COAL AWARDS 2015 – CALL FOR PROJECTS

CALL FOR PROJECTS – COAL AND ENVIRONMENT AWARDS 2015
PARIS CLIMATE 2015 / COP21

Open until February 28, 2015

 

The COAL Art and Environment Prize reveals the richness of the answers brought by the artists to the current environmental problems. Each year, it honors ten projects by artists working in the field of visual arts in connection with environmental issues, which are selected through an international call for projects. One of them is awarded the COAL Art and Environment Prize by a jury of art and ecology personalities.

In 2015, from November 30 to December 10, 2015, France will host COP21, the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference. The COP21 is a crucial international meeting for the fight against climate change. Its goal is to commit all countries to a universal agreement to contain global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.

The 2015 edition of the COAL Art and Environment Prize is part of the COP21 and aims to bring to the general public and political actors other ways of understanding the complexity of the climate challenge through a multiplicity of views and creative and innovative proposals.

The essentially political and scientific approach to ecological issues, to the detriment of the dissemination of a true culture of change, encourages the disengagement of citizens, the feeling of powerlessness and inaction. However, the ecological transition is an opportunity for a new impetus for society, which artists and cultural circles, through their transversal and disinterested vision, have the power to carry. Today, a true artistic movement that combines social and environmental transformation and creative act is emerging all over the world. The COAL Art and Environment Prize 2015 gives him the floor.

This sixth edition of the COAL Art and Environment Prize is part of the ArtCOP21 program, an exceptional cultural event, initiated by COAL and Cape Farewell, which will take place in Paris during the COP21, to mobilize public opinion around a new vision of the world, positive and sustainable. ArtCOP21 is a vast artistic and collaborative program around the climate challenge: performances, exhibitions, co-creations, screenings, concerts, meetings, readings, workshops and experiments will be deployed throughout the city, in a plurality of places federated for the occasion.

Created in 2010 by the association COAL, the Coalition for Art and Sustainable Development, the COAL Art and Environment Prize is placed under the high patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and the National Center for Plastic Arts.

The endowment of the COAL Art and Environment Prize 2015

The winner of the COAL Art and Environment Prize 2015 will receive an endowment of 5,000 euros and a residence at the Domaine de Belval (Ardennes), property of the François Sommer Foundation, with additional financial support for production.

The François Sommer Foundation has joined forces with COAL to award the 2015 COAL Art and Environment Prize with a unique artistic creation residency at the Belval estate, along with financial support for production.
The François Sommer Foundation, recognized as a public utility since its creation on November 30, 1966, was created by François and Jacqueline Sommer, pioneers in the implementation of a humanist ecology. Faithful to the commitments of its founders, it works for the protection of a biodiversity where man finds his rightful place, for the respectful use of nature’s resources and the sharing of the wealth of natural, artistic and cultural heritage.

The domain of Belval is located in the commune of Belval-Bois-des-Dames. With a surface area of 600 hectares, it is essentially forested and covered with meadows and 40 hectares of ponds. A true observatory of rurality and wildlife, it welcomes each year artists selected for their contribution to the renewal of the vision of the relationship between man and his natural environment. The Foundation’s commitment to supporting contemporary artistic creation is demonstrated by the fact that the residence at the Domaine de Belval contributes to the dissemination of the artists’ works to a wide audience. It also puts at the service of the creation a network of complementary skills carried by the scientific and educational teams of the Museum of Hunting and Nature and those of the Belval estate.

Download the charter of the residence at the Domaine de Belval

The “Oceans” Special Award

In the midst of preparations for ArtCOP21, cultural actors are coming together and new collaborations are being forged around the links between art and ecology.
It is in this spirit that Tara Expéditions* and COAL have joined forces and launched a special “Oceans” prize within the COAL Art and Environment Prize 2015 dedicated to climate issues.
The winner of this exceptional prize will spend a month in residence on Tara* as part of the
Tara’s mission on coral-
“coral reefs in the face of global change
– which will take place in the Pacific Ocean from 2016 to 2018.
This new expedition aims to understand the evolution of coral reefs in the context of demographic and climate change. While they cover only 0.1% of the ocean surface, coral reefs gather 30% of the biodiversity of the seas and provide direct sustenance, in terms of food, to nearly one billion people, mainly in the South Asian area (Coral Triangle), one of the destinations of the expedition.

This special “Oceans” prize will be awarded to an artistic project committed to saving the oceans in the light of current climate issues.

Conditions: travel and per diem expenses to join the Tara coral expedition are at the artist’s expense.

* Tara Expeditions is a French non-profit initiative that has been working since 2003 in favor of the environment and research thanks to a mythical boat: Tara, built for extreme conditions.

 

Download the call for projects in pdf

CALENDAR

The closing date for the call for projects has been extended to midnight on February 28, 2015.

The COAL Prize will be awarded in the fall of 2015 during a ceremony attended by artists and actors of art and sustainable development. The winner will be chosen from among ten finalists selected through an international call for projects by a jury of representatives from the world of contemporary art, research, ecology and sustainable development.

OPERATION

Ten projects will be selected from all the proposals received in the framework of the international call by a jury and a committee currently being formed. Their choices will be guided by consideration of artistic value, relevance (understanding of the issues), originality (ability to propose new approaches, themes or angles of view), pedagogy (ability to convey a message, to raise awareness), social and participatory approach (commitment, testimony, efficiency, societal dynamics), eco-design and feasibility.

The COAL Prize supports artistic projects in progress or to come. Its endowment is not intended to cover the totality of the production costs of the project and must be considered as an aid to its development.

Beyond the awarding of the Prize, the call for projects of the COAL Prize 2015 wants to promote the artists involved and testify to the creative potential of the visual arts on the theme of the environment. The 2015 call for projects also aims to identify and promote initiatives being developed for COP21.

APPLICATION FORM

The application must consist of the following documents in a single file in pdf format(The application must not exceed 20 pages):

-A synthetic and illustrated description of the proposed project presenting its artistic dimension and its perspective with the environmental subject and the annual theme;
– Two high definition visuals illustrating the project;
-A note on the technical characteristics of the project, particularly in terms of infrastructure and means of production;
-Budget estimate;
-A Curriculum Vitae and an artistic file.

FILE SUBMISSION

All proposals must be submitted on the COAL server by midnight on February 28, 2015.

> Put your file online on the COAL server

SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

By participating in this call, the authors of the projects expressly authorize COAL to publish, reproduce and publicly distribute all or part of the elements of their project, for all purposes related to the promotion and communication of the COAL project, on all media, in all countries and for the legal duration of copyright. The projects submitted and not selected will remain in the archives of the COAL association. They remain nevertheless the property of their authors. Participation in this call for projects implies full acceptance of the above conditions.

CONTACT

For any additional request please write to: contact(at)projetcoal.fr

IMAGE CREDIT

© Cai Guo-Qiang, The Ninth Wave sailing on the Huangpu River by the Bund, Shanghai, 2014. Photo by JJY Photo, courtesy Cai Studio