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!

rinko kawauchi

'I am often not sure why I am photographing things, but by the end of the third year I know. When the pictures provide the answer I know it is time to move on.'

Rinko Kawauchi in converstion

with Martin Parr, June 2009

hannes schüpbach

Hannes Schüpbach (b. 1965) creates meditative and lyrical film diaries that explore the power and limits of the single shot and an idea(l) of beauty grounded in a fascination with nature. An accomplished painter and expert on textile art, Schüpbach uses 16mm cinematography to explore cinema’s painterly dimensions, bringing to his films a keen attention to color and light and their effect on mood and tempo.

Schüpbach’s meticulously structured silent films, discover a multi-layered world, often using superimpositions and reflections to explore the hidden depths of the places and people evoked within them.

adam broomberg and oliver chanarin

Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have worked together for over ten years. Their unusual approach to photojournalism has earned them a place amongst the most progressive photographers working on the front-line today

The long term collaborators constantly question the responsibility of the photographer and whether the photographs made will change the situation of the protagonist in the frame. They gain access to situations by researching stories meticulously before they arrive and choose a particular aesthetic for each specific project.

Citing diverse influences, from the music of John Cage to 'The Story of my Death' by the Italian, Lauro de Bosis, who succeeded in humiliating Mussolini by distributing ant-fascist leaflets in a solo flight over Rome before disappearing at sea - Broomberg and Chanarin encourage an audience to work harder and listen more closely to the stories they are told.

'The act of photographing is complicit - you are not a neutral witness.'

Broomberg and Chanarin

Photovoice Lecture Series

susan derges

'The whole night became my dark room,' Susan Derges

richard long

I like the simplicity of walking,

the simplicity of stones

I like the common means given

the simple twist of art.

I choose lines and circles because they do the job.

My art is about working in the wide world,

wherever, on the surface of the earth.

My work is not urban, nor is it romantic.

It is the laying down of modern ideas

in the only practical places to take them.

Richard Long, 1980

school run