England Expects

Allan Giddy at SCANZ

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Alternative energy pioneer Allan Giddy exhibited two works at SCANZ2015. The first was the night time projection of Night swimmer onto a small stream in Pukekura Park. The second, England Expects … (Aotearoa) 2014-15 was installed on the foreshore by the Huatoki outlet. The installation is solar powered, and uses three mics on the tips of fishing lines – which turns them into aeolian harps (which are blown by the wind). The audio created is mixed with the UK weather forecast, and a recorded response by violinist Alison Blunt of the London Improvisers Orchestra. A special implementation of England Expects … (Aotearoa) 2014-15 at SCANZ involved waiata sung by Jo Tito, connecting the specific location to the British influences in the work.

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Ruakere Hond talks about Parihaka values

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Ruakere Hond is a kaumatua (elder) of Parihaka. In the recording below, he talks about the processes of welcoming, the monthly celebration of prophets of peace Te Whiti and Tohu, and tikanga (protocol) all of which expresses some of the values of the community. The recording is placed online primarily for SCANZ participants, but will be of interest to a more general audience. The recording is of an informal conversation rather than being an interview by a journalist.

Immediately prior to the recording being taken, it was agreed that the SCANZ artists would present some collective thoughts on peace, to the Parihaka community on the first evening of their overnight stay.

lemon vernbena

Water, food and resources at SCANZ

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lemon vernbena

Lemon verbena in October 2014 (left) and December (right). This kind of growth based on solar energy and water is one of the most outstanding characteristics of nature.

As SCANZ 2015 is about water and peace, we need to consider our resource usage. At this page on Waterfootprint.org, you can scroll though products to find the calculated water footprint of that product. The global average of water required for one cup of coffee is 132 litres of water. Clearly we need to work on this and related issues in regard to our diet.

At the same time, at SCANZ we are not interested in being policemen in regard to the environment and environmental issues. We just want people to think about their consumption and make adjustments. At Intercreate we are seeking a space where we can all connect in regard to the environment.

As organisers of the SCANZ residency, we are working on ways to reduce our water footprint. We usually supply tea, coffee beans and a coffee grinder because our largely artist group loves coffee. However, for 2015 water*peace we are considering not supplying coffee on Fridays, and only providing locally grown herbal tea: lemon verbena. This is because the best way to reduce water footprint is to consume locally grown products. The verbena will be fresh and available through the week, and we can also access a small amount of fresh bergamot, the herbal leaf form which is similar to the flavour of Earl Grey.

In addition, rather than purchasing the coffee solely on the basis of taste, we will be purchasing Fair Trade Organic. This is because we do want to support those growers in the Fair Trade scheme, who often are local people rather than multinational companies.

We are very lucky to be having WITT involved in the residency as we have negotiated being able to pick from the communal garden in return for watering and tending. Anyone who is picking or gardening will be asked to treat resources carefully, and to never pick an entire crop. We are also intent on getting food from local suppliers as much as possible.

Themes: meander vs grid

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Water falling, Brownian motion and wai: two rocks and a meander

A waterfall in the Taranaki region, photo by C5 taken as part of a mapping exercise

A waterfall in the Taranaki region, photo by C5 taken as part of a mapping exercise at the first SCANZ

brownian_demo_2dSm

Brownian motion by Kay Kirkpatrick for students studying probability theory

This photo is taken from a small bridge - too small for art works, but there is a carpark next to it. The banks are quite steep though. This car park has a market on the weekends

This photo is taken from a small bridge – not the same one as we stood on, but the vista is similar

Today I went for a walk with Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, to talk about stuff and at the same time look over the potential sites along the Huatoki river walkway. The walkway passes right through the middle of New Plymouth Nga Motu. There are photos here. It was the third time I’d done this walk – first to get pictures for this site, second with Allan Giddy of UNSW in Sydney who was scouting locations and now with Te Urutahi.

Anyway we were both taken with what was presented to us in terms of following the meander of the stream as opposed to the grid of the streets. This is entirely one of the points of SCANZ: to go to locations where boundaries meet. The boundaries of culture, of discipline and of place.

In the city, what we get is the perspective layout of streets. Tar seal among buildings. The built environment in rows. Lines to ensure we get there in the fastest way between two points: straight.

Compare this to Brownian motion [1], drawn above by Kay Kirkpatrick [2] for students studying probability theory. The blue line is a meander, quite unlike the grid that measures it. We perhaps live in a time where the prominence of the grid should be usurped by eminence of the meander. Not that one or the other is the issue, both are necessary today, but that one or the other has prominence due to the focus placed on it.

The grid and the meander give entirely different readings of place. When the Huatoki is the guide for traversing the town, we encounter the sea where the stream terminates, the grassed public space in front of Puke Ariki museum, then step across the street to the Huatoki plaza, with landscaped landings and muraled buildings. The river stream passes under a block and a half of building and emerges in a park. A transformation has occurred and the town scape vanishes from view. Nature dominates.

Nature continues to dominate until we reach points where humans attempted to dominate nature: two sites where marker rocks in use in pre-European times were dynamited by colonisers. These rocks were big and dynamited to clear the way. Of course, no such thing results, and when we visited today the rock fragments had caught large chunks of debris.

The meandering river then, wanders through from vistas of the sea to contemporary public landscape architecture, hybrid bush environments, rustic pathways, geological references with cultural usage in pre-European and now contemporary times. That is why the river site was chosen as the place for art works.

At the end of our meander, Te Urutahi and I stood on a small bridge gazing down on the river. Little waves of river energy were gathering around resistant rocks, forming continuously variable pathways of flow, dancing here, dancing there. We talked about placing projectors above and below, about a friend of hers capturing eight kinds of river audio. Framed by large native tree ferns and the branches of introduced trees we watched the bubbles formed by the Huatoki’s flow. Much like Brownian motion with constraints. She took dibs on this spot.

We have been there before, many times in many guises – from the C5 experience of Taranaki at SCANZ 2006, to Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru talking about Wai at SCANZ:Eco sapiens, the connection of water in many of the works shown as part of Uncontainable Second Nature Te Kore Rongo Hungaora in Istanbul, Wai at ISEA 2012 Albuquerque and in 3rd nature at SCANZ 2013. Being located in public space on the site of wai – water – will make quite a difference in 2015.

 Notes

1. Brownian motion captures the free action of molecules bumping around in an apparently random way. Historically it was important to the confirmation of the existence of atoms, and interest was revived with Chaos Theory involving studying randomness. It should be said that turbulent flow and Brownian motion are quite different things, I only mean here the dancing random action of the variable bubble paths of the stream recalled random processes. The contrast to the grid is also a subject of this article.

2. Kay Kirkpatrick image source: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~kkirkpat/562.html

SCANZ2015:water*peace-call

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Photo of Wai by Jo Tito

Photo by Jo Tito

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Celebrating International Peace Day with a call for projects on Water and Peace

This is the call page for SCANZ2015:water*peace. Below is information about project types, application process and the submission link.

Water is essential to survival, revered and respected worldwide for its power, curative and creative abilities. Water as a resource has become intensely politicised and monetised, in contrast to the view that access to fresh water is a fundamental human right. Peace is also essential to the sustainability of humans on Earth. Join us to discuss and put forward positive, connecting views on water and peace that engages our community. This is the first call for projects and residency with submissions due November 8, 2013 (this allows for planning and fundraising). A second call with revised dates will be issued shortly. Read more about the ideas behind the project…

 

 

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Project components

Noho marae

SCANZ2015: water*peace will be the fifth SCANZ residency and starts in January 2015. It will commence with noho marae (overnight stay) at Parihaka, world renowned as a site of peaceful protest. The stay coincides with the 18th and 19th, when Te Whiti and Tohu, leaders of the peace movement are celebrated.

 

 

Open residency

This will be followed by a two week open, creative and interdisciplinary residency. It is our hope that tangata whenua, indigenous peoples, New Zealanders and other global citizens will be able to take part.

We are suggesting that artists, environmentalists, technologists, scientists, writers, performers, dancers, permaculturalists and people interested in the positive aspects of water and peace, all take part. Anyone can submit a project in one or more of the categories listed further down this page.

 

 

Temporary works in public space

We would like to have five to seven temporary works in public space, shown for one day or overnight on the final weekend of the residency. These will be sited along a river walkway. No power will be provided at the sites, so solar, wind, and water powered projects are suitable (battery and static install are two further options).

 

 

Day of public activities about water, water quality and peace

We are seeking proposals for a day of activities that engage our local community in issues around water and peace.

 

 

Night time building projections

We are seeking projection works about water or peace, to be projected on to the side of a local building in the evening.

 

 

SCANZ hui

On the final weekend of the residency there will be a SCANZ hui. Day one is at WITT, the local polytechnic and allows for presentations that require technology, the internet, projectors etc. Day two is a walking symposium to view the artworks and have thematic discussions in the environment of the river walkways.

A separate call for hui/symposium presentations will be made at a later date, through the same application page on Easy Chair.

 

 

Categories of projects

Water and/or Peace residency and temporary public work (residency with public exhibition project)
Water and/or Peace residency (residency without an exhibited project)
Water and/or Peace temporary public work (no residency, public exhibition project)
Public activity day project
Night time projection on building
Online exhibition
Pure research

 

 

Process

Applicants should download the pdf application form by clicking the link below. This should be filled out and attached to the application made at EasyChair.

IMPORTANT: Fill out the SCANZ application pdf first, then go to Easy Chair and make yourself a log in. After entering your contact information, project title and submission abstract (max 500 words, target 350) with keywords, tick the appropriate category and topic. Upload the completed SCANZ pdf form in the field that says ‘Paper’. In the field that says ‘Attachment’ upload a .pdf, .doc, .docx or .txt which contains a a one page CV and a project image.

A two stage process will be used. Successful applicants will then be able to apply for accommodation and/or food subsidies from Intercreate. It will also be possible to apply for micro budgets for the public event one day of activities and river walkway art works.

This first call for applications is currently closed for review. A second call will be made, and announced via our email list, on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

Submission page and useful links

Background to the project and issues of water and peace.

This short video is made by the people of Parihaka about Parihaka.

Pdf SCANZ2015 Application Form. Right click and download the form, open it in Acrobat and fill it out (Mac users, you cannot use Preview, it has to be Acrobat). Then attach the SCANZ form to your EasyChair submission.

We prefer pdf if possible at this stage. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, scroll to the bottom of this page and there is a link to a Word file.

The Easy Chair submission page. The url in full is https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=scanz2015

If you do not already have an Easy Chair log in, you will need to get one – the page you go to will prompt you, and once you have activated your account you will go to the SCANZ 2015 link.

 

 

Social media

Intercreate is adapting its online communication channels. Here is how to stay informed and tailor the way you connect with us:

Like us on Facebook and receive all Intercreate news & updates on events

Follow us on twitter to engage hybrid, interdisciplinary issues covering: art + technology + science + environment + cultural bridging

Join our Placestories project to share resources & discussion about SCANZ 2015 Water * Peace

 

 

SCANZ2015WordApplicationForm

 

Themes: water*peace

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SCANZ water & peace

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.