COAL WORKSHOP AT THE “ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND SOCIETY” SYMPOSIUM IN POITIERS

Symposium “Environmental change and society”.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Euro-Latin American Campus of Sciences Po in Poitiers (Sciences Po)
Poitiers, March 23-27, 2015

UNESCO invites COAL to bring the voice of artists to a symposium dedicated to climate change at Euro-Latin American Campus of Sciences Po in Poitiers (Sciences Po)March 23-27, 2015. Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni will present their artistic works during the conference “Imagining” on Thursday, March 26 at 2 pm. COAL also proposes the discovery of Thierry Spitzer’s film “Barthélémy Toguo: two hands… the world” around the work of the artist of Cameroonian origin the same day at 6 pm.
These meetings kick off ArtCOP21, the Paris Climate 2015 Cultural Agenda orchestrated by COAL and Cape Farewell.

In the run-up to the Paris Climate 2015 conference, UNESCO and the Euro-Latin American Campus of Sciences Po are organizing a week dedicated to the interactions between environmental change and society from March 23 to 27, 2015 in Poitiers (France).

The objective of the “Environmental Change and Society” week is to improve knowledge of climate change in all its complexity, in order to promote the adaptation of current societies and also to think about the transformation of the latter through the emergence of practical, local, political, social, cultural, scientific and technological innovations. This week will focus on sharing experiences (including with Latin American and Caribbean regions) that can positively impact public policies and civil society as a whole.

It will also be an opportunity to encourage a process of awareness raising, mobilization and citizen involvement, especially among youth, which is expected by many actors.

Finally, it should allow the local-regional territory to be part of an interregional and international dynamic and reinforce the regional anchoring of the reflection conducted by the international community on these issues, particularly within the United Nations.

The week will be structured around three key phases:

– a simulation of climate negotiations by students from the Sciences Po Poitiers campus in relation with different partner universities (French and foreign).

– An international symposium on the social and human dimension of global environmental change where local and international actors, decision-makers, experts and artists, especially from Latin American regions, will be brought together in discussion with students and the general public.

– a set of events, artistic and cultural performances in the city with a resonance on the whole regional territory.

The international symposium phase aims to contribute scientifically, and in an interdisciplinary way, to the production of knowledge, the recognition and questioning of values, as well as to facilitate the transition to practical action by adopting a profoundly positive approach focused on the new dynamics of action.

The international symposium will focus on four main themes: knowing, imagining, adapting, governing and convincing. This event will bring together a wide range of speakers with different geographical origins, expertise and training.

Practical information about COAL’s intervention in the symposium

Thursday, February 26th
2-4pm
Conference by Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni
Amphi Carbonnier, Hôtel Aubaret, Faculty of Law (University of Poitiers)

6-8pm
Screening of Thierry Spitzer’s film “Barthélémy Toguo : two hands… the world”.
Amphitheater Bolivar – Sciences-Po Poitiers

More information on the program:
www.unesco.org/changement-environnemental-societe

Image: Barthélémy Toguo, TAMPONS, EMPREINTES (variant of the installation The New World’s Climax, 2001)