M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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I am an environmental activist. I try as much as possible to let my political opinions stay out of my working process. My work intends to activate the community and raise public ecological consciousness. Forrester and nature writer, Aldo Leopold believed as the public became more environmentally aware they would approach the land with more sensibility and over time become careful stewards. Creating situations where communities can experience and further understand their local ecosystems is my form of activism. What new projects are you working on? Currently, the Arts Catalyst and I are working on a forthcoming book about the deformed amphibian project (Malamp). As well as, continuing amphibian research field-investigations at sites in New England and Quebec. At La Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) in Montréal, we are establishing a summer-long bioart laboratory to conduct further anuran larvae experiments. The intention is to provide further assistance in understanding the specific etiologies of deformities in local frogs (Quebec is considered one of the regions in North America where abnormalities appear to occur at high frequencies and there are no definitive causes yet known). This fall I will be working on the visual installation for the poetic performance Les Glas Avortés by KuyDelair debuting in November in Montréal’s Place des Arts. Peter Warny and I are working towards the creation of a long-term ecological, art and education research center in New York City, tentively titled The Institute for Biological Research in the Arts. 18 Brandon Ballengée Installation at Gallery 400 � Brandon Ballengée Since 1996, Brandon Ballengée has explored the boundaries between ecological art, research biology and environmental education. These studies have involved collaborations with numerous members of the public, scientific researchers and artists. An area of focus has been the occurrence of developmental deformities and population declines in amphibians. He has conducted field and laboratory investigations throughout the Americas and in England and in 2001, was nominated for membership into Sigma XI, the Scientific Research Society. His ecological artworks have been exhibited internationally including in the 2004 Geumgang Nature Art Biennale in Kung Ju, South Korea, the Waterways Project, part of the 2005 Venice Biennale, Biennale for Electronic Arts Perth 07 in Australia, Biotechnique at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and others. A forthcoming book on his work with amphibians will debut in 2010 published by the Arts Catalyst, London, England. Brandon Ballengée was interviewed by Antennae in Winter 2009 � Antennae
F ood production, energy consumption and ethical living are questions of sustainability that are as relevant for rural communities as they are for urban populations. Supermarkets, SUVs and property ladders are everyday factors in both cities and villages, which also share the problems of social deprivation and alienation. By living in the country, one cannot escape the effects of climate change, while in the city there is no escape from the effects of deforestation. In short, we’re living in an age in which the challenge of sustainability confronts us everywhere. It is telling that when contemporary artists engage with the rural context, issues of sustainability often come to the fore. It was in 1987 in the Brundland Report, commissioned by the UN to investigate the connection between the environment and development, that the term sustainable development crystalised and was influentially defined as ‘how to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ It was however not until 1992 that sustainable development emerged as a global concept at the Rio Earth Summit, which also brought a new awareness of the division between the economic growth of the North and the developing South. Significantly ‘sustainability’ leaves out the loaded notion of ‘development’ and has much broader implications. The founding principles of the German Greens which are ecology, social justice, grassroots democracy and non-violence, are useful tools for understanding the notion of sustainability. At the same time that the concept of sustainability appeared, a parallel development was occurring in the area of social ecology that distanced 19 TOWARDS THE ECHOLOGY OF FREEDOM International Curators Maja and Reuben Fowkes introduce the subject of sustainability in contemporary art. Text by Maja and Reuben Fowkes ‘Selecting in the new planetary humanity those characteristics that allow for its survival, removing the thin diaphragm that separates a bad mediatised advertising from the perfect exteriority that communicates only itself – this is the political task of our generation.’ (Giorgio Agamben) itself from deep appeared, a parallel development was occurring in the area of social ecology that distanced itself from deep ecology. Social ecology, as a more rational branch of environmental thought, asserts that the problems in the environment have their roots in inequalities within society, in the sense that hierarchies and oppression in society are manifested in our relationship towards the natural world. The way we exploit, degrade, pollute and do not value the natural environment is comparable to the hierarchies, divisions and oppressions that exist within human society. According to Murray Bookchin, the leading theorist of social ecology: ‘The conflicts within a divided humanity, structured around domination, inevitably lead to conflicts with nature.’ Sustainability therefore has parallels with social ecology, as they both see the problems in society and environment as interconnected. Furthermore, radical theorist Felix Guattari brings out a third dimension to the understanding of ecological crisis. In his study The Three Ecologies, Guattari called for an ‘ethico-political articulation’ of the problem according to the principles of Ecosophy that takes into account the three ecological registers of the environment, social relations and human subjectivity. His contribution is vital precisely for bringing out, along with the more widely acknowledged environmental and social dimensions, the third element of mental ecology. Guattari argues that the structures of human subjectivity are threatened by the pollution and saturation of the unconscious, in conformity with global market forces, to the extreme of being faced with extinction. He also suggests that artists have a special position between society and the environment, as he states that the ways of operating of Ecosophy ‘will be
Page 1 and 2: Antennae Issue 10 - Summer 2009 ISS
Page 3 and 4: T his issue of Antennae is fully de
Page 5 and 6: ‘Y ou don’t need a Ph.D. in lin
Page 7 and 8: Simon Starling Kakteenhaus, 2002, V
Page 9 and 10: BEYOND CLASSIC FIELD BIOLOGY: BATRA
Page 11 and 12: Brandon Ballengée DFA 83, Karkinos
Page 13 and 14: empathy in viewers. The intention i
Page 15 and 16: Brandon Ballengée The Ever Changin
Page 17: investigations; for example, explor
Page 21 and 22: W hat is a Translocal Curator? We u
Page 23 and 24: The feminist challenge to patriarch
Page 25 and 26: O ver the last several decades, the
Page 27 and 28: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 29 and 30: Julian Montague The Stray Shopping
Page 31 and 32: L ondon Fieldworks’ latest projec
Page 33 and 34: London Fieldworks Stalin Animal Sho
Page 35 and 36: and violence; keeping urban reality
Page 37 and 38: E ndangered Species began as a resp
Page 39 and 40: Todd Gilens Top images: Waiting at
Page 41 and 42: Todd Gilens Foldable Pelican Bus
Page 43 and 44: MAINTAINING A GREEN NEWS AGENDA Thi
Page 45 and 46: coverage shaped in this way appeare
Page 47 and 48: CAPE FAREWELL: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
Page 49 and 50: David Hinton Director David Hinton
Page 51 and 52: Nathan Gallagher Ryuichi Sakamoto o
Page 53 and 54: Patrick Huse Bølgende landskap, wa
Page 55 and 56: Which brings me back to what origin
Page 57 and 58: nature. The affirmation is one that
Page 59 and 60: Max Eastley Max Eastley recording s
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Page 63 and 64: Max Eastley Exposición CAPE FAREWE
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Ackroyd & Harvey FlyTower 2007, Nat
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Ackroyd & Harvey Green brick, green
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Ken Yonetani The Dead Sea, 2008, ce
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Mark Wilson and Bryndís Snæbjörn
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Georgina Reid For the Baby, In Ligh
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Art Orienté Objet have been creati
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Art Orienté Objet Bwiti Turning, 2
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and his environment emerges from th
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Art Orienté Objet The Happy Hen, 2
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M INE is a documentary film by Gera
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Geralyn Pezanoski Mine: Taken By Ka
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91 MAUSOLEUM The extraordinary bota
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Gregory Pryor Herbarium, Naturhisto
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Gregory Pryor Top Image: Black Sola
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Brandon Ballengée DFA 2, Héphaist
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M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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