SCANZ-Balance-Unbalance

May 29, 2013/in Other projects /by Ian Clothier

Moments after the first SCANZ started – at Owae marae in 2006

The photo above is of the gathered participants at the first SCANZ – just after the powhiri at Owae Marae in 2006. Nina Czegledy, Trudy Lane and Ian Clothier will present on SCANZ 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013 at Balance-Unbalance.

As part of our Balance-Unbalance presentation on Solar Circuit Aotearoa New Zealand, where we will discuss issues around engaging with science and indigenous peoples, we are wanting to subvert the usual arrangements for presentation.

We would like the audience to download our presentation images to their mobile device. We will then not require the use of a projector with it’s directional emphasis, will be able to sit in a circle, and we will also be able to leave the room and go for a short walk all as part of our presentation.

This emphasis on the physicality of experience, of interrogating the frameworks for activity, and taking alternate approaches all arise from the experience of producing SCANZ in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Download the pdf for your mobile device by clicking the link scanzAllweb02

Themes: water*peace

May 9, 2013/2 Comments/in Uncategorised /by Ian Clothier

Developing the culture to create a sustainable civilisation

Intercreate is pleased to announce that SCANZ 2015 themed on Water*Peace, will take place in Taranaki from the 18th of January 2015 until February 2nd 2015. Supported by Creative New Zealand, this will be the fifth SCANZ residency.

We are currently looking at ways to explore the themes and engage with the local community. If you have ideas or suggestions we would welcome them.

We will continue to follow our basic core values:

*Acknowledging the environmental crisis
*Engaging with Maori and indigenous peoples
*Engaging with Sciences and the Hybrid Arts

Water is essential to survival, revered and respected worldwide for its power, curative and creative abilities. Water flows from the sky to the mountains, down the rivers, out to sea and up into the atmosphere where it is breathed in and merges with the human body. Waterways tell the stories of past habitation, of use as a generator of power, and as a recreational facility. The considered use of water is essential to sustainability.

Water as a resource has become intensely politicised and monetarised, in contrast to the view that access to fresh water is a fundamental human right, in the same way as access to air is a fundamental right. We need though, a kind of activism of positivity, rather than a negative view of past approaches. The aim is to connect, not divide.

Running water is also found in the heritage of digital media. The history of intelligent machines can be traced through the computer back to the mainframe, calculators, programmable weaving looms, automatons and clepsydra – water clocks, which in pre Renaissance times were of extraordinary complexity. Water was also used to level ground prior to construction in ancient Egypt and the oldest water clocks for which there is evidence date from around 1400BCE.

Peace is also essential to the sustainability of humans on Earth. Collectively we need to celebrate and promote Peace. This is an important way to attain a positive relationship between all cultures and the environment. Peace is a message we all must carry, in the sense of anti-war but also in the sense of justice and the right to harmonious living for all. The notion of connecting water and peace comes from worldwide indigenous groups, who have formed an Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace.

What are the strategies we need to activate an understanding of water in urban and rural areas, that goes past filling cups and glasses from the tap? How do we reinvigorate what water means, reinforcing the need for care, emphasising the right to clean water and harmony? What Peaceful uses can water be put to? Is it possible to train water to tell the stories of indigenous peoples, of communal heritage, of times past, of science and health?

Join us on a journey to respond to these and other questions. We welcome input from Maori, artists, scientists, environmentalists, the public, indigenous groups, ethnic groups, mums, staff of schools, universities, polytechnics, councils and businesses. What ways are appropriate in terms of bringing together this rich and diverse mix of people. How do we allow traditional Maori knowledge and Western science to mingle? What new ways might be needed, to facilitate the gatherings? Where is the best place to engage the local community? Why would the local community, scientists and artists be interested – what motivates people to come together at this time now in the history of Earth?

Send ideas for projects to ian dot clothier at intercreate dot org.

3rd nature art works

Curated by Ian Clothier, the works in SCANZ 2013 3rd nature exhibition spiral from the Puke Ariki Museum gallery Te Takapou Whāriki o Taranaki (The Sacred Woven Mat of Taranaki) out onto level 2 and around the natural history and geology galleries, down the stairs on to the landing and beyond into Pukekura Park botanic garden.

media art projects

March 15, 2013/in Car Garden, Featured, Media Art Projects, Other projects, Second Nature, Wai /by Ian Clothier

Intercreate is commissioning two innovative art works, to be realised in 2014. The Media Art Projects aim to inspire artists and creative teams to think boldly about combinations of cultural ideas and contemporary media technologies, that could be implemented in public space and/or Pukekura Park. These projects are open to Aotearoa New Zealand artists here and abroad.

Being Light

February 7, 2013/in Car Garden, Other projects, Wai /by Ian Clothier

Shaman Don Patricio in the ‘Car Garden’, Albuquerque.

Being Light: a festival of light and ideas explores ideas about light across Maori, Navajo, Mayan, Pueblo and Western European culture. The festival has two parts, activities in the day with stalls and market; while in the night there are outdoor projections on the side of buildings. Attendance is free.

We live in a time where there is great interest in bringing together indigenous and Western cultures, art, science and technology. Currently involved are: Patricio Dominguez, Ian Clothier, Mike Andrews, Mike Sutherland, Issa Malluf, Agnes Chavez, Tom Greenbaum, Jamila Colozzi, Courtni Hale, Glenn Parry, Enrique Hynes, Julia Pyatt, Sandra Wasko-Flood and Susan Caffrey.

Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru (of Aotearoa New Zealand), Will Wilson and Richard Lowenstein have expressed interest. We are in contact with Santa Clara Pueblo and have invited Mayan participation.

At night, artworks are projected onto the exterior of buildings. The projections consist of a programmed selection of:

• projection works by leading artists
• visualization of energy data from humans
• audio works and music themed on light
• sculptures that use light are installed outdoors at night

During the day, the festival includes

• the creation of an energy labyrinth as a participatory art work in both construction and then walking the labyrinth. Activities include instructions on how to turn your phone into an electromagnetic field reader
• videos where shamans and senior representatives of cultural groups are paired with video students, to make short videos that reflect beliefs about light
• solar powered art works
• visualizations and sonifications of light energy
• activities and market stalls themed on light and sun in the day time
• sunflower painting for children; knowledge sharing of indigenous knowledge about growing sunflowers
• stories of the sun and the power of the sun
• solar powered objects and artefacts
• scientific stalls that express the Western science view of light – wave particle duality
• information stands expressing cultural viewpoints on light
• music themed on light

Exhibitions + Projects

February 7, 2013/in News /by Ian Clothier

Iwasaki, Hideo cultures cyanobacteria which then photosynthesise according to the light of the moving image work projected from below (from the 3rd nature exhibition

Intercreate.org projects and exhibitions

This page has introductory information about Intercreate.org projects, which include our biennial project SCANZ, exhibitions in Albuquerque, Istanbul, Rio and in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Upcoming

We are currently working on exhibition projects for Sydney, Albuquerque and Taos and Nga Motu New Plymouth. SCANZ 2015 will be themed Wai (water) and Peace, two significant issues facing humanity.

SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature exhibition

‘The electromagnetic sensory world of sharks’ by Mike Paulin, a Zoologist was projected onto the mesh of a ‘sail’, in the galleries which houses traditonal Maori artefacts.

3rd nature at Puke Ariki integrated museum and library. To see works in the 3rd natureshow, click the image above.

Wai (for ISEA 2012 Albuquerque)

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Dine’/Navajo musician Andrew Thomas and his partner, Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, myself, Johnson Dennison, Gordon Bronitsky and Rosemary Dennison just before the ceremonies started.

Water is essential for life, sacred to many indigenous peoples worldwide and endemic to natural processes. This project connects Maori cosmology, notions of integrated systems, Western art and science in order to reinvigorate our understanding of flow and water. The project reiterates the urgent need to engage with sustainable practices given climate change. It also underlines the importance of listening to the indigenous voice on the environment.

The Wai (Maori for water or flow) project uses technology to connect distant spaces and cultures around the theme of water. Water holds significance for Maori of New Zealand Aotearoa, Navajo/Dine in New Mexico and neighboring regions, and is essential to survival. Isleta Pueblo, Navajo/Dine and Maori ceremonies will be performed as part of the dawn opening for the exhibition.

The project is led by Te Huirangi Waikerepuru and curated by Ian Clothier. It will open September 19th at 516 Arts in Albuquerque. A collective of people spanning four countries and many cultures – Aotearoa New Zealand, USA, Australia, India and representatives of indigenous peoples -are presenting an interconnected project. The collective is known as Te Hunga Wai Tapu (the people for whom water is sacred).

For more information about Wai, check Wai exhibition and Wai participants.

Te Kore Rongo Hungaora Uncontainable Second Nature

Te Kore Rongo Hungaora Uncontainable Second Nature was a project of ISEA 2011 Istanbul. A travelling version has since been formed, for exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.

The exhibition crosses cultural and discipline boundaries. The location of five themes from within European and Maori world views, provides a framework with which to construct a cultural bridge between Maori and European of New Zealand. Culture is usually presented separated and distinct; given the intercultural bridge, works from art and science are recontextualised as cultural texts symbolic of belief systems. Discipline is not fixed, but fluid in a transformational environment. In the exhibition, digital and post-digital exist in a state of hybridity.

Curated by Ian Clothier with an advisory panel of Nina Czegledy, Trudy Lane and Tengaruru Wineera, for ISEA 2011 Istanbul. Supported by:

Exhibited works

Please see here for a list of all the projects involved in the exhibition »

Exhibition Venues

Event: ISEA 2011 UNCONTAINABLE
Venue: Cumhuriyet Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
Dates: September 14th – October 12th, 2011
Exhibition Page: Uncontainable: Second Nature
Related Event: Eco sapiens Round Table

Event: CulturaDigital.Br International Festival
Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dates: December 2nd–4th, 2011
Exhibition Page: Rongo Hungaora: Second Nature [Travelling]

inter / place

The works in the exhibition inter/place present an attempt to come to grips in some way with the notion of multiplicity and a sense of distributed identity. Rather than gather all the artworks up in one area and present them as a selection of works on one theme, the artists taking part in this exhibition have been free to create their own work and explore different exhibition locations for that work. Subsequently none of these works have been placed in the conventional sites for exhibitions in Puke Ariki museum. There is no claim to novelty in this approach but rather the determination that a view based on distributed and multiple identity has been hybridised to the Puke Ariki location.

Venue

Puke Ariki – three works in the museum section and one in the library.
Date: December 2 2010 – February 3 2011.
A link to the catalogue is provided below.

InterPlaceWebPdf

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SCANZ2013:tomo whakaari

February 1, 2013/in 2013 Exhibition, 2013 Images, 2013 Workshops & Events, Featured, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature /by Ian Clothier

Te Huirangi Waikerepuru at this mornings Tomo Whakaari. Beside him is Tengaruru Wineera. Terri Ripeka Crawford choreographed a special accompaniment to the traditional ceremony. Voices from all filled the morning air.

SCANZ2013:cyanobacteria

January 29, 2013/in 2013 Exhibition, 2013 Images, Featured, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature /by Ian Clothier

Live cyanobacteria cultured by artist-scientist Hideo Iwasaki is placed into specimen jars in preparation for exhibition

The image above shows preparation work for the 3rd nature exhibition in Puke Ariki. The cyanobacteria was cultured by artist-scientist Professor Hideo Iwasaki of Waseda University, Japan. Professor Iwasaki grows the cyanobacteria in a form derivative of humans, with a head, body, arms and legs.

The cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria, and are ancestors to chloroplasts in plants. A chloroplast captures energy from the sun, and it is said that cyanobacteria helped to make Earth suitable for life. While on exhibition at Puke Ariki the cyanobacteria will be growing slowly, over a period of two months. Instead of the sun, the bacteria will photosynthesise with the light from an animation projected on to them from below.

The work of art and science raises several questions about the boundaries of life and our relationship to living plants. As Professor Iwasaki says: “They will be living at an interface which is hard to be called artificial or natural, drawing complicated patterns, and die.”

SCANZ2013: Paritutu

January 26, 2013/in 2013 Images, 2013 Residency, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature /by Ian Clothier

Rulan Tangen ‘Walking at the Edge of Water’
Sunset at Back Beach, Paritutu, Taranaki Jan 26 2013
Photograph by Terri Ripeka Crawford

This is the middle weekend of the residency. Some went up the mountain, others gathered late in the day at Back Beach Paritutu.

SCANZ2013: Geolocating

January 24, 2013/in 2013 Images, 2013 Residency, Featured, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature /by Ian Clothier

Today’s workshop was held in the venue to be used at WITT for the wananga-symposium. Our guest were Mike Ure, Elise Smith and Anne Scott of the Nga Motu Marine Reserve Society. Mike is also part of the Ahu Ahu beach group.

Mike Ure talked about Maori understanding of the local coastal area

Elise Smith spoke about the little blue penguin project. The society has been gathering data on the penguins, and placing it online using maps. The aim is for Maori knowledge and creative projects to be added to the same online map.

Anne Scott from the Marine Society discussing the aims of society projects. Thanks to Martin Drury for the images.

Archive for year: 2013