WHITE WOOD FORUM” CONFERENCE

COAL is in Huntly, Scotland at the Deveron Arts Contemporary Art Center to talk about“Art and Sustainability, from Joseph Beuys and Beyond,” May 26-29, 2016, as part of White Wood Forum.

For millennia, indigenous storytellers, musicians, artists and thinkers have been interested in the sensitive nature of our planet, exploring the complex relationships and issues that ecology and cosmologies have with people. At the heart of this interest is a concern for the environment and the achievement of peace.

The White Wood Forum is a continuation of the thinking about art and ecology begun by Joseph Beuys, whose practice, both literally with acorns from his 7000 year old oak tree, and conceptually, planted the seeds for White Wood. As a living monument to peace, created by the people of Huntly, the wood will grow and change as the oaks grow over the next three hundred years. Working as an artist, pacifist and environmentalist, Beuys’ work acts as a confluence of social and cultural perspectives on sustainability: local and global understandings and practices across the lived world.

Our current eco-political system is designed by and for very few people, resulting in endless conflict and ecological decay. What kind of world can we dream of for future generations? And what contributions can art and community make?

Focusing on the link between art, peace and ecology, the White Wood Forum will question how art can be in harmony with the key principles of sustainable development, including alongside ecology – social justice, the foundations of democracy and non-violence. By bringing together people from the arts, anthropology, ecology, politics, peacemaking and locality, the White Wood Forum will raise the question of how to foster a culture of complexity, art and community that impacts the future, for the benefit of generations to come.

Practical information:

White Wood Forum – May 26-28, 2016

Thursday, May 26: Registration at 6:30 p.m., Veterans Club, Huntly

Prof Tim Ingold: “The Sustainability of Everything
Presentation of the film 7000 Oaks by Rhea Thönges-Stringaris
Discussion on Beuys in the 21st Century: Rhea Thönges-Stringaris, Richard Demarco and Shelley Sacks

Friday 27 May: 9am-5pm, Stewarts Hall, Huntly

President of the White Wood Forum: Deirdre Heddon, Professor of Contemporary Performance at the University of Glasgow

Keynote Speaker: Satish Kumar, former monk and long-time peace activist and environmentalist

Participants: Richard Demarco; Georges Thierry Handja, Ellie Harrison, Tim Ingold, Naomi Mason, Robin McAlpine, Lotte Juul Petersen, Shelley Sacks, Rhea Thönges-Stringaris, Marina Velez, and Loïc Fel, co-founder of the COAL association.

Culinary artists: Syrian Supper Club; Omar Afif

Story: Ben MacFadyan

5pm: The Ceilidh Peacemaker with the Strathspey Fiddlers, Gordon Arms Hotel
White Wood Opening Ceremony and Gala Saturday, May 28. More information here: www.deveron-arts.com

Tickets:
White Wood Froum FULL
Peacemaker’s Ceildh only: £5
White Wood Gala: free

Deveron Arts: The Studio, Brander Building, The Square,

Huntly, AB54 8BR, Scotland

For more information: www.deveron-arts.com

Map: www.deveron-arts.com