Friday 4 September 2009

cape farewell : art and climate change





endangered species, siobhan davies

I went to a lecture at the Barbican last night and was extremely impressed with how Ruth Little, Literary Manager at the Royal Court Theatre, and Cheoreographer, Siobhan Davies, described the experience of visiting the arctic with Cape Farewell and being faced with 'not knowing' how to respond or what to think in a place where experience is so far removed from a more familiar environment. Ruth Little in particular described the importance of a need to shift one's quality of attention to 'seeing' rather than falling back on habit to quantify experience. Little recommended looking at Jill Bolte Taylor's TED talk - in which she describes how she experienced the process of having a stroke and realized how the loss of logic enabled her to have a powerful encounter with the sensory realm. It is a very moving talk and a great insight into how the left and right side of the brain respond to experience. Enjoy!