell  was  the  first  organised  cultural  ini;a;ve  to  recognise  that  the  stories  that  we  tell  about  climate  change  and  ourselves  can  unlock  human  poten;als  in  ways  that  science,  poli;cs  and  economics  cannot.  It  has  been  in  the  vanguard  of  the  gathering  impetus  to  re-­‐think  climate  change  as  an  opportunity  for  cultural  reorienta;on  –  and  it  has  done  so  in  ways  that  scien;sts,  engineers  and  linear  thinkers  find  hard  to  do.

Professor  Mike  Hulme,  School  of  Environmental  Sciences,  University  of  East  Anglia  (Author  of  ‘Why  We  Disagree  About  Climate  Change’)

A catalyst of change through expeditions, art and engagement.

We map a new territory through story telling.

So  far  we  lead  12  expedi;ons  (ten  to  the  Arc;c,  one  to  the  Andes  and  one  to  Scotland;  two  of  these  were  youth  voayges)  and  engaged  over  180  ar;sts,  scien;sts  and  other  crea;ve  minds.  

Expedi;ons  as  beginning  of  collabora;ons  between  ar;sts  of  all  disciplines,  scien;sts,  academics  and  other  crea;ve  minds.

Cape  Farewell  explores  what  values,  prac;ces,  models,  dialogues,  metaphors,  iconographies,  languages  can  teach  us  to  live  together,  beXer?  

S;mula;ng  new  thinking  across  disciplines  and  finding  new  ways  of  communica;on  and  reach.  (Image:  Ice  Lense,  Ackroyd&Harvey,  2005)

Cape  Farewell  has  been  the  driving  force  behind  exhibi;ons,  concerts,  books,  films,  public  events,  comedy  gigs,  fes;vals,  poetry  projects,  youth  projects,  university  projects,  art  commissions,  residencies,  workshops,  research  projects,  musicals,  gardening  projects  and  novels.  

Ian  McEwan,  Solar  (Novel)

Alex  Hartley,  Nowhereisland,  2005-­‐2012

Max Eastley, Installation - Ice Garden, 2006 (Oxford, UK)

Clare Twomey, Blossom, 2007 (Eden Project, Cornwall, UK) - followed by the Slow Art Project at Eden

Billboards  and  public  screens  in  Toronto  (Gentle  Reminder  by  Shad  &  Vanishing  Glaciers  by  James  Balog),  2012

High  Arc;c  by  United  Visual  Ar;sts,  Na;onal  Mari;me  Museum,  London,  2011

Unfold  low-­‐carbon  touring  exhibi;on  to  Vienna,  London,  Chicago,  New  York,  Newlyn,  Newcastle,  Liverpool,  Beijing  and  Nanjing

Unfold  engagement  programme  (New  York)

Art  universi;es  and  the  next  genera;on  of  ar;sts.

Partnerships  with  Arts  Council  England,  Bri;sh  Council,  Na;onal  Oceanography  Centre,  World  Health  Organisa;on,  Southbank  Centre,  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  (London),  Natural  History  Museum  (London)Science  Museum  (London),  Na;onal  Mari;me  Museum  (London),  University  of  the  Arts  (London),  Columbia  College,  University  of  Chicago,  MaRS  (Toronto),  COAL  (Paris),  Department  of  Energy  &  Climate  Change  (UK)  and  many  more.  

Sea  Change.  A  4  year  programme  of  explora;on,  art  and  engagement  in  Scotland.  

Sea  Change  is  evolving  on  Scotland’s  islands  because  island  communi;es  and  ecologies,  just  like  boats,  offer  both  palpable  and  symbolic  evidence  of  the  reality  of  resource  constraint;  the  rela;onship  between  needs  and  limits  that  is  in  the  end  the  stuff  of  climate  change.  These  islands,  in  par;cular,  with  their  histories  of  change  and  exchange,  their  exposure  to  natural  forces,  their  deep  human  histories  and  their  rich  and  fragile  ecologies,  remind  us  that  the  we  face  the  same  challenges,  at  different  levels  of  scale  and  with  different  degrees  of  exposure,  across  the  planet.

In  urban  environments,  it’s  easy  to  look  away.  On  islands,  this  truth  is  concentrated  in  wind  and  weather,  in  the  washing  away  of  coastal  defences,  in  the  cost  of  obtaining  resources  via  CalMac  ferries;  and  in  opportuni;es  for  some;mes  radical  small-­‐scale  experiment  in  resource  use  and  energy  supply,  in  projects  which  strive,  at  ;mes  against  the  odds,  to  develop  and  maintain  community  cohesion,  and  economic,  social  and  environmental  diversity  and  resilience.  These  experiments  make  visible  ques;ons  of  concern  to  us  all.

We  aim  to  extend  the  confidence  and  capaci;es  of  ar;sts  as  agents  and  advocates  for  a  rejuvenated  rela;onship  between  people,  place  and  resources.

Deirdre  Nelson,  Bird  Yarn,  2012  (Arc;c  Turns)

Steve  Hurrel’s  Barra  Maps:  the  contested  area  of  the  Barra  Marine  Reserve.  Naming  as  an  act  of  dynamic  knowing;  mapping  places  in  mo;on.

Crea;ng  networks,  collabora;ons  and  partnerships  that  last.  

The  Scoish  Isles  Voyage  in  2013  is  concentra;ng  on  5  specific  topics  and  invites  ar;sts  to  engage  with  these  specifically,  first  through  the  voyage  and  later  through  ar;st  residencies,  research  projects  and  collabora;ons  across  disciplines.  

Northern  isles  fisheries  in  partnership  with  Fair  Isle  Fishing  Hands  project,  with  NAFC  Marine  Centre  Shetland.

Peatlands  based  on  Lewis.  In  collabora;on  with  Highland  Print  Studio  and  An  Lanntair.

Energy  flow  (wind,  wave  and  ;de  technologies).  Partnership  with  social  scien;sts  at  Herriot-­‐WaX  University  and  Pier  Arts  Centre  Orkney/AHRC.

Water-­‐Cultures  in  partnership  with  the  University  of  Glasgow.

Place-­‐making.  Collabora;on  with  GalGael  and  the  Centre  for  Human  Ecology,  Govan.  

Einstein:  ‘The  dis;nc;on  between  the  past,  present  and  future  is  only  a  stubbornly  persistent  illusion’.  Time  and  space  fold  into  one  another  and  both  into  the  constantly  unfolding,  constantly  self-­‐genera;ng  present.  We  can  only  map  this  present,  describe  it  and  inhabit  it  fully  if  we  draw  on  mul;ple  sources  of  knowledge  and  experience  to  supplement  our  own,  to  draw  us  away  from  the  high-­‐water  mark  of  our  recklessness.

www.capefarewell.com

And  on  a  different  note:  Informa;on  around  subjects  related  to  climate  change.  

The  Tree  -­‐  a  growing  discourse  network  around  climate  change.

If  you  want  to  join  the  Tree  contact  Mark  Raven  who  runs  the  London  desk  ([email protected])

hXp://treealerts.org/