Themes: 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.