Welcome to Art at the End of the World club!
When: Every second Friday, kl. 11.30-13.30
Where: CEMUS Library, Geocentrum, Villavägen 16
No registration needed
More information: contact enki.simmons[a]cemus.uu.se and anne.thompson[a]cemus.uu.se
A fortnightly, interdisciplinary gathering for anyone who wants to creatively explore themes around humans, nature, and the ties between us. Each month has an ecological theme to guide the two sessions. During sessions we create art inspired by materials on the subject, then we share and respond to each other’s work. Any art medium (visual, poetry, film, music etc) and any level of experience is welcome. You are also free to attend any session, even if you have not come previously.
During these sessions we are keen to create a safe space for exploring what can be difficult subjects. Creating with and around nature can be a joyful and comforting experience, yet we must be mindful of the times we live in. Therefore, we aim to cultivate a supportive and emotionally open space where it is possible for people to express eco-grief and anxiety through creativity, while leaving room for hope. Despite the title, your work does not have to be about the end of the world!
Inspirational materials on the month’s theme will be available during the sessions where possible.
May 12th & final date pending
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet
In our penultimate session of the year we will explore what it means to live on a planet that is both damaged and beautiful.
April 21 & May 5
Deep Listening
What if you could hear like a bat zipping and swooping around the night sky, or a whale sounding the depths of the oceans, or elephants sounding the earth? Based on the philosophy and works of composer Pauline Oliveros, join us in exploring the possibilities of Deep Listening. As climate change and war radically and rapidly reshape our world, Deep Listening is an urgent tool for reaching a heightened state of awareness and connecting to all that there is. The practice asks us to pay attention so that we can be attuned to, rather than dominating, the living world we share with both human and non-human.
As usual, we will begin this session in the CEMUS library, but soon go outside for a listening meditation. Please arrive in time for the start of the session.
Inspirational materials
- Explore “fragments” of work inspired by Oliveros’ practice (video, audio)
- Songspirals, Bawaka collective (music)
- Rambles with Nature, Sheila Ghelani (short films)
- Glacial sound works
- Earth Song, Åsa Stjerna (description only)
March 24 & March 31
Small Things, Big Stories
The universe is made up of very small things, but their stories can be very big. When we greet our tiny companions, zoom in on the microscopic, focus on the particulate – hidden worlds are revealed. Join us as we delve into the tales of small ecologies and discover their ripples into the wider ecosphere.
Every beam that fell on my face
Photons and waves
The paths that we’ve changed
They have all left a mark on this place
Inspirational materials
- Intimacy of Lichens (sound & film)
- Marine plastic debris photography, Mandy Barker
- flashing decaying wood, Alma Heikkilä (installation part of A Posthumous Journey into the Future at Uppsala Art Museum)
- Order and Chaos, Lady Maiser (song)
February 24 & March 10
Translating the Whales
“I have a message… I was sent by the council of whales”
How we can listen to, understand, and translate the other beings that we share this planet with? Our watery kin, such as the magnificent whales, can seem so different from us small, two-legged, land-dwelling humans – yet like us they sing songs, have accents, memories, families. What would it mean to translate the voices of the more-than-human, especially those that live below the water, so that we can hear what they have to say too?
Quote: Lemn Sissay, ‘Whale Translation’
Inspirational materials
- Whale Translation – Lemn Sissay (poem) (video of poet reading)
- What the Whales Hear with Dr Kate Stafford – For the Wild (podcast)
- Lunasea – Mandy Barker (visual art)
- Tied to Tide – Turpin Crawford Studio (installation)
January 27 & February 10
Through Other Eyes
‘From my point of view’… has a lot of hidden implications. We think as individuals before all else. We use our own culture as a standard to which we hold others. We centre ourselves, humans. But what if we saw the world differently? This month, we encourage you to use art as a lens to imagine an escape from egocentric, ethnocentric and anthropocentric worldviews.
Inspirational materials:
- superioryouareinferior by Rae spoon (music album, link to Spotify)
- Algal Blooms by Jade Cuttle (music album)
- Song for the Salmon by David Whyte (poem)
December 9 & January 13
heARTh, heART, eARTh
The interconnected concepts of hearth, heart, earth, and the art imbedded within all of them.
HEARTH: a fireplace we gather around, the feeling of home, a vital or creative centre
HEART: the (emotional) centre of us, the most vital part of something.
EARTH: the planet on which we love, the soil which gives us life and to which we will return.
Inspirational materials on the theme:
- Photography from Arno Rafael Minkkinnen, who uses his body to become part of the earth around him.
- Short film, Landing, exploring our role in our earth home.
- Construction art project Raising from Tessa Lynch with Jupiter Artland.
- Mother Earth: Works for Viola and Piano
November 11
Art from Trash: turning the wasted and unwanted into something new
