Above images of the recently published catalogue of the Sharjah Biennial 8, United Arab Emirates [25º 22’N, 55º 24’E] titled 'Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)' which includes installation shots of the exhibition as well as transcripts of the 3-day conference Latitudes organised in collaboration with the Royal Society of Art's Arts & Ecology programme (today the RSA Arts and Ecology Centre) back in April 2007 (+ info).

The symposium (images here) considered today’s uses and abuses of the ‘eco-’, notions of artistic agency and critical practice, as well as the role of the public realm in today’s artistic and institutional practices. How has it become fashionable (or profitable) to be seen to be eco? How has what we mean by ecology been transformed and evolved through the uses of terms such as ‘environmental’, ‘green’, ‘ethical living’, and so on?; How do some artists desire palliative results, while others offer strategies of friction or resistance? How far are the sources of materials a consideration for artists, designers and architects? And how does this relate to wider questions of resources—water, energy, oil in the Emirate and beyond?

The symposium included focused presentations by keynote speakers such as Bruce Sterling (download his paper as a pdf here), critical panels with participating artists Sergio Vega or Peter Fend as well as Van Abbemuseum director Charles Esche, or Smart Museum's Curator of Contemporary Art Stephanie Smith as well as breakout seminars with participating artists Tomás Saraceno and Michael Rakowitz.

You can download the symposium programme, exhibition guide and view press-related materials in this archive.

'Sharjah Biennial 8. Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Part II)'
568 pages, 233 x 165 mm, softcover 350g. Art Matt Card
Paper: 80g. offset wood free and 135 g. Art Matt
Publisher: Sharjah Biennial, www.sharjahbiennial.org
ISBN 978-9948-04-328-6 Part II

X, Y, etc.! is an array of videos motivated by the methodological project of Charles Fort a quack to some, a visionary to others, Fort was a relentless researcher of ‘paranormal’ phenomena avant la lettre, yet he made no attempt to present a coherent theory, or to endorse what he compiled. Instead, his accounts of uncanny artifacts, unexplained disappearances, objects falling from the sky, etc., comprise a satire of acceptable theories and beliefs. X, Y, etc.! is titled after two of Fort’s early manuscripts – X and Y – which were burned by the author yet became the basis for his iconoclastic The Book of the Damned (1919).

Fort’s masterful collections of oddities can seem random and jumbled, yet they are also a carefully clustered continuum of humor, data, wonder, and ridicule. Hence in X, Y, etc.!, everything can be considered plausible – the banal with the unique, artistic with non-artistic, fact with fake, sincere with insincere, correct with incorrect, etc. In this contrary borderland of knowns and unknowns, cynicism and speculation, science and fiction, each film is anomalous and the whole is underdetermined. Art and reality are far more mysterious, complex and nuanced than we realise. “It does not matter where we begin”, Fort wrote, “whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte. One measures a circle beginning anywhere.”

Films selected for the 2008 Video Lounge (in screening order, starting 11.30am):

* Mark Titchner, Ivy Meets Mike, 2007, Peres Projects, Berlin & Los Angeles
* Hans Op de Beeck,The Building, 2007, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Boissy-le-Châtel
* Christelle Lheureux, Non ricordo il titolo, 2008, Artericambi, Verona
* Elizabeth McAlpine,The Film Footage Missed by the Veiwer Through Blinking While Watching the Feature Film ‘Don’t Look Now’, 2003, Laura Barlett Gallery, London
* Elizabeth McAlpine, Light Reading (1500 Cinematic Explosion), 2005, Laura Barlett Gallery, London
* Michael Fliri, Early Morning With Time to Waste, 2007, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano
* Emilie Pitoiset, Othello, 2006, Galerie Lucile Corty, Paris
* Gianni Motti, The Messenger, Raël and Brigitte Boisselier, 2003, Cosmic Galerie, Paris
* Sven Johne, Elmenhorst, 2006, Klemm’s, Berlin
* Swetlana Heger, Untitled (The Cohen Residence / Paradise Valley), 2006, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris
* Morag Keil, Fainting for YT, 2008, Grimm Fine Art, Amsterdam
* Danai Anesiadou & Sophie Nys, X, A & M, 2008, Elisa Platteau Galerie, Brussels
* Christian Jankowski, Hollywood Schnee, 2004, Cosmic Galerie, Paris
* G.R.A.M., Zephyr, 2007-8, Christine König Galerie, Vienna
* Anja Kirschner & David Panos,Trail of the Spider, 2008, Hollybush Gardens, London

_BREAK_

* Carles Congost, La Mala Pintura, 2008, Artericambi, Verona
* Andrea Büttner, Little Works, 2007-8, Hollybush Gardens, London
* Pia Maria Martin, Go, 2008, Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart
* Jordan Wolfson, Favourite Things, 2008, T293, Naples
* Judith Hopf & Deborah Schamoni, Hospital Bone Dance, 2005, Croy Nielsen, Berlin
* Shana Moulton, Whispering Pines #4, 2007, Pianissimo, Milano
* Gianni Motti, Shock and Awe, 2003, Cosmic Galerie, Paris
* Sergio Vega, The Ants, 2006, Umberto Di Marino Arte Contemporanea, Napoli
* Julika Rudelius, Adrift, 2007, Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart
* Delphine Reist, Averse, 2007, Triple V, Dijon
* Gareth James & Cesare Pietroiusti, Untitled, 2006, Franco Soffiantino ArteContemporanea, Torino
* Haris Epaminonda,Tarahi I, 2006, Rodeo, Istanbul
* Haris Epaminonda,Tarahi III, 2006, Rodeo, Istanbul
* Aurelien Froment, Théâtre de Poche, 2007, Motive Gallery, Amsterdam
* Shimabuku, Fish & Chips, 2006, NoguerasBlanchard, Barcelona

_BREAK_

* Hans Schabus, Loch, 1999-2000, Zero..., Milano
* Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn, All Together Now, 2008, Elizabeth Dee, New York
* Donna Conlon, Low Tide, 2004, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Torino
* Donna Conlon, Summer Breeze, 2007, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Torino
* Alice Cattaneo, Untitled 1, Untitled 2, 2007, Galleria Suzy Shammah, Milano
* Patrick Tuttofuoco, La Noce d’Oro, 2005, Studio Guenzani, Milano
* Guillaume Leblon, Notes, 2007, ProjecteSD, Barcelona
* Clemens von Wedemeyer & Maya Schweizer, Rien du Tout, 2007, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris
* Alterazioni Video, Black Hole ... Our Understanding of the Universe is About to Change, 2008,V.M. 21 arte contemporanea, Roma
* Cezary Bodzianowski, Cacadu, 2006, Zero..., Milano
* Matthew Darbyshire & Sam Gunn, Le Chant du Rossignol, 2008, Herald St, London

_TOTAL SCREENING TIME_ 6 hours 20 min

The films will be shown continuously each day in a specially-constructed screening environment, and will also be available on three video-on-demand consoles.

For further information on Artissima 15 programme, dowload the newsletter 'Radio Sick 2008 #3' here


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7-8-9 November 2008. Open to the public 11.00 am - 8.00 pm

Image credits: (TOP) Aurélien Froment, production still of 'Théâtre de Poche', 2007 (12 min). Photo: Aurélien Mole. Courtesy: the artist and Motive Gallery, Amsterdam. (BELOW) Jordan Wolfson, Favourite Things, 2008, 15 min., DVD loop. Courtesy T293, Naples and Johann König, Berlin.

Tonight we are taking the 'Salvador Dalí' night train from Barcelona to Turin—in part as response to RAF / Reduce Art Flights—to install and work on the catalogue for our show 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities', which will open at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo on 28th February (19h-21h). It includes works by Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Lara Almárcegui, Maria Thereza Alves, Ibon Aranberri, Amy Balkin, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Chu Yun, A Constructed World, Minerva Cuevas, Ettore Favini, Cyprien Gaillard, Tue Greenfort, Norma Jeane, Cornelia Parker, Jorge Peris, Wilfredo Prieto, RAF / Reduce Art Flights, Tomás Saraceno, Santiago Sierra, Simon Starling, Fiona Tan, Nikola Uzunovski, Sergio Vega, Wang Jianwei and James Yamada.

We have launched the temporary project website for 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities': www.greenwashing.lttds.org. The site will be developed and updated over time as an extension to the printed catalogue, with expanded contents such as installation shots, interviews, artists CVs, etc.

The list of participating artist (ongoing) is: Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Lara Almárcegui, Maria Thereza Alves, Amy Balkin, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Chu Yun, A Constructed World, Ettore Favini, Cyprien Gaillard, Tue Greenfort, Norma Jeane, Cornelia Parker, Jorge Peris, Wilfredo Prieto, RAF / Reduce Art Flights, Tomás Saraceno, Simon Starling, Nikola Uzunovski, Sergio Vega, Wang Jianwei, James Yamada.

The show will open on 28 February 2008 at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin and remain on view until 11 May. The exhibition is curated by Ilaria Bonacossa and Latitudes (Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna).

For any press enquiries please email: press@fondsrr.org

[Image: Sergio Vega, 'Paradise on Fire', 2007. Series of five inkjet archival prints, 106 x 134 cm each. Courtesy the artist and Umberto di Marino Arte Contemporanea, Naples]

Some images from today and yesterday of the preparations for the Sharjah Biennial 8 which opens on Wednesday 4th April. The RSA Arts & Ecology/Latitudes for the Biennial in collaboration with the American University of Sharjah takes place on the 5th, 6th and 7th. Here is the programme:

‘Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change’
Sharjah Biennial 8, 4 April – 4 June 2007
Symposium: 5–7 April 2007
Venue: Expo Centre, Sharjah
Symposium Organisers
Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna (Latitudes, Barcelona)
Michaela Crimmin (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, RSA, London)
Roderick Grant (American University of Sharjah, AUS)
Amir Berbic (American University of Sharjah, AUS)
Tarek Talat Al-Ghoussein (American University of Sharjah, AUS)
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer (American University of Sharjah, AUS)

Symposium Coordinator in Sharjah: Sharon Ahimaz (Sharjah Biennial team)

Offset of 70 tonnes of Carbon.
The conference language is English.

The Symposium, which forms part of the Sharjah Biennial, aims to explore specific aspects of the relationship between culture and ecology - not least the challenges and the contradictions. The event will profile the extraordinary work taking place in architecture, the visual arts, across new technologies, in design and on screen. Discussions will involve artists, academics and students, architects and designers, people living locally and a number of key contributors from other continents. It draws from and will build on previous discourse - capturing the perspectives of people who are addressing ecological issues on a daily basis. The Symposium bravely takes place in a country which is prepared to look to the future and the changes we are all going to have to make.

THURSDAY 5 April

9.30 – 10am: Refreshments and Orientation
10 – 10.15am: Welcome by Jack Persekian (Artistic Director SB8) and Michaela Crimmin(Director RSA Arts and Ecology).

10.15 – 10.45am: Keynote speaker: ‘Ecology and the Politics of Change’, Bruce Sterling, Author, journalist, editor and critic, Texas and Serbia.

10.45 – 12.00: Panel Discussion: The lure of the 'eco'
Eco-art, eco-fashion, eco-tourism, eco-politics, eco-activism, eco-village ... In almost every aspect of how and where we live, work and play, the eco has embedded itself. How has what we mean by ecology transformed and evolved through the practice of everyday life?

Panelists:
Sarah Rich (Managing Editor, Worldchanging and inhabitat.com, a weblog covering sustainable design and green building, Seattle)
Sergio Vega (Artist, Gainesville; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)
Siobhan Leyden (producer and presenter of the daily talk show ‘Siobhan Live’ on Dubai Eye radio, 103.8 FM)
Stephanie Mahmoud (Marketing and Management student, AUS)
Chair: Jeremy Bendik-Keymer (Philosophy teacher in the Department of International Studies, AUS)

12 - 12.45pm: Film Programme Excerpt: Riverglass: A River Ballet in Four Seasons. Andrej Zdravic, 1997 (41 mins)
"Riverglass presents the 'materiality' of the river Soca. A symbol of importance in Slovenian culture, the film presents the force and clarity of the water from the point of view of the river itself, a Gaian perspective possibly. In its content and development of specialist filming equipment it recalls other film-makers landscape interventions (for instance Michael Snow's La Region Centrale (1970) or Robert Beaver's The Stoas, (1991-97)." – Mark Nash

12.45 – 2 pm: Lunch Break

1.45 – 3.00pm: Parallel Seminars:

I. Emergencies and Risk
What is the role of architects, designers and artists concerning housing and communities? With increasing pressure on resources and space, and an increasingly volatile political climate how can we move from coping with aftermaths to try to mitigate risk before crises? Can design and architecture be a political act?

Susi Platt (Architecture for Humanity's leading post-Tsunami reconstruction designer, Sri Lanka)
Michael Rakowitz (Artist, New York; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)
Moderator: Mehdi Sabet (Associate Professor, Architecture & Interior Design, School of Architecture and Design, AUS)

II. Resources: Truth and Materials
How far are recycled or sustainable materials a consideration for artists, designers and architects? How do such considerations affect our experience/percepetion of materiality in art and the built environment? And how does this relate to wider questions of resources—water, energy, etc.?

Mona El Mousfi (Sharjah Biennial architect and Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Design, AUS)
Tomás Saraceno (Artist and architect, Frankfurt; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)

3.00 –3.30pm: Coffee Break

3.30 – 4.15pm: Feedback and Group Discussion

4.15 – 5.15pm: In Conversation. ‘Kumar Shahani: Politics and the ecology of change’
Mark Nash (curator of Sharjah Biennial 8 film programme; Director of the MA Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art, London) and Geeta Kapur (Critic and Curator, New Delhi, and member of the Jury for the 2007 Sharjah Biennial 8 Art Prize) in conversation about the work of Indian filmmaker Kumar Shahani.

7.00 – 7.45pm: Presentation by OMA/ Rem Koolhaas, Reinier De Graaf at Qanat Al Qasba

8.00pm: Film Programme Excerpt held at Qanat Al Qasba: The Form of the palace of Matsumae-kun’s Brothers 1, 1988 - Oki Hiroyuki – (17 min)

8.30pm: Film Programme Excerpt held at Qanat Al Qasba: The Char Adhyay, 1997 - Kumar Shahani – (110min)

FRIDAY 6 April

Welcome by Michaela Crimmin, RSA Arts and Ecology Director, London

4 – 5.30pm: Panel discussion: Offsetting / Upsetting. 'Art vs. issues'
Much work in the field of art and ecology has emerged in the field of remedial actions in industrial sites. Today carbon trading and offsetting are, more abstractly, being proposed as a way of restoring the balance of the atmosphere. How might these two motions be linked? How or should the work of some artists might generally be regarded as a form of offsetting or redressing? How do some artists desire tangible palliative results, while others offer strategies of friction or resistance? What is more important, the issues or the art?
Panelists:
Koyo Kouoh (Cultural producer, Arts Manager and Programming Consultant, Dakar)
Peter Fend (Artist, Berlin; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)
Charles Esche (Director, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and member of the Jury for the 2007 Sharjah Biennial 8 Art Prize)
Chair: Stephanie Smith (Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Curator of Contemporary Art, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago)

5.30 – 6pm: Break
6 – 7pm: Jonathan Watkins (Co-curator, Sharjah Biennial 8 and Director Ikon Gallery, Birmingham) and Cornelia Parker (Artist, London; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8) to introduce Parker's project for Sharjah Biennial 8: Video interview with Noam Chomsky
Followed by Q+A from the audience.

7.30pm: Film Programme Excerpt held at Qanat Al Qasba: Darwin's Nightmare, Hubert Sauper, 2004 (107 min),

SATURDAY 7 April

4.30pm: Welcome back by Michaela Crimmin, RSA Arts and Ecology Director, London

4.30 – 5.30pm: Artists' presentation: e-Xplo with Ayreen Anastas (Artists US/Austria; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)

5.30 – 7pm: Panel discussion: Urban Planning and the future city.
What is the future of the city as a habitat for humanity? Increasingly dense housing, commercial, cultural, infrastructural and civic spaces seem to contradict our desire for space, openness and freedom. What lies ahead for the city as a living, symbiotic form of inanimate structure and animate inhabitants?

Panelists:
Samir Srouji (Artist, Palestine; participating in Sharjah Biennial 8)
Rula Sadik (General Manager, Design and Planning, The Design Group, Nakheel, Dubai)
Samer Kamal (Founder, Bee’ah, Sharjah Environmental Company, Sharjah)
Chair: George Katodrytis (Architect; Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Design, Professor of Architecture, AUS)

7.30pm: Film Programme Excerpt held at Qanat Al Qasba: The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk, 2006 (112 min)