The following images all have been added to my tumblr blog: seed capsules tonight... all except the final one ... as you'll see!
Cant help but think this event in Japan one week ago today that disrupted millions of lives (and has the potential to continue doing so in ways we can hardly bare thinking about) raises big questions and begs of us all we actually consider what is worth fighting for in terms of our collective future. The Uranium debate was running cold for years now... the climate change debate is still pooh-poohed in parts... Food security has been on the boil for some time now... but the event we are watching unfold somehow
asks us to think very carefully... and I think not wait for govts and big business but to be a bigger part of the change ourselves.
People in places like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have shown enormous courage and have taken centre-stage in the battle they believed was worth it. And we know the role social media played in that!!!
I've been painting since I was five...no matter what Ive always keep faithful to art somehow, through thick and thin! Yet five years ago I felt that it was looking foolhardy to approach life as an artist with the same kind of values and priorities that one might have in the past.I observed an increased focus on 'the getting of wealth', constant talk of superannuation, aquisition of property, taking care of personal portfolios, travel, status objects, entertainment and general consumption. None of these things are negative in themselves ...but the dialogue was swamped with this chatter ... attention veering away from all that is part of our true inheritance on this planet ...being the habitat and all living things ( which we are so dependant on if we only remembered where it mattered!) ... and our connection with community...and the well-being of the collective.
I just got sidetracked at twitter 10 mins ago and found this article at the Guardian:Is rampant consumerism ruining our lives?
Tim Jackson live Q&A click here
The author of Prosperity without Growth answers your questions about his theory that our obsession with economic growth makes us prosperous but unhappy – Friday 18 March, 1-2 pm
How fitting to find this as I write here! That constant noise about "having", "getting" and "aquiring" against the panorama of loss and lack all around really challenged me to find new ways to move forward that made more sense. As an artist and as a human being. Blogging puts me in touch with many like minds... people who dont think of rampant consumerism as a particularly good idea... people for whom sharing and foraging and gleaning, repurposing and bartering is a part of life ... an important part of life. Thank the heavens for that.
You know what ... I think we could all turn up the message a notch or two. Leadership has to come from many places ... top down has not been terribly inspiring in a long while! Come on bloggers ... lets use our art and creative gumption a whole lot more ... there's so many ways to make it a better world! There's room for all our intiatives and to pull together on this!
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| Treehotel, Sweden, 60 miles south of arctic circle:tumblr-polychroniadis |
Curated by Norman Foster and Luis Fernández-Galiano ‘bucky fuller & spaceship earth’ is an exhibition , which brings the different strands of buckminster fueller’s influential career together with original drawings and models and will be the first chance to see the recently completed recreation of the dymaxion car.
Thinking outside the square...
DYnamic -- MAXimum - tensION
At the heart of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion concept is the idea that rational action in a rational world demands the most efficient overall performance per unit of input. His Dymaxion structures, then are those that yield the greatest possible efficiency in terms of available technology. Here are a few examples:
Conceived and designed in the late 1920's but not actually built until 1945, the Dymaxion House was Fuller's solution to the need for a mass-produced, affordable, easily transportable and environmentally efficient house.Read more The Dymaxion Map is the only flat map of the entire surface of the Earth which reveals our planet as one island in one ocean, without any visually obvious distortion of the relative shapes and sizes of the land areas, and without splitting any continents. Read more The Dymaxion car was designed by Buckminster Fuller in early 1930s. The car could transport up to 11 passengers, reach speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, and ran 30 miles per gallon. Read more Worried by the poor sanitation, inefficiency, and high cost of bathrooms, Bucky came up with a solution in 1936. Read more
London-based arup associates have won the top golden beetle prize for their design
of ‘insect hotel’ in the competition hosted by british land and the city of london, ‘beyond the hive’. The brief called for a sustainable and creative insect habitat for the city of london parks.
well its only a model...but anyone who knows the work of Hundertwasser ... painter and 'architecture doctor' - knows that he actually had his plans for buildings realised. Its not for nothing he remains so well loved by so many... and interestingly ... children adore his work!
'Usine Toyota n°1’, Series: Melting Point by Stéphane Couturier from the exhibition for the shortlist of photographers in the 2011 prix pictet photography and sustainability competition.
I had to stop and consider this work carefully - its from a series called Melting point - given the last week I wanted to make sure what I was viewing. Below are inks to the site where you can read more on this photographer... this series taken inside the Toyota assembling plant in France in 2005.
Biography
Stéphane Couturier: The Artist’s Path In 1994, Stéphane Couturier showed the first works in a series called Urban Archaeology. Viewing the city as...
more Artist statement
Stéphane Couturier – Melting Point - Toyota The series of twenty large photographs
depicting the Toyota assembly plant in Valenciennes (France)...
more
I look at this and am reminded of so many kitchens the world over where pride is taken in prized cooking vessels and keeping the simplest of spaces tidy, practical and pleasing to the eye.
It makes me wonder about the western preoccupation, rampant in some parts more then others, of continually gutting kitchens for state of the art sets ups with all the trappings of success... and very often barely used and barely appreciated.
When I think of landfill I think of all that waste ... and it contrasts with the images of spaces above like this where hospitality and careful maintaining of cultural traditions and relationship to where the food comes from is a shared experience and a celebration of life.
Lest we forget!
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Posters for Japan I found at tumblr 'rery likes' with this note below:
poster by Steven Jodistiro
Japan was devastated by an 8.9 earthquake and tsunami today, causing widespread damage. They need our help. Donate to the charitable organization of your choice to do your part with relief efforts |
I wish to finish off with a note from a dear blogger friend in LA Mlle Paradis whose post today was one I wish to share.. she writes at her "Day of Speaking Out" post:
I don't mean to be awkward but watching the BBC News has made me feel that it is time to do exactly the opposite. I know the bloggers who have organized the Day of Silence below have their hearts in the right place, but watching BBC TV tonight I feel that we have been silent for TOO LONG!
I've left this note on several blogs this evening and will leave it on many more. I've called Japan Consulates in L.A. and Honolulu, the American Consulate in Tokyo and have left emails for President Obama and my Congresspeople. Perhaps you would like to do the same.
I was brought up in the Asian culture to behave nicely and stay quiet until called upon to put my two cents in but I feel, that a week into the crisis in Japan, more must be done and it's not enough for ordinary people watching this happen to sit home in silence. If the Japanese government/people are anything like the Asian people I grew up with, they are very good at offering help, but have a very hard time asking for it themselves. Here is what I'm saying:
well ... my post is in large part inspired by Mlle Paradis and her "Day of Speaking Out" She pondered Japan being a country willing to come to the aid of others but perhaps no wanting to be seen as overwhelmed, needing support, not managing well... stoicism has its downsides as any of you with that tendency knows!
I'd meant to go to Green drinks tonight...but was out much of the day at a wonderful event that some time I will post on. Great conversations with some wonderful people. Came home most inspired!
So if I didn't get to Green Drinks then at least I can offer this post to start some conversations or prompt your thoughts on these various matters.
Have a good and safe weekend all as we offer our best thoughts and prayers to all in the land of the cherry blossoms!
PS two creatives using their artistic talent to raise funds for Japan... read here - catkin and teasal and hello sandwich!Hello Sandwich on twitter. JUST ADDED:
Mlle Paradis has updated with further info on:
Emergency! Japan Needs an Airlift: Here's Why Be sure to read this update from her if you wish to understand this most pressing situation for the people north of Tokyo who are cut off from supplies! NB: if you try to comment and it falters... try second time... it seems to work. S x
