2009 in arts and ecology

Last year was an an extraordinary year for art that responds to issues surrounding the environment. In the (almost) five years since we have been operating, there has never been so much great work being produced. Take a look at our pick of the highlights. 21 highlights of 2009

>> EVENT | Uncivilisation: the Dark Mountain Festival
>> EVENT | The Case of the Deviant Toad: The Royal Institution
>> OPPORTUNITIES | MA Art & Environment University College Falmouth
>> VIDEO | Seeing Myself See: The Ecology of Mind by R. Beau Lotto

Left: Spring in the City [Detail] by Yao Lu (2009) from Earth: Art of A Changing World at the Royal Academy

Upcoming events

May 28 - 30 | Uncivilisation

The Dark Mountain Project believe society will be entering a period of massive disruptions. A weekend festival of "Uncivilisation" features discussion by George Monbiot, Alastair McIntosh and Tom Hogdkinson and music from Chris Wood and others.

Mar 15 - 31 | The Case of the Deviant Toad

New York artist, activist and ecological researcher, Brandon Ballengée brings his startling high-resolution scanner photographs, video and preserved specimens of deformed toads to the Royal Institution for his first London solo exhibition

Jan 23 - Mar 28 | Art, Ecology and the Economy

Devon's CCANW and the Duchy Square Centre for Creativity in Princeton present a joint exhibition that explores how environmentally friendly approaches to manufacture and collaboration can lead to wider economic rewards.

Jan 15 - Mar 21 | Fall Out

What happens when the systems we are dependent upon "fall out"? This joint Swedish/Danish exhibition presents work by artists looking at what happens when social, economic and political systems collapse. Includes Aleksander Komarov, Carey Young, Danica Dakić, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Kirsten Justesen, Mircea Cantor, Olivia Plender, Oreet Ashery & Larissa Sansour, Pavel Braila, Sharon Hayes, Simon Starling, Sophie Calle, Vinyl-terror & -horror.

Dec 23 - Feb 17 | Sensorium

Artist Alexander Hamilton shows work that explores how art can represent the ways plants are responding to environmental changes. His "picture forming" experiments reflect research work being carried out by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh into year-on-year changes in plant growth.

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News

Julie's Bicycle | The carbon impacts of recorded music products in a time of transition

A new report by Julie's Bicycle looks into research on carbon impact of downloading and streaming recorded music and argues that we still don't know enough about what the real impacts of this new virtualised arts industry are.

COP 15 | Culture|Futures

Culture|Futures is an international collaboration between organisations and individuals concerned with shaping a cultural agenda to support the transition towards an Ecological Age. We are one of them. And we're pleased to announce the launch sympsosium taking place in Copenhagen this December, in the run up to COP15.

July 14 | The Dalston Mill

EXYZT's The Dalston Mill, part of Radical Nature, opens to the public on July 15 alongside a new installation of Agnes Denes' Wheatfield, A Confrontation

July 13 | Rock's "Industry Green" tools unveiled

As the summer festival season kicks off, music industry green team Julie's Bicycle unveil a new set of tools for rock festivals to audit and improve their carbon emissions.

May 07 | Age of Stupid at the RSA

To launch the nationwide release of The Age Of Stupid the RSA holds a special screening on May 22, with a discussion by George Monbiot, director Franny Armstrong and Dr Richard Betts of the Met Office's Climate Impacts research team. Plus a video link from Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Vice-President of the Maldives.

May 06 | Olafur Eliasson

Eliasson's first permanent sculpture in the US, a man-made island called The parliament of reality will be unveiled in a New York state art centre on May 16.

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Magazine

The highlights of 2009

Film, drama, visual arts, writing, activism. When it came to art that encounters themes around environmentalism, 2009 was a peak year for artists from all disciplines. We've picked our highlights. What are yours?

William Cobbing | Bamiyan Mirror Series

In 2001 the Taliban destroyed the centuries-old Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. When artist William Cobbing went there to explore how the iconography of conflict can be an absence of imagery, he found himself making a piece of work rooted in the ideas of Arte Povera and the Land Art movement.

Josie Appleton | Towards human species consciousness

'Man is a producer and not just a consumer of nature; part of his productive nature is to make nature," writes Josie Appleton. Environmentalism pits man against nature. Is it time to abandon its restrictive worldview in favour of accepting humanity's transformative role in creating the world around us? Artists have already imagined how we make new worlds; isn't it time for us to synthesize our "human species consciousness"?

Emma Ridgway | RETHINK

In a new essay written to accompany the exhibition RETHINK, Emma Ridgway, Curator at the RSA Arts & Ecology Centre, argues that to create the ecological future we need, requires a profound shift in thinking – away from the negative scorning of industrialisation towards a positive conception of human capacity. .

Michaela Crimmin | Rethinking ecologies

The new challenges we face mean we're going to have to rethink our connections to the planet and to each other. When it comes to creating a new space for building new relationships, the arts are uniquely powerful says Michaela Crimmin, Head of the RSA Arts & Ecology Centre.

Making the bat house

After winning the 2004 Turner Prize, Jeremy Deller announced his intention to build a bat house in the UK. The RSA Arts & Ecology Centre joined a partnership that, five years later, was to make this a reality. Caleb Klaces reports on the building of the Berkeley Bat House.

CIWEM Environmental Photography Award | Slideshow

See the winners of this year's CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the year competition.

The march of the twitterati

Something fundamental is going on in the media world. It's big, scary, only half understood and it's going to change the way the arts goes about its business. William Shaw suggests that the arts need to approach social media in a new spirit of generosity if they're going to build the networks they need to survive in a cold climate.

Review | Eye of the storm

David Berridge visits the Arts Catalyst conference on art and scientific controversies and wonders if the relationship between art and science has become more troubled in the 10 years since the first Eye of the storm.

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