Call for entries – Coal Prize 2013 – Adaptation

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The Coal Prize Art and Environment rewards each year a project by a contemporary artist involved in environmental issues. Its goals are to promote and support the vital role which art and creation play in raising awareness, supporting concrete solutions and encouraging a culture of ecology. The winner is selected out of ten short-listed by a jury of well-known specialists in art, research, ecology and sustainable development

The 2013 Coal Prize will reward entries that focus on adaptation issues.

The award of the 2013 Coal Prize will take place the 2^nd of April 2013 in Paris at Le Laboratoire, a private art center specializing in the blending of art and science.

The prize carries an award of 10 000 euros. Launched in 2010 by the French organization Coal, the coalition for art and sustainable development, the Coal Prize is supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, the National Centre of Fine Arts (CNAP) and Le Laboratoire.

Schedule

Application deadline : February 28th, 2013.
The Coal Prize will be awarded on April 2nd.

Adaptation

This word is at the heart of contemporary thought and strategies used by nations, cities, businesses, and communities in order to cope with climate change. It is the subject of a movement, of appropriation,  of adaptation by artistic creation. It is the term we have selected for  the  2013 COAL Art and Environment Prize.

At  a global level and in relation to the theory of evolution by natural selection as defined by Darwin, the adaptation capacity of a species explains the conditions for their survival or  their disappearance.  Climate change has affected the lives of many species in the past, resulting in five major mass extinctions.  Today, climate change and the depletion of  our ecosystems is accelerating with innumerable consequences which  once again,  pose  a threat  to the extinction of the diversity of  the life forms with which our species has co-evolved for over millions of years.

In our society do we have the means and tools to adapt to these profound changes? International summits give birth to disagreements or commitments in minimal time.  This seems to be incompatible with the urgency of the issues at stake and with society facing the economic crisis,  employment and short-term are  priorities. How do we reconcile adaptation, expectation, change and resilience? How do we reverse the principles that structure the relationship of western man to his environment? Adapting to the scale of his needs  rather than his capabilities. What are the values that govern our  resource, food, social, political and economic choices? Who are the people that  hold the keys to this adaptation? Ecologists, town planners, farmers, industrialists, lawyers, artists? What role can social networking, collaborative innovation, creativity and biomimicry play in order to encourage adaptation? With social inequalities dramatically on the rise, will this create a great cast who may or may not adapt? Will safe havens, sanctuaries and abundance of unspoilt nature be the new ghettos of  the privileged classes of tomorrow?  Will they leave those countries most affected behind or will they be united on a national and international scale, with the progress of climate justice, world governance and social ecology ?

Selection committee

Nathalie Blanc, Geographer ; Anne-Marie Charbonneaux, President of Le Magasin, Grenoble ; Claudio Cravero, Director of the Parco d’Arte Vivente, Torino ; Olivier Darné, Artist, laureate of the 2012 COAL Prize ; Eva Hober, Direcor of the gallery Eva Hober ; Theresa von Wuthenau, Coordinator and representant of Imagine 2020 ; Lauranne Germond, Alice Audouin, Loïc Fel, Guillaume Robic and Clément Willemin, founders of Coal.

The selection committee is directed by Anne-Marie Charbonneaux.

Jury

Claude d’Anthenaise, Curator in chief at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature ; Judith Benhamou-Huet, Art critic and curator ; Patrick Degeorges, Philosopher, strategical and emergizing ideas at the French Ministry of Ecology ; David Edwards, Founder of Le Laboratoire ; Jennifer Flay, FIAC Artistic Director ; Thomas Grenon, General Director of the National Natural History Museum ; Raphaël Ménard, Prospective director,  Egis group ; Chiara Parisi, Cultural Programs Director of La Monnaie de Paris ; Gaëlle Rocher, Yves Rocher Foundation ; Gilles Tiberghien, Philosopher.

Selection of entries

Applicants will be judged on the following criteria: artistic value, relevance (understanding of the issues), originality (ability to introduce new approaches, themes, and points of view), pedagogy (ability to get a message across, to raise awareness), social and participative approaches (engagement, testimony, efficiency, societal dynamics), eco-design, feasibility.

Entries by finalists are displayed to promote networking with relevant bodies and authorities, which could facilitate their future realization. The Coal Prize aims to encourage innovative practices. Project proposals can take any form. They have to be new or still in process but not achieved. The Coal Prize award can be a part of a more important funding of the proposed project

Application package

The application should include the following documents, assembled in a single PDF file (20Mo Max.):
-A Curriculum Vitae and a portfolio
-A summary and illustrated description of the entry, detailing its artistic aspects and its relevance to the environmental and rural issues
-A note on the technical aspects of the entry, notably in terms of construction and means of production
-An estimated budget

Submission

All proposals should be submitted to Coal server before February 28th, 2013
>>> Upload proposals here

Particular conditions

By entering this competition, applicants expressly authorize the Coal organization to publish, reproduce and display in public all or part of the elements of their entry, for any purpose linked with the promotion and communication of the Coal project, on all platforms, media, in all countries and for the LEGAL DURATION OF THE COPYRIGHT. Entries submitted but not selected will be held in the archives of the Coal organization. They will, however, remain the property of their authors.

Participation in this call entails the full acceptance of the conditions laid out above.

Contact

For any further requests please write to : contact@projetcoal.fr

Partners

Picture :

Antti Laitinen, Self-portrait in the swamp, 2002