Registration and Programme
To mark the arrival in Glasgow of COP 26, Wraptheworld and Surge present a special Moving Out Symposium to explore the response of artists to the Climate Emergency.
Moving Out – It’s an Emergency will take place on the 10th of November, from 10am to 1pm.
It will occur both online and in-person at our venue in Glasgow.
The symposium will unite artists with producers, curators with art activists, and looks to include voices from around the globe, framing the discussion around themes of:
- Direct Action
- The Aesthetics and Poetics of Ecological Art
- The Provision of Arts-led Spaces and Structures for Sustainable Living.
Ultimately we ask, how can artists effect change in response to the climate emergency?
The symposium will also include workshops and short performances, allowing attendees of the event both digital and in-person to interact directly with some of the artists’ work and the creative campaigns that have been running in the lead-up to COP26. Performances will be broadcast live from Glasgow and internationally.
Moving Out will be a space for discussion of some of the cultural events that occur as a result of COP26’s presence in the city. A portion of the symposium will be devoted to reflection on these events, which we will record, making them available on our website. A brief documentary made by ourselves will be shown at the symposium prior to discussion.
Programme
Moving Out will be chaired by Neil Butler and Christiana Bissett.
This edition of the symposium frames artists’ response to the climate emergency through three distinct but interwoven questions posited to those speaking.
The symposium takes place at our premises on Floor 1, 1 Cadogan Square, Glasgow, G2 7HF.
The symposium will also be livestreamed online simultaneously for those unable to make it in person.
Direct Action
How can art be used to effect and agitate tangible and tactical political change? We begin by showing a short film documenting some of the cultural events that have occured in Glasgow during COP26 thus far. Speaking on this theme we host the activist clowns known as Trickster Laboratory; Reagan Kandole, founder of ECOaction Uganda, an organisation that utilises art to create a zero-waste community; Doug Fransisco, whose Red Devils have become emblematic of Extinction Rebellion will speak as will Ali Pretty and her Beach of Dreams, presented on Glasgow Green at the assembly point of COP26’s first marching protest.
Space and Structures
For the second hour, Moving Out talks to artists and producers whose work acts as to create space and frameworks which allow for political discussion and new ways of thinking within that conceptualisation. Speaking here will be Stella Hall, producer of Festival of Thrift – a festival built around ideas of sustainable living; Professor Chris Fremantle of ecoartscotland, a platform of research and practice designed for artists, critics and scientists alike to have access to climate-related resources; Angus Farquhar talks about the freshly-launched Dandelion project which looks to create a cultural shift in community food production; and Simon Sharkey will talk us through the international, massively-collaborative Conference of Birds project. Ailie Rutherford, curator of this year’s NEoN Festival will also talk about their work with Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle’s Assuming the Ecosexual Position.
Poetics/Aesthetics
The final section of Moving Out will ask artists about work that is inextricably bound up with ecology and the environment itself, and how the latter informs the former in its output. Paul Miskin presents around Insectopolis, responding directly to the worldwide loss of 50% of insect life since 1990. Environmental artist Rob Mulholland talks about how his outdoor sculptural works are designed to interact with their surroundings in an effort to provoke similar questions in the viewer, and all the way from Australia, Cocoloco will present a live performance of their piece Willy and Wally.
Interspersed throughout the day during breaks in the conversation will be short performances and workshops by both Hey Idiots, Text me your Climate Change Solutions and Gill Houlsby’s It’s a Sign.
Full Schedule is as follows:
9.30 Guests are free to arrive at Cadogan Square.
10.00 The symposium begins with welcome from the chairs.
10.10 Documentary of artistic events during COP26 is shown.
10.20 Jay and Robyn from CIRCA
10.30 Reagan Kandole
10,40 Doug Fransisco
10.50 Ali Pretty
11.00 Panel Discussion
11.10 Hey Idiots, Text me your Climate Change Solutions!
11.15 Angus Farquhar
11.25 Christ Fremantle
11.35 Stella Hall
11.45 Simon Sharkey
11.55 Ailie Rutherford
12.05 Panel Discussion
12.15 It’s a Sign workshop and performance
12.25 Paul Miskin
12.35 Rob Mulholland
12.45 Cocoloco Performance
12.55 Panel Discussion
13.05 Closing Remarks
Moving Out – its an Emergency
Co-Chaired by Neil Butler and Christiana Bissett
Project Management Stanley Smith
Produced by Wraptheworld and Surge
