Regenerate – International Arts Symposium
Nuns Island Thursday April 12th 11-6.30pm
Third Space Galway expands its Galway-based programme to establish a new international dialogue with artistic practitioners from the Netherlands and Great Britain throughout the day and will initiate exciting working partnerships with artists, activists and leading researchers in Galway, NUI Maynooth and most crucially local stakeholders within the Galway community.
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TSG has invited internationally renowned artist, Dutch urban activist, artist and curator Jeanne Van Heeswijk and acclaimed UK based, A Field of Wheat artists, Anne-Marie Culhane and Ruth Levene to Galway to participate in events comprising of a symposium, workshops, consultations, and food presentations which explore our local community food systems and foster an atmosphere of conviviality and community around these issues in a local context.
Jeanne van Heeswijk is a visual artist who facilitates the creation of dynamic and diversified public spaces in order to “radicalize the local”. She embeds herself as an active citizen in communities. Inspired by a particular current event, cultural context or intractable social problem, she dynamically involves neighbours and community members in the planning and realization of a given project.
http://jeanneworks.net/
Between Autumn 2015 and Autumn 2016, the artist-led A Field of Wheat collective, made up of 42 members of the public, the food industry, farming community, artists and researchers, became active stakeholders in a field of wheat in Lincolnshire, England. A Field of Wheat opened up a new space for informed discussion, reflection and sharing of different ways of thinking about wheat farming, food systems and collective ownership within the context of resource depletion, climate change, global markets and technological innovation.
http://fieldofwheat.co.uk/menu/
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TSG has also invited Irish artist, curator, philosopher and experimental food producer Niamh McDonnell to present on her practice which opens new ways of thinking across food sovereignty and performative models of artistic and political engagement.
http://www.plenitude-food.com/
TSG will invite diverse arts, community and cultural stakeholders to participate in the symposium and in the extended conversations and presentations.
TSG has invited curator, writer and filmmaker Katherine Waugh to moderate the Galway discussions and presentations and to explore some of the more challenging philosophical and political issues embedded in the various artistic practices and community initiatives on the day.
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Regenerate will be an exciting and original platform highlighting the growing awareness and appreciation of regenerative arts and cultural practices, ecological living and food production. We aim to utilise this creative platform to engage the many already existing projects working in the areas of artistic and civic engagement and transdisciplinary collaborative practices, locally and internationally with a particular emphasis on arts and environmental activism. —————————————————————————————————————-
Curated by Martina Finn, this event was initiated as part of a Food Sovereignty Ireland collaboration with leading NUI Maynooth researcher Alistair Fraser, author of Global Foodscapes: Oppression and Resistance in the Life of Food, whereby the artists will also take part in the Food Sovereignty Festival in NUI Maynooth April 14th.
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The symposium begins at 11am at Nuns Island theatre with invited artists’ presentations followed by a break for light refreshments and snacks at 1pm and a panel discussion opening to the floor from 2-3.30pm. From 3.30pm-5pm there will be open conversations and consultancies with an opportunity for the artists to meet local stakeholders, community groups, organizers, educators, artists, researchers etc. Closing remarks at 5pm will be followed by a local food buffet with some additional experimental culinary offerings.
The event is free, all are welcome throughout the day and at the closing food event at Nun’s Island.
Nuns Island Theatre, Thursday April 12th: 11am-6.30pm:
11-1pm: Symposium/Artists’ Presentations
2-3.30: Artists & Activists panel discussion
3.30-5.00: Open Consultation sessions available with the artists/activists.
5.00 Closing remarks
5.30-6.30: Convivial Food event open to all, with thanks to Niamh McDonnell, The Bean Tree, Slow Food Galway, Local growers, Cait Curran and Aonghas from An Gearrai Glas
For further information contact thirdspacegalway@gmail.com
The event takes place with the kind support of Galway European Green Leaf, An Siol – Cait Curran, An Gearrai Glas, Slow Food Ireland, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Food Sovereignty Ireland, Galway City Museum, Collaborative Ways Forward, NUI Galway – CKI, NUI Maynooth, Cuman na Bhfear – The Men’s Shed, ArtFarm – Sheila Flanagan, Sheridan’s Cheese, The Bean Tree, Megan Bromley and many others who supported the artist’s hospitality.
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The Galway Symposium took place in partnership with the 2018 Festival of Food Sovereignty, who invited Curator Martina Finn, to curate the arts aspect to this year’s festival:
‘Ireland’s Maynooth University hosted the 2018 Festival of Food Sovereignty mid-April. The intention was to connect activists, scholars, practitioners and social movements from around the world interested in creating a food system rooted in principles of justice, ethical production and consumption, sustainability and democracy. ‘Keynote listener,’ Anja Murray, dishes up her word harvest of conclusions published on the ARC2020 Website .’
How Art & Elemental Words Fed Ireland’s Festival of Food Sovereignty
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