Keeping on: sustainable art-activism

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What enables artists and activists to keep on making work that challenges the status quo?

How can we sustain ourselves, our imaginations, and our communities while keeping on speaking truth to power?

On 14 March 2012, I wrote this to some people I have been working with recently:

“I’m giving a presentation called “Keeping on: sustainable art-activism” next Wednesday at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester on how creative activists sustain themselves, methods to keep on going over time…The talk will look at Platform’s work and some of the strategies and lessons learnt over the years from artists, social movement activists and others.

I had an idea to ask you what your own seasoned tricks of the trade are? Secrets of outlasting, keeping creative, of not going under or giving in, or selling out.

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11,000 Nigerians sue Shell in London courts

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From Leigh Day & Co:

Six months after Shell admitted liability following two massive oil spills in the Niger Delta, law firm Leigh Day & Co are serving formal legal proceedings tomorrow (Friday 23 March 2012) on the oil giant in the High Court in London for compensation on behalf of over 11,000 Nigerians after negotiations broke down last week.

Shell to pay $25m to Nigerian communities over oil spill

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From UPI.com:

Shell Petroleum Development Co. was ordered by a Nigerian court to pay more than $25 million to five communities in Imo state for a 1997 oil spill. The communities sued Shell for compensation for immediate direct losses to their means of livelihood caused by the oil spill, The Guardian in Oshodi, Nigeria, reported Tuesday.

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Tate Soundscape Hijacked by Artists

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BP’s environmental record is appalling yet many people are prepared to turn a blind eye to the fact that Tate is in bed with BP, one of the “ten worst corporations’’ based on its environmental and human rights record.

A new series of artworks questioning Tate’s relationship with BP has been commissioned by three activist organisations Platform, Art Not Oil and Liberate Tate. The launch is on Friday the 23rd of March 2012 in London UK at 6.30pm at the Calder Bookshop Theatre, SE1 8LF within walking distance of Tate Modern.

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Social Licence: Complicity in the Age of Extraction

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Tar sands protest at Tate Modern in 2011

At first glance, there might not seem to be an obvious common ground between indigenous activists in Canada, performance artists in the UK and climate activists in both countries. However, the international controversy over Canada’s tar sands industry in northern Alberta has galvanised individuals from all these communities into new cooperative relationships opposing the developments. Over the last few years, environmental groups and artists have influenced each other’s practices, resulting in innovative, cross-platform public interventions.

This article, by Kevin Smith of Platform and Clayton Thomas Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network first appeared in the Winter 2011/12 issue of Fuse Magazine in Canada.

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IRIN news: Gas flares still a burning issue in the Niger Delta

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The UN’s humanitarian news network, IRIN has reported on the ongoing health crisis caused by gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The burning off of gas that comes mixed with crude oil is harmful, illegal in Nigeria and has been found to violate human rights. Approximately $2.5 billion of gas is wasted each year, whilst less than half of Nigerians have access to electricity.

Multinational oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, Eni, Total, Addax-Sinopec and Exxon Mobil, and the state owned NNPC continue to flare gas 24 hours a day, seven days a week, causing environmental damage as well as health and human rights impacts for local residents. Shell has flared gas for over five decades and according to official statistics, is still among the worst offenders, along with Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and Eni.  Continue reading →

Join Platform’s Reading Group on ethics, business sponsorship, and making art

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“Take the money and run? Some positions on ethics, business sponsorship and making art” 

Tuesdays 15 & 29 May; 12 & 26 June, 2012; 6.30 – 8.30pm; London. Booking essential.

As part of our work critiquing corporate sponsorship of the arts, we have set up this Reading Group, and you’re invited! The sessions will be based on the Study Room Guide “Take the money and run?” which was written by Platform and commissioned by the Live Art Development Agency. To read it here to get a feel for the texts chosen.

There are lots of guides for artists on how to earn a living from art or how to raise funds to support making it, but few which help us ask about the ethical implications of the routes we choose. Platform selected and wrote commentary on key texts for “Take the money and run?” to share some of the writers and thinkers who have influenced their thinking. With Arts Council England’s announcement of new funds to encourage corporate philanthropy, this Study Room Guide is timely. The Reading Group will be a chance to discuss the wider issues through group reading of some of the texts. For each session, a text will be set in advance, and will form the backbone of the discussion.

The sessions will be facilitated by Jane Trowell, Platform. Platform has been making work on these issues for 20 years, most recently with our high-profile campaign to separate oil company sponsorship from the arts, together with Liberate Tate and Art Not Oil.

NOTE: the Reading Group will not be focused on Platform’s campaign but guided by the concerns of the participants.

The Reading Group is free, but places are limited to 20.  Advance booking is essential on info@thisisliveart.co.uk Please put “Reading Group” in the subject line. You are welcome to come to all four evenings or just a few, but please note that people signing up to two or more sessions will get priority.  

Location: Live Art Development Agency, Rochelle School, Arnold Circus, London, E2 7ES   [+44 (0)20 7033 0275]

 

15th March – an evening with the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest

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Cover of JOAAP #8

One of the co-editors of the groundbreaking Journal of  Aesthetics & Protest is passing through town, and we’re hosting him for an evening that will include a lecture/presentation and  production/performance (group-research) elements.

When – Thursday 15th March, 18.30 – 20.30

Where – The Platform office, 7, Horselydown Lane, Tower Bridge, SE1 2LN

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“The Oil Road” – in search of a subtitle

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Platform has submitted a complete manuscript of “The Oil Road” to Verso; it’s gone to the copy-editors now and will be published in May (with a different cover!).

But we’re still trying to pick a sub-title – do you have any suggestions? Here’s a blurb about the book, and we’ve copied some possible subtitles below.

Send us any new ideas or your favourites from the list below -  tweet us @platformlondon or email Mika. If you come up with the best suggestion, you get your subtitle on the cover of the book!

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