Guy Abrahams, Climate Change, Sustainability and the Arts, M&GSQ presentation_aug2011

Climate change, sustainability, and the arts.

Guy Abrahams Art + Environment

www.guyabrahams.com www.climarte.org

Théodore Géricault (1792-1824) , The Raft of the Medusa 1818- 1819

1. The science2. The arts3. A way forward?

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1. The science

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Source: Global Footprint Network www.footprintnetwork.org

“1. There is no doubt that the climate is changing. The evidence is overwhelming and clear.

2. We are already seeing the social, economic and environmental impacts of a changing climate.

3. It is beyond reasonable doubt that human activities – the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation – are triggering the changes we are

witnessing in the global climate.

4. This is the critical decade. Decisions we make from now to 2020 will determine the severity of climate change our children

and grandchildren experience.”

The Climate Commission, May 2011: http://climatecommission.gov.au/topics/the-critical-decade/

www.climate.gov/#dataServices/predictions

(Slide from Strange Encounters behind the 2°C Firewall: The Global Picture, Prof. H. J. Schellnhuber CBE, FOUR DEGREES OR MORE? Conference, Melbourne, 12 July 2011)

(Slide from Strange Encounters behind the 2°C Firewall: The Global Picture, Prof. H. J. Schellnhuber CBE, FOUR DEGREES OR MORE? Conference, Melbourne, 12 July 2011)

Source: ClimateInteractive.org

(Slide from Strange Encounters behind the 2°C Firewall: The Global Picture, Prof. H. J. Schellnhuber CBE, FOUR DEGREES OR MORE? Conference, Melbourne, 12 July 2011)

“You don’t build movements with bar graphs...”

Bill McKibben, August, 2010

2. The arts

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Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Rock Island Bend, Franklin River, South West Tasmania, 1979 (Rock Island Bend) (Peter Dombrovskis 1945-1996)

Source: NASA Eart h Observatory http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Paleoclimatology_IceCores/

From NASA Goddard - minimum Arctic sea ice extent from September 2007http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003464/index.html

John Quigley‘Melting Vitruvian Man’ September, 2011Photo: Nick Cobbing / Greenpeace

Jeff Carter

Jasmine Targett

Debbie Symons

Mandy Martin

Effect of Good Government (detail), 1338-1340, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Siena,

3. A way forward?

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Ash Keating, Copenhagen? 2009

CapeFarewell.com

The inaugural seven thousand oaks festival will host over 20 artists exploring the issue of sustainability through music, visual art, performance and installation throughout Winter 2010. Come along to one or all of the festival programs and join the conversations of sustainability in the cultural sphere. June 17- July 24 2010, Melbourne

seventhousandoaks.org

Hot Science, Global Citizens: the agency of the museum sector in climate change interventionsAn Australian Research Council Linkage Project led by the University of Western Sydney in partnership with Museum Victoria; the Australian Museum; Powerhouse Museum; Questacon; Liberty Science Center, the University of Melbourne and the University of Leicester.

Research & Programming Symposium 2011, Sydney, May 5-6 2011

http://www.hotscienceglobalcitizens.net/index.php/symposium

344 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000

Mon-Fri 11-5pm, Sat 2-5pm

FREE ADMISSION

03 9925 1717

www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery

KEN YONETANIArtist Floor TalkFriday 12 September 1.00 - 2.00 pm

Born and raised in Japan, Yonetani, who now lives

and works in Australia, is known for his fragile

sugar sculptures and ceramic panels. He has

been selected to represent Australia in the 2009

Venice Biennale. These incredibly fragile works

remind us of our precious reefs and marine life

affected by the heating of our oceans.

Free event.

HEAT Art and Climate Change12 September - 18 October 2008

Public Programs

JILL ORRArtist Floor TalkFriday 19 September 1.00 - 2.00 pm

Australian artist Jill Orr has delighted, shocked and

moved audiences around the world through her

performances and installations. For the past thirty

years, her powerful imagery has drawn on the land

and identity as it is shaped, in, on and with the

environment.

Free event.

MARK WILSONArtist Floor TalkThursday 18 September 1.00 - 2.00 pm

English artist Mark Wilson and Icelandic artist

Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir explored the provenance

of stuffed polar bears in stately homes and

museums in the UK.

In Australia they further explore the cultural

implications of humans coveting these exotic

animals through taxidermy, while the polar bear is

losing its habitat and facing extinction in nature.

Free event.

Jill Orr, Southern Cross – to bear

and behold, 2007/8.

Photo: Naomi Herzog for Jill Orr ©

Taxidermy polar bear.

Photo: Mark Ashkanasy.

Ken Yonetani, The Dead Sea,

2008. Photo: Julia Yonetani. CULTURES OF SUSTAINABILITY

RMIT FOUNDATION

Art & Sustainability Research Cluster

Gallery

ART & SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH CLUSTER RMIT AND ASLE-ANZ PRESENT A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM 9am–5pm SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2008RMIT STOREY HALL 342 SWANSTON STREET MELBOURNE

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DR WENDY WHEELERREADER IN ENGLISH, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY CREATIVE EVOLUTION: A THEORY OF CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

REGISTRATION $15/ $30 (INCLUDES LUNCH)ADVANCED REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED TO SECURE PLACESREGISTER AT: http://www.rmit.edu.au/art/culturesofsustainabilityENQUIRIES TELEPHONE 03 9925 2412

THE SYMPOSIUM WILL CONCLUDE WITH A PRIVATE VIEWING OF THE RMIT GALLERY EXHIBITION HEAT: ART AND CLIMATE CHANGEIMAGE GEORGINA READ, FOR THE BABY 2007 (DETAIL)

“Approximately 27% of our island communities are affected by climate change and the rising sea level right now, in 2009. For us, this is not a phenomenon that we have the luxury of reading about; unfortunately for some of us, it will become an even more real part of our daily lives each year.” Torres Strait Regional Authority’s Chair, Toshie Kris

“Erosion and gradual inundation are already occurring on the low-lying Torres Strait island communities of Boigu and Saibai. Any future relocation of affected communities will be socially and economically costly.”Gavin Briggs, Manager Northern Australia Research Programme

11 to 16 October 2011Kino Cinema

CLIMARTE is an independent not for profit body that brings the arts community together to tackle climate change.

www.climarte.org

Floods, Pakistan, 2010

Wildfires, Russia, 2010Sea level rise, Carteret Islands, 2010

Drought, Spain, 2010

Australia

Text

Sources:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; andClimate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts, Department of Climate Change

Maldives - today Melbourne - tomorrow?

‘Blue Marble,’ NASA, 2009

Neolithic cave painting c6000 BC

Rain, Steam, and Speed-The Great Western Railway, 1844.J.M.W. Turner

Photo by Andrew North of Cloud 9 Aerial PhotographyCourtesy of L.I.V.E Locals Into Victoria’s Environment

Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci, 1487