A really interesting range of artists, film-makers and activists have been selected from the open call worldwide for contributions of video, digital media, audio or poetry which would then be incorporated into the installation. The idea is that the finished work allows the viewer to visit different voices en route, rather than it being simply a montage. It is a plurality of expressions, an ‘exhibition within an installation’.
The visual and film artists, media producers and activists include Sarawut Chutiwongpeti (Thailand), Badrul Alam and Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Heiko Thiele and Zwischenzeit e.V. (Germany), Marcella Haddad (Brazil), Shaikh Mohir Uddin & Rural Visual Journalism Network at Drik (Bangladesh), Fuyumi Labre Lopez (Uruguay/Spain), Milda Lembertaite / Amelia Prazak (Lithuania/Switzerland), Victor Steffensen and the Living Knowledge Place (Australia), Nigel Hulett (Zimbabwe), Ali Pretty and Kinetika (UK), Marian Osman (Somalia) with ‘Democracy Now!’ (USA).
Selected media from these contributors is watchable on extra screens in the exhibition; more details about these wonderful people from across the globe is given below.
Poetry selections include very focused and relevant work by the well established Maya Chowdhry (UK) and by the strongly emerging Julia Davenport (UK).
An audio track was contributed by Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramirez-Gaston (Peru/Spain).
The foundation soundtrack for the work is created from a series of percussion loops which were produced by 17 fantastic young musicians from across the UK during the Future Leaders national carnival arts training programme by Global Grooves in summer 2014. They are: Oscar, Jordan, Joe L, Chris, Emma, Farheen, Sam, Ryan, Libby, Isis, Eve, Amina, Matthew, Keiran (pictured above right behind the Tesco carrier bag), Matthew, Dominic, Callum.
DETAILS OF KEY FILM-MAKERS, ARTISTS AND ACTIVISTS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PROJECT:
‘Your Climate Change Stories’ intro, by Victor Steffensen and Mulong, Australia 4mins Victor Steffensen (Born – Mareeba, QLD 29th April 1973) is a passionate Indigenous film and music producer with a special gift of creating powerful works that support community and the environmental wellbeing. Being a part his people and country through his Mothers roots of the Tagalaka people of the Gulf of North Queensland , Victor has always dedicated himself to strengthening Indigenous communities in many ways through film, music, and the performing arts. Victor now runs his own film and music studio called Mulong www.mulong.com.au in Cairns, North Queensland, where he wants to continue to develop his passion for evolving culture into the future. The latest creation through his years of work is the development of the Living Knowledge Place, a community owned education site showing casing living cultural and community knowledge for classrooms Australia wide. www.livingknowledgeplace.com.au All of Victor’s work to date involves many communities and building a network that is an important part of maintaining a living culture and healthy environment for future generations. |
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‘The Water Challenge: Climate Change in Zimbabwe’ by Nigel Hulett / Granadilla Films, 2011 20mins 50secs www.granadillafilms.com |
Democracy Now! Special edition on the Warsaw climate talks 2013 – selected excerpts 11mins 45secs Including interview with young climate activist Marian Osman from Somalia who took specific interest in this project. Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S. http://www.democracynow.org/ |
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‘Yemanja’ by Kinetika and Ali Pretty (2004) 7mins Kinetika is an outdoor arts movement with a 17 year track record of world class design and community engagement. We work with local communities and a core team of artists from diverse technical and cultural backgrounds on projects that are connected to their place of origin, are ambitious in scale and leave a lasting legacy. Our focus on training and professional development ensures that our art and our artists and our artforms are always evolving. Kinetika Design Studio has produced work that has been on show at some of the biggest events in the world including the Paralympic Games 2012 closing ceremony, the London 2012 athletes’ parade and the FIFA World Cup ceremonies in 2009. |
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‘Future Leaders’ by Kooj Chuhan and Global Grooves (2014) 10mins 47secs A lively documentary profile of the inspiring national apprenticeship and training programme in carnival arts by Global Grooves. |
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Poetry: ‘Fossil’ a forthcoming set by Maya Chowdhry (excerpts) & ‘Salve A Amazonia (Save the Amazon)’ by Julia Davenport (written specially for the project) 4mins 15secs
Maya is a writer and inTer-aCtive artist making site-specific installation focussing on immersive work, story-making exploring the juxtaposition of technology with the ‘natural world’, using text, film, animation, photography and Web. http://interactiveartist.org/ Julia was born and lives in North Manchester, sees herself as a Citizen of the world, is particularly interested in poetry as protest to empower people to see the world from a different perspective, and stand up against injustice. |
Maya Chowdhry |
‘Lamento Ayacuchano’ by Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramirez-Gaston, Peru 2008 (Included as music soundtrack for the poetry above) An audio that processes sounds of Peruvian Huaynos from Ayacucho in central mountains, its melancholic Huaynos represent sadness of the colonial times, one of the places that most suffered historically.Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramírez-Gastón (a.k.a. El Lazo Invisible) has been a sound artist and producer working in the border region San Diego/Tijuana since 1998 until 2010, and currently working in Lima-Peru. He is the founder of the record label Discos Invisibles, a collective working on the generation of public spaces for alternative sound arts. He did his Masters in Computer Music at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) were he is also a doctoral candidate, and is currently a Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP), teaching a wide range of courses including: Sound Arts, Musical Creativity, Musical Manifestations of Subsaharan Africa, History of Rock, etc . His research work involves the study of those cultural strategies unique to the Latin-American environment and the application of technology in a way that represents its users. |