Let’s start the year 2021 with 21 items of good news and let us voluntarily place ourselves under the sign of optimism, according to a famous quote by Antonio Gramsci: "We must combine the pessimism of reason with the optimism of will". The year 2020, so unprecedented, has led us to constantly adapt, develop and [...]
From the 17th of October 2020 until the 28th of February 2021, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts is presenting its seventh edition of the contemporary art biennial, curated by the artist Jui-Chung Yao (姚瑞中) and entitled “Subzoology”. By examining the Buddhist belief of reincarnation, where the non-physical essence of human beings begins new [...]
Art of change 21 - Your work has dealt with ecological issues since the 90s. How did that begin? Bigert & Bergström - We met when we were students at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. We were both regular visitors to the Biological Museum in the city which has been there since 1893. [...]
For twelve years the American artist Dornith Doherty has been leading a project on the preservation and conservation of plant seeds: “Archiving Eden”. Doherty explores "seed banks" also known as "grain libraries" dedicated to conserving, protecting, and analyzing plant seeds from many species. By studying the evolution of these new types of plant granaries over [...]
We must once again confess; the UK’s cultural sector has made a head start on sustainability. After galleries (see the article on the carbon footprint of galleries in our last Impact Arts News issue), it’s now the turn of museums to accelerate their ecological transition. Eight amongst 256 proposals have just been selected to radically [...]
While the artistic activity of Autumn 2020 has been hampered, shaken up and weakened by the resurgence of the pandemic, contemporary art exhibitions on ecological issues are in rude health! Having explored a number of exhibitions in France (see our article, here), now we offer you an overview of some of the highlights and unusual [...]
Art of Change 21 - How are you feeling and coping with the Coronavirus crisis? Lin May Saeed - I'm okay, but I think about it a lot. The feelings of powerlessness that go hand in hand with the restrictions of everyday life, which are obviously new to many, seem to contribute to radicalization. As [...]
Nicolas Floc'h travels the seas to index underwater landscapes. For this long-term project, called "Productive Landscapes", the artist has become an experienced navigator, professional diver, an expert in oceanography and much more. Since 2015, Floc'h has been revealing an invisible world by taking the underwater landscape as a subject, and breaking with the usual codes of [...]
While many museums have taken the lead in their sustainable development policies but have been slow in sharing their best practices, contemporary art galleries have taken advantage of collective emulation and shared their discoveries and expertise. Two similar initiatives have been launched by our Anglo-Saxon friends, with the common objective of establishing a "new standard" [...]
Bandjoun Station, a long-term artistic, agricultural and political project, was initiated in 2005 in Bandjoun, Cameroon, by the contemporary artist Barthélémy Toguo. His mission? To develop education and access to art; promote organic farming and food self-sufficiency; exhibit traditional African and contemporary art "without a hierarchy of values"; and link age-old traditions with contemporary challenges. [...]
