Coral Bleaching

Cape Farewell Quotes

"The human behaviour that has caused climate change has only been with us for 200 years since the start of the industrial revolution. Aren't we due another turning point, towards a less selfish, more symbiotic time?" David Buckland, Cape farewell burning ice 2006.

"Encompassing Gaia theory, this world view sees life as being as much based on the symbiosis of organisms rather than their competition. The lichens we saw thriving in such extreme conditions could only survive them because of the mutual dependence that had evolved between a fungus and an algae. Similarly, we can only survive the coming extremes of our global climate if we learn to live more symbiotically with the living things around us" Dr Tom Wakeford, Cape Farewell Burning ice 2006, pg 83.

" I couldn't say that art will solve everything, it wont solve anything, but there has to be a kind of amalgamation of everybody all looking in the same direction. First you have to convince people that climate change is happening, second what we can do about it, and finally how long have we got?" Max Eastly Cape Farewell Burning Ice 2006 pg 56.

Zooxanthellae Symbiotic algae

In the early life of a coral polyp it can adopt a single celled algea (actually dinoflagellates) called zooxanthellae. They are extremely small, with even a small coral colony harboring millions. It is these microbes that allow corals to build vast structures in a completely nutrient starved environment. These areas of ocean are so devoid of nutrients they are refered to as deserts. The zooxanthellae contain chlorophyll, and are so able to synthesize oxygen and energy rich products using sunlight carbondioxide and water by means of photosynthesis.

The symbiotic relasionship is highly complex. The algea exists in a stable environment safe from preditation and benefits from constant physical and chemical conditions, inside the cells of a living organism, where a beneficial exchange of nutrients and wastes is provided.

Despite being sheltered from direct sun light, zooxanthellae photosynthesize at nearly the same rate as free swimming spores. As well as protection the zooxanthellae benefit from dissolved nutrients that the polyp absorbs; nitrates, phosphates and ammonia given off by the coral metabolically.

In return the polyp gets energy rich products from the zooxanthellae from photosynthesis (mutualism). In theory a coral could survive without zooxanthellae, but in the nutrient starved reef conditons the coral would inevitably die. There are over 80 known strains of dinoflagellets, and are suited to specific corals and conditions. However a coral can expell a current strain of zooxanthellae for another which better meets its environmental requirements.

Extracted from (Aqaurium corals, Eric H. Borneman, 2001 pg47-55)

Microbes overview

Microorganisms are an extremely diverse group of organisms made up of fungi, archaea, protists (algae), plankton and planarian amoungst others. Most are unicellular, but a few are unicellular.

They live in all parts of the biosphere where there is liquid water, including soil, the sea bed, the atmosphere, rocks, plants and animals. They are also critical to nutrient recycling and act as decomposers in ecosystems. Some can fix nitrogen and are a vital part of the nitrogen cycle.

Single celled microorganisms were the first life forms on earth, dating back to approximately 3 to 4 billion years ago. Bacteria, algae and fungi have been identified in amber over 220 million years old. Most can reproduce rapidly, and microbes such as bacteria can also freely exchange genes by conjulation, transformation and transduction between widely divergent species. This and mutation rates allows them to rapidly evolve to survive in new environments and stresses, playing a vital role in medical research.

The idea of microbes existence was discussed for many centuries before their identification in the 17th century by Anton Leevwenhoek who invented the first microscope, which lead to the discovery of many areas of medicine and micro biology.

Classification

Prokaryotes

Organisms that lack a cell nucleus and membrane bound organelles. Almost always unicellular, some species such as myxobacteria can morph into complex structures through their life cycle. They consist of 2 domains; Bacteria and Archaea. Prokaryotes are the most diverse and abundant group of organisms on the planet. They are found in practically all environments where some liquid water is available and up to 140c. They exist in sea water, soil, air, animals, beneath the earths crust and pretty much every surface which hasn't been specially sterilized, and are an estimated 5 million trillion trillion on earth.

Bacteria

Nearly all invisible to the naked eye, with very exceptions such as Thiomargarita nambiensis. They are unicellular organisms with no membrane bound organelles. Their genome is usually a singular loop of DNA although they can harbor small pieces of DNA called plasmids. They reproduce by binary fission or budding and can double as quickly as every 10 minutes.

Archaea

Very similar to bacteria only described in 1990 by Carl Woese with the introduction of his 3 domian system. They differ from bacteria in their genetics and biochemistry. Bacteria membranes are made from physphoglycerides with ester bonds, archaea membranes are made up of ether lipids. Archaea were first thought only to exist in extreme conditions, but is now known to be untrue eg. Crenarchaeota is the most common life form in the sea and is abundant in soil being vital to ammonia oxidation.

Eukaryotes

Most living things that are visible to the naked eye in adult form are eukaryotes, however a large number are also microorganisms. They contain a cell nucleus and evolved from symbiotic bacteria, therefor contain a remnant genome. Like bacteria plant cells have cell walls and contain organelles such as chloroplasts, produce energy through photosynthesis and were originally symbiotic bacteria.

Protists

Commonly unicellular and microscopic. They are a highly diverse group difficult to identify. Include many species of algae and slime molds switching between unicellular, colonial and multi cellular forms.

Animals

Include microscopic arthropods, copepods, cladocera, nematodes and rotifers (water filter feedrs). Reproduce both Asexually and sexually.

Fungi

Many unicellular species including bakers yeast. Some undergo phenotypic switching and grow as single cells in some environments and filamentoushyphae in others. Reproduce both Asexually by budding or binary fission and spores called condia, and basidiospores sexually.

Plants

There are approximately 6000 species of green algae. They are a group of eukaryotes and can be classified as protists, others like charophyta are classified with embryophte plants. Algae can grow single cells or long chains. Green algae include unicellular and colonial flagellates.

Extremophiles

Microorganisms adapted to survive and thrive in conditions normally fatal to most life forms eg. Temperatures as high as 130c and pressures as low as 0atm (vacuum of space).

( extracted from www.wikipedea.com)

PM warns of climate 'catastrophe'

PM warns of climate 'catastrophe'

Mr Brown warned of conflict fuelled by climate-induced migration
The UK faces a "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree a deal on climate change, the prime minister has warned.
Gordon Brown said negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the "impasse".
He told the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, there was "no plan B".
World delegations meet in Copenhagen in December for talks on a new treaty.
'Rising wave'
The United Nations summit will aim to establish a deal to replace the 1997 Kyoto treaty as its targets for reducing emissions only apply to a small number of countries and expire in 2012.
Once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice
Gordon Brown
Mr Brown said it was a profound moment for the world involving momentous choice.
At the meeting in London, the prime minister warned that preparatory talks within the United Nations have reached an impasse.
Negotiators, he said, were not reaching agreement quickly enough.
"In Britain we face the prospect of more frequent droughts and a rising wave of floods," Mr Brown told delegates.
"The extraordinary summer heatwave of 2003 in Europe resulted in over 35,000 extra deaths.
Grim warning
"On current trends, such an event could become quite routine in Britain in just a few decades' time. And within the lifetime of our children and grandchildren the intense temperatures of 2003 could become the average temperature experienced throughout much of Europe."

Many campaign groups say the UN talks are stalling
If a deal was not agreed, the world would face more conflict fuelled by climate-induced migration, Mr Brown added.
He told the meeting that by 2080 an extra 1.8 billion people - a quarter of the world's current population - could lack sufficient water.
Mr Brown said: "If we do not reach a deal at this time, let us be in no doubt: once the damage from unchecked emissions growth is done, no retrospective global agreement, in some future period, can undo that choice.
"So we should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the catastrophe we face if present warming trends continue."
Agreement at Copenhagen "is possible", he concluded.
"But we must frankly face the plain fact that our negotiators are not getting to agreement quickly enough. So I believe that leaders must engage directly to break the impasse."
In recent days there have been a number of warnings that progress is stalling, with Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, telling Newsweek magazine "the prospects that states will actually agree to anything in Copenhagen are starting to look worse and worse".
MEF is not part of the formal UN process and so firm commitments are unlikely to come from the meeting.
It is seen instead as a forum where countries can explore options and positions in a less pressured environment.


Courtesy of BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Earlier Work

"Home of the Elephant" 2006 mixed media

"Ecology in the Balance" 2006 Aluminum, Solid Silver, Popcorn

"Jelly in a bag" 2005 polythene and air

"Filth" 2004 plastic, porcelain

Untitled 2003

Untitled war series 2003Untitled war series 2003

Babahogs Exhibition Napoleons Pachyderms

Images from an instillation I recently had at Babahogs art gallery in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Shai Zakai

Creative Corrections Eco-Cultural ServantShai Zakai is an Eco artist and activist. For over 15 years she has collected examples of flora (be it leaves seeds, and grasses) from all over the world, where deforestation, plant removal, destruction by agriculture or urban development have taken place. She has also made it a daily ritual to take photographs of woodland areas local to her, using unusual angles and moment specific UN-tampered with compositions as a running dialogue. Together she has created a library consisting of boxes with differing pictures and plant life inside. This library is a huge memory log which co insides with a particular place or event, provoking emotions and events which have taken place. For example; a bomb was dropped in Israel, and the authorities said "nothing happened" meaning there were no human fatalities. But the damage caused to the local ecology was devastating, plants, forests, birds, animals and insects were all destroyed. Shai took it upon herself to document the disastrous not to be forgotten and to bring to the attention of the audience that when "nothing happened," something had very much definitely happened!

"Forest tunes"

Shai also works with the belief of art working across disciplines, bringing voids together. She works with other artists, scientists, politicians, and the public, including her gardener who she promoted the use of natural methods of land clearance rather than the use of pesticides, as soil has a 7 year memory and would cause long term detrimental effects

"Cement Dress" a piece derived from an Israeli song "we will cloth you in cement" a song talking about the urban development of Israel. The piece was also worked and edited as a photograph where nature was put back into the images.

Concrete Creek 1999-2002

Concrete creek was an on going piece. The developers of Beit Shemesh had been dumping waste concrete at the end of the day into the creek rather than disposing of it properly. It was an enormous amount which led to the stream setting solid! Shai first documented the creek with pictures which were first used as evidence against the building firm as evidence in court and then to fuel art work. Her first notion was to wade in and fix the problem manually, but after deliberation decided to aid nature in its own repair of the area, humans had already caused enough problems. There were many pieces of art that went along side the clean up including performance, sculpture and photographic. This addresses her idea of crossing disciplines and bringing the work and disaster to public attention.

Concrete flags put in place as obstacles for work vehicles

"The Last Super Table" a permanent reminder of what happened at concrete creek

Shai Zakai has her Forest Tunes exhibition on at Exter library CCANW until 22nd november 09

Industrial Ecology and Global Change

"Global Change Science is an interdisciplinary effort to understand these systems. This new field is also concerned with how one of these life forms, human beings, is altering processes, changing material and energy flows, transforming ecosystems, eliminating and rearranging species, and introducing artificial chemicals and species into the environment." (Industrial Ecology and Global change, William R Moomaw pgxiii 1994 cambridge press, ed R Socdow, C Andrews, F Berkhout, V Thomas)

"Designing industrial processes so that they are compatable with and do not unduly alter global carbon, nitrogen and sulfer cycles is a major chalaange even to formulate"(Industrial Ecology and Global change, William R Moomaw pgxiv 1994 cambridge press, ed R Socdow, C Andrews, F Berkhout, V Thomas)

Inroduction to research lecture by Nancy Roth

"Every time we describe an event, add up a column of figures or take a photograph, we create a model."

Maker

Why are you doing Fine Art? Challenge your practice, what has been there all the time? Is there a running theme or component through your practice? Then on the other side what has changed radically?

How as the maker do you know when your work is finished? Is it set by a deadline or are you the type of artist who just knows when you are done, where the cut off point is,or is your work ever finished? For myself i feel my work is never finished, I'm never quite satisfied and i feel I only complete components of a bigger piece. In this case my practice.

As an artist you should assess your work, and if there is one thing you can take away from the piece what would it be? What difference has my medium made in the world? Where did the medium come from and what is its relevance in the world today?

What do artists do?

Express themselves

Reflect us (the audience) to ourselves

Research perception

Amuse, annoy, frighten

We take a problem, find a means of addressing it and find a possible resolution.

Photography Induction

07th Oct 2009

Opening hours can be found on the intranet, the learning space, screen in the main foyer and on face book under groups- ucf- photography.

CS4 file image sizes: A5 12.5mb, A4 25mb, A5 50mb.

Save files as TIFF- non compressed files, if the camera has the function use RAW to shoot pictures, meaning all adjustments Can be made on the computer not on the camera leading to higher quality results.

Photography suit has 2 types of printers:
RA4 uses digital files, takes normal, photo quality gloss or lustre prints up to A3, 70mb limit.
Inkjet, is very high quality will print from A3 to B0, takes all paper types as well as card, canvass HD and back lit film.

All files must be
RGB not CYMK
8 bit
Resolution 300ppi
TIFF files, it wont accept PDF files
Images must be flattened with no layers
Image size must be set on the file and not stretched to size

If images are different sizes, send them to the printers on separate orders, and write down the image print numbers.

MA fine art course introduction

6th oct 2009

Project proposal final sheet due in by week 20, although there should be many drafts before, along with studio practice and experimentation to make clear the negotiated project.

Context
How does it fit into the world? Philosophy, environmental, social, gender? Theorise your work.

Aims
What is it going to achieve?

Methods
What does it involve?

Areas to research
Crosses over with context, areas you feel could be important in the future.

Bibliography
Library search lists, videos, documentaries etc

Schedule of work
Stages of experimentation

Outcomes
Actual product

mafineartcontemporarypractice.wordpress.com

Cape Farewell

Cape farewell is a collaboration between scientists, artists and writers trying to bring the effects of global warming and other environmental issues to our attention through their chosen medium. Working along side the Eden project the scheme includes site works and residencies world wide. " Through a series of residencies and site-specific works, Cape Farewell artists will surprise engage and illuminate the evolving climate change narrative. Cape Farewell and the Eden project share the ambition to communicate through creative means, the need for a more Sympathetic relationship between humans and the planet." (Eden Project Board)

www.capefarewell.com

Eden Project Education Centre

Peter Randall-Page "seed" Created from a single piece of granite estimated to be 300 million years old and one of the largest sculptures to be made from a single piece of stone.

www.edenproject.com

Eden Project

With my initial idea of using symbiont's in nature and cross referencing them to human life and its impacts on the environment, I decided to start my research at the Eden Project.


My main area of interest was the tropical biome, where the team have created a largely self sufficient, (minus some watering) self contained Eco-system. This rich bio-diverse atmosphere contains thousands of species of plants, crawling with insect life, each playing its part. Ants are feeding from the nectar of large flowers, subsequently transferring pollen to the next plant providing a mutually beneficial relationship. Birds and reptiles keep the invertebrate numbers in check as a form of natural control.

The varying scale of the vegetation is not short of being extraordinary. The fast rate at which it grows has generated a feeling of gigantisism, making the viewer appear child like in proportion. Scale is an issue I addressed largely on my BA course in the form of my dissertation and practical work and is a theme i plan on using throughout the course of my MA.

Bottle Palm above; Highly endangered tree with a 5 to 6 month germination period, and slow growing.

Along with symbiotic relationships, I have also been reading about the depletion of the British honey bee, due to disease and the introduction of foreign species. If our native insects were to disappear it would have a huge impact on the vegetation the country would be able to sustain. Einstein once said that if bees were to disappear from the earth then humans would only have 4 years to live. I think this is extreme, but enforces the idea of the importance of symbiotic relationships as with the vanilla plant (below) would surely become rapidly extinct. I have also read in regions of china the depletion of their native bees has become so severe that farmers have taken to employing workers to pollinate crops by hand with paint brushes.

Above: The pollination process as depicted by the Eden Project

Symbiotic Relations...

I am interested in exploring the symbiotic relationships between nature and humans. I will use this blog to show my research and idea development.