Regenerate: Arts, Activism & Agroecology - Symposium

Third Space Galway presents

Regenerate: Art
Activism
Agroecology

A critical context for Galway
Curated by Martina Finn

Nuns Island Theatre, Galway Thursday April 12th 11am-6.30pm

On April 12th 2018, Third Space Galway will expand its Galway-based programme over the course of the day to establish a new international dialogue with artistic practitioners from the Netherlands and Great Britain, and initiate exciting working partnerships with artists, activists and leading researchers in Galway, NUI Maynooth and most crucially local stakeholders within the Galway community, working in partnership with Galway City Community Network.
TSG has invited internationally renowned artist, urban activist and curator Jeanne Van Heeswijk and acclaimed 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 and 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 realisation of a given project. 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.
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. TSG will invite diverse arts, community and cultural stakeholders to participate in the symposium and in 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.
Regenerate will be an exciting and original platform highlighting the growing awareness and appreciation of regenerative arts and cultural practices, ecological living, farming 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 on April 14th.

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, organisers, 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.

The events takes place with the support of Galway City European Green Leaf, Galway City Council, NUI Galway CKI (Community Knowledge Initiative), Galway City Community Network, Slow Food Ireland, Food Sovereignty Ireland, Galway County Council, NUI Maynooth
For further information contact [email protected]
or visit http://thirdspacegalway.ie/
And please find here a link to upcoming Food Sovereignty Festival 2018 April 14th Maynooth
https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/festival-food-sovereignty
And please see here a link to Nun’s Island Theatre, https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/ga/nuns-island-theatre