PICNIC OF THE DAMNED – a fond farewell to Kyeemagh beach

Kyeemagh beach, at the mouth of the Cooks River, Botany Bay, has never been a Bondi or Manly, but recently, this small, working class beach has simply disappeared. A victim, not of rising tides and climate change, Kyeemagh beach succumbed to the NSW Government’s desalination juggernaut (whose pipe runs from the plant itself at Kurnell, under Botany Bay to Kyeemagh).

On March 6, 4pm, there’ll be a picnic to commiserate this disappearance, next to this ghostly strip, outside the perimeter of the security fence marking the no-go zone. Bring a picnic basket and blanket, and come dressed a la Picnic at Hanging Rock. Documentation from the picnic will be used for an exhibition in May by Greg Shapley.

WHAT: Picnic of the Damned
WHERE: Near where the beach used to be, next to the Cooks River – opposite General Holmes Drive & O’Dea Ave, Kyeemagh (near Brighton Le Sands), Sydney, Australia
WHEN: Saturday March 6, 4pm-6pm
WHO: Contact Greg Shapley on 0401 152 434 or email gshapley@gmail.com

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Electrosmog Festival – International Festival for Sustainable Mobility

Electrosmog Festival – International Festival for Sustainable Mobility
Various Locations :: March 18 – 20, 2010

Revolving around the concept of Sustainable Immobility, the festival will introduce and explore this concept in theory and practice. The festival aims to realise the fundamental promise of the information age that communication technologies can replace the need for physical mobility, and thus both contribute to ecological stability as well as a more rewarding both deep-local and translocal life-style. The festival asks audiences and presenters to travel no further than local/regional boundaries to attend.

http://www.electrosmogfestival.net/

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Free seminars on social media marketing by Keren Flavell #geekgirl endorsed!

Creator of wholesome media, Keren Flavell is offering free seminars on using social networking for promoting your social cause.

Hosted at CERES Environment Park (Melbourne) from 7PM – 8PM on Thursday evening (Feb 25th & March 4th) – contact Keren to reserve your place!

First session, will focus on how to set-up and use a Facebook Fan Page. The following week she’ll be talking about Twitter and other social networking sites.

Keren is committed to assisting people who are seeking to create positive change in our world. Be part of the magic.!!

http://wholesomemedia.wordpress.com/

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The Nauru Elegies #Melbourne #DJSpooky

A Portrait in Sound and Hypsographic Architecture

The Nauru Elegies is a multimedia portrait of the island of Nauru. The work explores the island in a state of economic collapse and environmental devastation. It has been realised through the collaboration of composer Paul D. Miller, best known as DJ Spooky, and architect Annie K. Kwon.

The music component of the Nauru Elegies reflects colonial and postcolonial issues facing the digital economy of the 21st century translated into a string quartet, composed by Paul D. Miller/DJ Spooky, while the architectural component conceptualized by Annie K. Kwon spatializes and formalizes otherwise invisible economic flows and irreversible ecological devastation.

Venue: Blindside Gallery, Nicholas Building,
Level 7, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Dates: 19 February – 6 March. Times: 10-5 daily

http://www.experimenta.org/

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Experimenta Utopia Now – Opening Night #Melbourne

EXPERIMENTA UTOPIA NOW
International Biennial of Media Art
Ominous to optimistic. Innovative and interactive.

Opening Night
Thursday 11 February 2010 7pm
the Arts Centre, BlackBox, Melbourne

Experimenta Utopia Now International Biennial of Media Art chases the dream of a perfect world. Showcasing more than 35 works from countries including Australia, Japan, Austria, India, Germany, Canada, France, Taiwan and the UK, Experimenta Utopia Now critiques the scope for happiness on earth as we know it, pokes fun at social and physical
boundaries and questions the human race’s ability to preserve itself.

EXHIBITION DATES:
12 February 2010 — 14 March 2010
Open Sunday — Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday & Saturday 10am – 8pm
All ages welcome/Suitable for all ages FREE!
www.experimenta.org

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Green Earth video call-out. #environment #climate change #filmmakers #Brisbane

Green Earth Group Inc. is asking filmmakers of all backgrounds and levels of experience to get out there and start shooting short films for
the Green Earth Festival. Brisbane, Australia

Deadline: 31 January 2010

Find out more at http://greenearthfestival.net/info/video-zone.html

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Blog: throw another tofu-burger on the barbie will ya mate. #Geekgirl on behalf of #tcktcktck

Tcktcktck invited me to write a blog on climate change. I knew immediately what I wanted to pen about – animals!

Have you ever tried to get your head around what it actually takes to feed the planet!? It’s something I find difficult to come to terms with.

Even my little shopping village of Northcote, Melbourne, Australia opened a new butcher the other day. Another one! You’d think 4 existing butchers plus all the restaurants in the area would provide enough meat.

I’ve become more educated lately on the nature of food production, and films like Food Inc are a good start to understand the process from pasture to plate.  Although, I still don’t quite understand who is feeding, farming & processing the 60 billion animals we kill each year.

It’s horrific that most of this is inhumane and, to be quite frank, not producing animals that even taste good. I’m not a vegetarian (yet) but I have massively reduced my consumption of meat and although I try and stick to the MOOS principle (Meat Only on Sunday). I have a lot of reverence for what I eat, and I am conscious of what it takes to get my food on the table.

I know most people eat meat for the flavour and texture. And my smart vegie friends know a lot of tricks developed by Asian food producers who provide some meat-tasting alternatives. Unfortunately, most of this is soaked or prepared in soy sauce and as a Coeliac I can’t go there. But, there must be a huge potential in coming up with an alternative to meat, which tastes like meat, but ain’t. As much as the electric or hybrid cars are being driven (excuse the pun) by an industry that has to, perhaps rather than wants to. There’s a huge market in developing electric sheep, too.

As Copenhagen (COP15) rapidly approaches I would think that food production especially animal production would have to be high on the agenda. But, if ordinary folks like me can’t persuade the masses to re-think what they eat, what about politician turned good guy Al Gore, musician Moby or even PETA pet Pamela Anderson?

Australia needs to take part on a moral and uber-logistical stand on this issue. We can no longer farm or export meat in an inhumane fashion. Even if we do get our farming processes to the point it is compassionate, we need to become sustainable: that means all of us need to reduce our consumption of animals! “Throw another tofu burger on the barbie will ya mate”, might have to become our new national saying!

So, consume less & be informed more!

My personal top ten
1) stop live animal exports (join the Humane Chain)
2) make choices that respect animals; don’t eat them – or at least buy free-range, organic etc
3) moderate your meat consumption
4) support organisations that are compassionate re: ‘farming’  like Campaign for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW)
5) support organisations that also protect our marine life like Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd
6) keep having a go at growing your own food and find out what and when to plant
7) read labels when buying food and insist that labels reflect ingredients like palm oil
(de-forestation is destroying the natural habitats of Orangutans)
8)become a volunteer join local organisations that protect animals and wildlife (Wildlife Victoria)
9) keep informed of campaigns and if need be, write or tweet our Australian politicians

10) On Dec 12, 2009 join the world for a global day of Action

With much love & respect, RosieX

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Design after Nature a collection of experimental ecosystems #art #Melbourne

::: Design after Nature :::

Oliver Bown, Joel Collins, Alan Dorin, Alice Eldridge, Mark Guglielmetti, Indae Hwang, Troy Innocent, Taras Kowaliw, Jon McCormack, Gordon Monro, Yun Tae Nam, Ben Porter, Mitchell Whitelaw

Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 6:00pm
Location: Guildford Lane Gallery
20-24 Guildford Lane
Melbourne, Australia

Exhibition runs until Sunday 20th December

Design after Nature is a collection of experimental ecosystems created as part of a three-year research project undertaken at the Centre for Electronic Media Art, Monash University. The works were developed as part of an ongoing investigation into a systemic approach to electronic media art.

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The ends of the Earth a mixed media installation

Exploring Environmental Degradation through Mixed Media Installation

Jane Castle & Linda Dement, wax box blood(detail), 2009

Jane Castle and Linda Dement present a malevolent installation involving leaking and congealing blood, video loops on hacked digital players, anomalous machinery and a soundscape from recordings made at the ends of  the earth.

runs until 28 November, 2009
SASA Gallery
Kaurna Build, City West Campus
Cnr Fenn Place & Hindley Street
South Australia

Check out the details at:
University of South Australia

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Docos wanted. Australian Ethical Documentary Australia Foundation callout

Australian Ethical, in association with Documentary Australia Foundation, is calling for film makers to submit a mini-documentary piece on the theme of ‘corporate responsibility and the environment’.The winning documentary piece will be awarded $12,500 in prize money, which will be presented at the Australian International Documentary Conference on 24–26 February 2010.

Entries close December 18

Australian Ethical website

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