Life Support Systems Nominated for 2013 Artecycle Award

We are delighted to announce that Jasmine Targett's series Life Support Systems was shortlisted for the 2013 Artecycle Art Award at Incinerator Gallery.

The exhibition runs from the 24th May - 14th July.

About the Work
 

Life Support Systems uses NASA space suit helmet glass to map the history of monitoring Earth’s Atmosphere and today’s attitudes towards Climate Change: the forecast for tomorrow.

Visually we first became aware of the role Earth’s atmosphere plays in weather and sustaining our environment in the space race’s iconographic images. In the 1950s the dichroic glass lens of the space suit helmet reflected the first view of Earth as a tiny fragment in an ecosystem of universal proportions from which no part is immune from the changes of its counterparts. NASA’s further atmospheric observations have revealed the current ecological crisis.

We produce vast amounts of scientific data to comprehend changing environmental conditions. This information challenges our perception of our environment and ourselves as we strive to understand the balance we need to live sustainably.

Life Support Systems is a series of three atmospheric weather maps that chart shifting weather conditions in the atmosphere over Antarctica that have global implications. The work aims to explore how the forecast for tomorrow’s weather is reliant on our perception of our environment today.

You can see Jasmine talking more about the work by clicking (here)

You can find out more about the award by clicking (here)

New Images - Exhibition at Craft Victoria

Two years in the making, Debbie Symons and Jasmine Targett's latest exhibition 'Making Sense' closed last week at Craft Victoria. If you didn't to to see the show, here is a guided tour through the works.

Our first review on Carbon Arts

Check out Making Sense's first review on Carbon Arts!
Carbon Arts is a non-profit arts organisation that is working to facilitate an increased role for artists in generating awareness and action on climate change, you can find out more on the information on Carbon Arts here.

Lesley Duxbury joins panel

Professor Lesley Duxbury has signed on as our final panel member on the upcoming symposium @ Craft Victoria.

Art and the Communication of Climate Science: Making Sense of how artists and scientists can collaborate on the question of the ozone hole and biodiversity in Antarctica- Tuesday 20 September 2011, 6-7pm

Professor Lesley Duxbury is currently the Deputy Head, Research and Innovation in the School of Art at RMIT University. She has been exhibiting for the past 25 years in Australia and internationally with solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney and more than 50 selected group exhibitions in Australia including NGA and NGV, Korea, Austria and Hong Kong. She has been the recipient of the Australia Council VACB studio residency in Paris and completed a large public art commission for Edith Cowan University in Perth. Her work is held in all major public collections in Australia.

Lesley Duxbury is also an artist who uses Printmedia – images and text – to make work that addresses issues concerning the natural environment, in particular the atmosphere and its phenomena, which she explores through work that emulates and recreates our experiences and perception of it. The phenomenological experiences of extended walks in remote landscapes, during which Lesley takes photographs and makes extensive notes, are the impetus for her investigations. Recent walks in the Canadian Arctic and Iceland have invigorated Lesley’s concerns about the possible effects Climate Change.

Chair for Exhibition Public Forum Announced

Art and the Communication of Climate Science- Making Sense of how artists and scientists can collaborate on the question of the ozone hole and biodiversity in Antarctica.

We are pleased to announce Associate Professor Linda Williams from RMIT will be Chairing the Public Symposium during the exhibition of Making Sense at Craft Victoria.The objective of the symposium is to stimulate an open dialogue between Melbourne based Artists and Scientists. We are interested in bringing together key people from both these fields to construct a community for future collaborations, further enriching both research disciplines.

Chair- Assoc Professor Linda Williams Associate Professor in Art, Environment and Cultural Studies and Program Coordinator of the Honours Program in the School of Art. She also leads the Art and Sustainability Research Cluster at RMIT. Along with her work as a widely published art critic, she has published in the field of the history of culture and science, philosophy and critical theory, and is an active member of the Globalization and Culture project in the Global Cities Research Institute at RMIT. She is also an international reader for the ARC.

Guy Abrahams Public Presentation

We are extremely excited to annouce that Guy Abrahams from Climarte will be presenting a talk as a part of Making Sense's Public Events at Craft Victoria.

Saturday 17th September, 2011
1-2pm @ Craft Victoria

Climate Change, Sustainability and the Arts

Throughout history the arts have played a major role in recording and reflecting the state of our society and of the natural world. At certain times we have needed the arts to also be a catalyst for change, a call to action, a pricking of the collective conscience. I believe that now is one of those times. This presentation gives a brief summary of current climate change science, the challenges that this science poses, and what broad measures may be undertaken to meet those challenges. I will then review a variety of Australian and international arts based initiatives that seek bring about positive engagement with environmental issues, particularly sustainability and climate change. The presentation concludes with proposals for further ways in which the arts could enhance broader understanding of sustainability and climate change and contribute to the implementation of personal and institutional actions that address these environmental crises.

Guy Abrahams was Director of Christine Abrahams Gallery in Melbourne for 22 years. He has been a Board member of the Melbourne Art Fair and the National Gallery of Victoria Art Foundation, and National President of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association. He is currently on the Board of the Australian Tapestry Workshop and the City of Melbourne's Art and Heritage Panel. Guy holds Law and Arts degrees, as well as a recently completed Master of Environment. In 2009 he was trained by former US Vice President Al Gore to give presentations on climate change. Guy is a Co-Founder of the not for profit organisation CLIMARTE: Arts for a Safe Climate, and a Director of the consultancy Art+Environment. Guy speaks regularly on the role of the arts sector in the climate debate.

Guy's enthusiasm for the visual arts and the environment will make this presentation a must see. For bookings please contact Craft Victoria- 03 9650 7775