Conference of Creative Parties
1 – 11 December 2015, daily 2-6pm
Gaité Lyrique, Paris
To truly meet the climate challenge we need to get creative. Climate change is often seen through a policy or scientific lens, and solutions are discussed only in behind the closed doors of political offices, boardrooms and negotiating halls. ArtCop21, launched ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris, aims to challenge those tropes. What is required is the active engagement of citizens worldwide in the urgency, value and opportunities of a transition away from fossil fuels and the embracing of a greener, sustainable future economy.
The Conference of the Creative Parties, proposed by COAL and the Gaîté lyrique, is a series of daily public talks built on imagination, creativity and collaboration to build and invent a new response to the climate challenge. From the 1st – 11th December 2015 over 60 inspiring and eloquent creatives, artists, architects, scientists and thinkers will come together for round-table conversations, debates and artistic performances addressing the climate challenge. Themes explored will include collective intelligence and digital climate service, deconstruction and clarification of language to rethink the climate and ecological crisis, provide practical cultural responses, citizen mobilization through culture, new models for the commons and reflection on UN negotiation models.
Alternating each afternoon between panel talks and one-to-one interviews with an international artist, these conversations focus their sights on a manifesto for the world of tomorrow. Shared internationally for signature, this worldwide statement will unite the global population in an inspiring, creative and viable ways to uphold the resolutions of Cop21.
All events will be live-streamed on the Gaîté Lyrique and ArtCOP21 websites, and will take place in French or English. Events are open to public and free to attend.
This event is proposed by COAL and the Gaîté lyrique.
2:30 pm – Opening of the Summit of Creatives: Culture and the Arts Engage with the Climate Challenge for COP21
Futuro Caliente / Foro Público, COP 20 à Lima, 2014, © Peter Seinfeld
In english and streamed
From Rio to COP21, what was the impact of the cultural industry on the society transformation? How has that changed over time, and in particular, how were the artists involved by policy makers? The opening of the Summit of Creatives is an opportunity to review the involvement of the cultural industry and inspire artists to get involved and put culture on the agenda of the negotiations.
With Kevin Buckland (UK), from 350.org, Anne-Marie Melster, Co-founder and Head of ARTPORT_making waves (USA), Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Curator of Devenir Terrien at Musée de l’Homme (FR), Frédéric Ferrer, author and director (FR), Cynthia Rosenzweig, climatologist (USA), Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, poetess (Marshall Islands), Teresa Borasino, Head of the festival Futuro Caliente in Lima – COP20 (PER), Anna Heringer, architect (CH). Moderated by the ArtCOP21 team.
5 pm – Face to face with Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, poetess, Marshall Islands.
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In english and streamed
2 pm – Producing without Reproducing : Creating new models
Encore Heureux, Matière Grise, Pavillon de l’Arsenal, 2014, © Encore Heureux
In French and streamed
Artistic practices are transforming. Cultural ecosystems are being reinvented and create new mindsets on how to build a more sustainable world. How are these new types of knowledge, action and creation developed? What are the forces and dynamics at work? Whether in terms of new materials, shapes, or methods, new thoughts about our environment are emerging and in turn initiate new lifestyles and ways of saving and sharing.
With Justyna Swat of OuiShare for POC21 (FR), Vincent Guimas, La nouvelle Fabrique (FR), Eva Jospin, artist (FR), Encore Heureux, architects (FR), Thierry Boutonnier, artist (FR)
Moderated by Jeanne Granger, co-founder of la Réserve des Arts (FR).
4 pm – Face to face with Gideon Mendel, photographer (ZAF).
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In English and streamed
Victor and Hope America, Igbogene, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, November 2012, © Gideon Mendel
2 pm – Art as a medium to mobilize Citizens
Igor Ponosov, PRTZNG, Illegal Urban Replanning, Moscou 2012, © Igor Ponosov
In English and streamed
With Chen Feng et Mu Wei, architects and co-founders of Natur Wuhan (CHN), Anton Polsky a.k.a. MAKE and Igor Ponosov, Partizaning (RUS), Marco Kusumawijaya, urbanist/activist, Rujak (IDN), Carolina Caycedo, artist/activist, Descolonizando La Jagua, Rios Vivos Movement and Asoquimbo (COL), Matthew Biederman, artist, Arctic Perspective Initiative / Changing Weathers (SI), Flannery Patton, Alliance of Artists Communities (USA) and Sithabile Mlotshwa, artistic director of Thamgidi Foundation and IFAA Global (NL).
Moderated by Marie Fol, DutchCulture / TransArtists (NL) and Sophia Lapiashvili, GALA- Green Art Lab Alliance (GE).
This talk has been organised in the frame of ArtCOP21 professionnal workshops (December 3rd and 4th at la Gaîté lyrique).
2:30 pm – Transforming the Cultural Industry
Thierry Boutonnier, Éteindre l’eau, Performance, Centre d’art Le Lait, 2011, © Phoebe Meyer.
In English and streamed
With Patrick Degeorges, Philosopher and working with the Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Jordi Pascual, Coordinator of Agenda21 for the culture and of UCLG (ESP), John Crowley, team leader of SHS at UNESCO (UK), Sacha Kagan, founder and coordinator of Cultura21 (DEU), Alison Tickell, Head of Julie’s Bicycle (UK) and Diane Dodd, coordinator for Europe at IFACCA (AUS).
Moderated by Cees De Graaff, Head of DutchCulture, Centre de Coopération Internationale (NL).
This talk is organised in the frame of the ARTCOP21 professionnal workshops (December 3rd and 4th at la Gaîté lyrique).
5 pm – Face to face with George Steinmann, artist (CH).
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In English and streamed
ARTPORT_making waves : George Steinmann, Symbioses of Responsibility, Le Bourget + Grand Palais, 30 novembre – 8 décembre, 2015. © George Steinmann, 2015
6pm – Maja & Reuben Fowkes of the Translocal Institute (HUN) sign their book « River Ecologies: Contemporary Art and Environmental Humanities .
2:30 pm – The Power of Fiction: Imagining the Future
Anaïs Tondeur, Les Dryades, Bibliothèque de Biologie-Chimie-Physique Recherche, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 30 novembre – 29 janvier. © Anaïs Tondeur
In French and streamed
In a world upended by the arrival of an uncertain future, our society is forced to deal with the issue of its own narrative, to tell its story to construct itself and better decide its future. Fiction is transformative, and outlines the worlds we know and those to come. Science fiction, literature, speculations, poetry, whether with an apocalyptic bend or not, are means to give shape to reality and nurture new stories.
With Fabrizio Terranova Film director and university lecturer and researcher in speculative narration (BEL), the collectif Hehe, artists (UK and DEU), Anaïs Tondeur, artist (FR), Emilie Notéris, writer (FR), David Lescot, author and director (FR).
Moderated by Emilie Hache, Philosopher, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre (FR).
5 pm – Face to face with Dalibor Frioux, writer (FR).
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In French and streamed
2:30 pm – The Arctic Is Paris – Expanding the Conversation
In English and streamed
Carte blanche to artist Mel Chin and writer Gretel Erlich around their Arctic Is Paris project.
The Arctic and Antarctic are territories which constitute a symbol of international union and embody humanity’s desires by giving a message to future generations. But these pristine areas are also vulnerable spaces where the effects of climate change are already visible, from ice cap melting to population displacements. This discussion will include film screenings and exhibit traditional artifacts of the Arctic and the Pacific Islands.
With Mel Chin, artist (USA), Gretel Erlich, writer (USA), Jens Danielsen and Mamarut Kristiansen, hunters from Greenland, representatives of the îles du Pacifique, un interprète Nuuk. Modéré par Neal Conan, journaliste (LBN).
The first step of that event is presented the 2nd of December at La Générale.
5 pm – Face to face with Lucy + Jorge Orta, artists (ARG et UK).
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In French and streamed
Lucy + Jorge Orta, Antartica World Passport Delivery Village, Shanghai, 2012, © Justin Jin
12 am – 7 pm : Performance by Heidi Q “Bureau of Linguistical Reality” (USA)
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
In French and streamed
3:30 pm – Collective Intelligence and digital Utopias
In French and streamed
A ‘collective intelligence’ meeting staged by Gwenola Wagon and Stéphane Degoutin, who directed film-essay “World Brain”. How to feed new or existing utopias in this time of ecological crisis? Following on from the research carried out for their project “World Brain”, the directors will discuss how to harness the group’s power to act and address digital utopias in terms of collective intelligence. How to make fire with a pack of chewing gum? Can trees form a universal network capable of competing with the Internet? Is humanity spawning a beast around itself? Do we have to become schizophrenic to keep pace with technological accelerations? A review of interesting options to imagine the future.
With Gwenola Wagon and Stéphane Degoutin, artists, researchers and producer of the film-essay World Brain (FR), Pierre Cassou-Noguès, philosopher and writer (FR), Julien Imbert, graphic designer (FR), Emmanuel Ferrand, mathematician (FR).
Irrévérence Films 2015 / World Brain de Stéphane Degoutin et Gwenola Wagon
6 pm – Screening of « World Brain » with Arte
http://worldbrain.arte.tv/
2:30 pm – The Race for Technological Innovation
Laboratoire Paléo-énergétique © Cédric Carles
In English and streamed
In a time when everything is accelerating, artists take the time to take a critical look at the race for technological innovation. They dissect the tenets of its discourse and experiment with its tools. Together with researchers and scientists, they question the idea of technology being the only solution to climate change, alerting us to the lack of democratic control over geo-engineering projects, and developing projects involving alternate views of technology – open source, technical diversion, social hacking, etc.
With Renewable Futures : Rasa Smite and Raitis, artists and co-founders of RIXC (LVA), Cédric Carles and the Laboratoire Paléo-énergétique (FR) and Yacine Ait Kaci, artist (FR), Kevin Anderson, Deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (UK), Alice Bowes, Climate Scholar (UK). Moderated by Andrew Simms, author and co-founder of the New Weather Institute (UK).
5 pm – Face to face with Shaun Gladwell, artist (AUS).
Moderated by the journalist Lydia Ben Ytzhak.
Shaun Gladwell, Untitled-Murramarang Plank, 2014. © Lucille Gladwell
2:30 pm – Language as a Battlefield
Nathalie Blanc et David Christoffel, Mémoires climatiques, 2015 – © Garance Marcon
In English and streamed
To name is to focus thought. Words shape reality. While diplomats and politicians negotiate hard over the removal or retention of a single word in a final agreement, some words seem to dominate the debate without being questioned: innovation, growth, universal, adaptation… This discussion, intersped with performances, will attempt to deconstruct linguistic hegemony and will question the realities that hide or reveal our discourses.
With Heidi Quante and Alicia Escott for the “Bureau of Linguistical Reality”, artists (USA), Magali Daniaux & Cédric Pigot, artists, (FR), Nathalie Blanc, researcher and David Christoffel, of La Maison des Ecrivains et de la Littérature (FR), « les écrivains pour le climat ». Moderated by Shannon Jackson, Head of the Center for art Researches at Berkeley University, (USA).
3 pm – Rebuilding the Commons
Nowhereisland, Alex Hartley, 2012. Photo © Max McClure
In English and streamed
To talk about ecology rather than economy is a way to anchor initiatives and projects in a territory, in order to bring it to life and preserve it. In this context, new alliances are emerging to protect our “commons”. Whether it’s air, rivers, knowledge, commons are not only ‘goods’ to be respected and shared. Inextricably linking humans, non-human, and practices, they help us building a new political and economic model to deal with the environmental crisis.
With Jeremy Leggett, scientific and activist (UK), Michael Pinsky, artist (UK), Allison Akootchook Warden, activist representative of Alaska Natives (USA), Juan Carlos Sanchez, ex member of the IPCC and Nobel Peace Prize (VEN), Beka Economopoulos, co-founder and Director of Not an Alternative (USA). Moderated by Patrick Degeorges, Philosopher, working for the Ministery of Ecology (FR).
6 pm – Closing Ceremony of the Summit of Creatives
With official delegates for culture and for the COP21, institutional partners of ArtCOP21, philosopher Dominique Bourg (CH) and the artist philippin Nikolo Salazar (with the support of the French Ambassy in Philippines). Moderated by François Nemeth (BEL), radio journalist radio at Rtbf