where are we right now?
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Nov 11, 2009
We’re into the second half of the run now, and on a day to day basis everything is running pretty well. There have been some really great moments recently: * the Institute’s barge moored outside Arnolfini, completely wrapped in their 30m red banner, emblazoned “The concept of culture is deeply reactionary” and “With our £2000...
Challenging Climate Racism
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Nov 9, 2009
Under the capitalist system, in order that England may live in comparative comfort, a hundred million Indians must live on the verge of starvation – an evil state of affairs, but you acquiesce in it every time you step into a taxi or eat a plate of strawberries and cream. The alternative is to throw...
Totally fantastic day yesterday
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Nov 8, 2009
TOTALLY EPIC DAY yesterday with African Writers Abroad, Virtual Migrants, and Remember Saro-Wiwa events. I was completely inspired by the energy flowing around all day – from the workshops in the Meeting Room to performances in Galleries 3 and 4. The place was buzzing. I had been having conniptions earlier in the week about getting...
Imagination Feeds on Disobedience
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Nov 7, 2009
Together with other PLATFORM collaborators I have been spending time in the gallery, talking with visitors about their responses to the C Words exhibition. Today, one such conversation elicited a comment which has stayed with me all day: “It’s interesting – but its not art is it.” “Why do you say that?” James responded. “Because...
The Journey Home
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Nov 6, 2009
Today PLATFORM opened a discussion on what happens after 29th November, when the C Words season at Arnolfini comes to an end. Since before PLATFORM arrived in Bristol those of us involved at the hub of the C Words melee have been meeting weekly to discuss the enormous logistics of the project: two months and...
Roaming Around the Lesser Debris of History
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Nov 5, 2009
Today I sat, I took time watch Ursula Biemann’s film Black Sea Files. The film is showing as a video installation in gallery five at Arnolfini until Sunday 8th November. The film explores the lives of oil affected communities, from Baku in Azerbaijan, through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, tracing the route of BP’s...
The Responsibility of the Artist
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Nov 2, 2009
For many people the C Words season raises questions about the responsibility of artists and creative practitioners in the context of the social and environmental challenges which our society faces. Last week’s Embedded conference sought – in part – to explore this issue. For some – Art sits outside a frame of responsibility – Art might be seen as...
From Coal to Oil – Fossil Fuel Focus
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Oct 21, 2009
Next week C Words will train a spotlight on Tar Sands, described as ‘The most destructive industrial project on earth’. Join us at Arnolfini this Sunday, 25th October 2009 from 19:00 for a special preview screening on the brand new film H2Oil. I arrived at Arnolfini late on Wednesday morning, at the start of a...
C Words: “Not the usual”….
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Oct 16, 2009
What is PLATFORM doing in Arnolfini's programme? And why did Arnolfini invite PLATFORM? Over and over again during C Words, I'm hearing a combination of the words: "not the usual". It might be me, Jane from PLATFORM, saying "this is not the way we usually…", "not the place we usually…", "not the audiences we usually…"...
Presenting messages
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Oct 13, 2009
There’s something on my mind that I want to talk about. How do you, as an activist, an artist or a campaigner, decide to present your ideas? And if you have a particular message – a cause – you want to highlight, how do you get it noticed, and inspire people to action? I saw...
Feral Trade: a different value system
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Oct 6, 2009
This evening I went to hear Kate Rich and Rasha Shaheen present the Feral Trade project. Kate and Rasha are about to embark on a trip to Iran, attempting to open up a new grocery trade route. The Feral Trade project trades goods along social networks: transporting consumables like coffee from El Salvador, sweets from...
The Bristol bus boycott & other stories
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Oct 6, 2009
On Sunday afternoon, Virtual Migrants presented a performance and talk: The Centre Cannot Hold, Part 1. The performance examined the social inequalities around the issue of climate change. The following discussion looked at why those most effected are largely not the industrialised economies causing it; the connections between environmental crises and migration; and local Bristol...
