Creative Disturbance

Entirely made of raw materials, Ralph Borland’s robotic art is inspired by “wild works” done by local craftsmen with whom he has developed a collaborative art practice throughout the years. This episode touches upon topics such as the history of automata in Africa, the field of ethnomathematics, and his current research project 'Global Arenas' which is an investigation of Southern contributions to global knowledge. http://www.ralphborland.net/africanrobots/

Artist Diane Burko talks about her evolution from landscape painter to climate artist, and using art to help raise awareness about climate change, in a conversation with writer and critic Miriam Seidel. http://www.dianeburko.com/

Kim Fraczek protests fracking, a controversial technique to recover gas and oil from shale rock, using… puppets. She's been involved in the anti-fracking movement for many years. But it all started when she was a kid, and, as she tells it, got into punk music…

Neste podcast, Madalena Wallenstein dá a sua visão sobre o projeto de arte e ciência “Raízes da Curiosidade: Tempo de Ciência e Arte” e fala sobre o culminar do ciclo com o lançamento de um livro onde os intervenientes (duplas cientista-artista, criadores da ideia original, diretores artisticos e curadora) refletem sobre o processo de criação. https://www.ccb.pt/Default/pt/Programacao/ConferenciasCursosEOutros?A=368

Cynthia Rosenzweig is a Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, one of the leading institutions for research about global climate change. There, she's the leader of the Climate Impacts Group—which means she studies the ways a changing climate has—and will—affect our lives...

Wendy Brawer is the woman behind Green Map System, an online platform for building community maps and guides to green living, nature and cultural resources. Green Map is now a presence in close to 900 communities in 65 countries. As Wendy remembers, it all started back in 1991, when she and a group of inspirational people from around the world were in New York City, preparing for the Earth Summit...

Gioya Fennelly is an Instructor at Teacher's College and is passionate about developing sustainable education curriculum and helping teachers build STEM education in their classrooms. Anasa Scott is strategic planning consultant and co-founder of Greenproofing, where she develops projects for nonprofits and public schools. Over the years, Gioya and Anasa have partnered to get students to experience science...with their hands. As Gioya recalls, a memorable part of one of their projects involved the students getting out of the classroom and into the neighborhood..

Jeanne DuPont is the founder of the Rockaway Waterfront. Alliance. She works to raise awareness about the natural assets of the Rockaways, an oceanfront neighborhood on the outskirts of New York City. The alliance also advocates for the health and well being of the people who live in the Rockaway. Here, Jean remembers how everything changed after the community was struck by Hurricane Sandy.

In this podcast Roger Malina discusses with Chirag Gupta about coworking and collaboration. Within this they talk about NoD - North Dallas Coworking Space and methods of improving coworking/collaboration. A key point to Chirag's improvements are his applications of music. http://www.noddfw.com/

Morgan Trevor lives in Nigeria and uses art to interrogate his environment. Inspired by the writings of Suzanne Moser and Lisa Dilling on climate change, he makes use of visual metaphors to gauge the general public’s awareness and understanding of environmental issues. He also describes two of his work series, Eco-Cancer and Garbage In/Out. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Trevor_Morgan2

Following the first part of our discussion, Trevor describes two recent works of his series paintings, In Defense of Waste and Carbone-D. He comes back to both the possible role of artists in the act of creation and the responsibility of public institutions in the environmental crisis. He also shares ideas about the future of green technology in Africa. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Trevor_Morgan2

Kazi Ateea is a passionate activist for climate change—and she's young, only 16 at the time she recorded this interview. Since learning about climate change, and seeing the impacts on her family and community, Kasi has become a youth leader on the climate stage. Here, she talks about how her birthplace has influenced her activism.

Mary Miss is an artist and Founder of the City as Living Laboratory who has, since the 1970's, been exploring how artists can play a more central role in addressing the complex issues of our times. Courtney St. John is Associate Director at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, or CRED, at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, where she works with decision-makers, researchers, scientists AND artists to understand how to effectively communicate climate change. Mary and Courtney came in to talk about how art can be a tool for communication and inspire action.

In this podcast contemporary Iranian artist, Mahsa Karimizadeh, talks about her recent exhibition in Aun Gallery in Tehran. She describes how nature, the infinite galaxy especially black holes and the microscopic world of atoms have constantly been primary sources of her artistic inspiration. مهسا کریمی زاده هنرمند مجسمه سازی است که همواره طبیعت، جهان بی انتهای کهکشانها، سیاهچاله ها و حتی جهان میکروسکوپی اتمها نخستین منبع الهام بخش او در خلق آثار هنری بوده اند.او در جستجوی ماهیت سیاهچاله های فضایی به عنوان پدیده هایی که هم جهان را می بلعند و هم موتور متحرک جهان هستند، راه به دنیای درونی خود می برد. نمایشگاه اخیر او در گالری’’ آن“ اثر خلاقانه ای بود که ذهن مخاطب را به تصاویری از کهکشان و اجرام فضایی پیوند می زد

Kofi Sika Latzoo est directeur artistique des studios Efixx à Dakar, leader du chapitre sénégalais auprès de l’IGDA (International Game Developers Association), responsable du programme d'innovation de la NASA au Senegal (Space Up challenge) et co-fondateur, avec Bacely Yorobi, du Game Camp qui a pour ambition de créer un écosysteme favorable à l’émergence d’industries logicielles ludiques sur le contnent africain. Il est surtout question dans ce podcast de l’implémentation d’émoticônes africains sur la plateforme sociale Line et du développement des cultures électroniques en Afrique. https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/1105116/fr

In this podcast Maryam Obaidullah Baig and Chirag Gupta discuss Dallas' ever growing art community. The expanding and amazing art community in Dallas has lead to incredible philanthropy innovations and together the Dallas' community has been pushed and improved. http://www.noddfw.com

Annie Willis is from the outskirts of New York City—the Rockaways, a neighborhood on the Atlantic Ocean. When this interview was recorded, she was a senior in high school, and for the last two years had been a part of Global Kids, a NYC and DC-based nonprofit helping underserved youth achieve leadership in their communities and beyond. She wanted to talk about where she was from, and what led her to become a climate activist.

Shino Tanikawa and Majora Carter have been friends for a long time. Majora is an urban revitalization strategy consultant, real estate developer, and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation & successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training & placement systems. Shino promotes green infrastructure and soil and water quality education, research and policy, while heading up the New York Soil and Water Conservation District. They're both committed to environmental wellbeing and community development, but when they recorded this conversation, they wanted to talk about the connections between climate, race and privilege. Shino begins the conversation...

As a sound artist, Vedad FamourZadeh is exploring the integration of sound art and electronic music with different soundscapes and diverse musical traditions of Iran. He strives for rekindling intrigue for the details that define a place, on listening closely to minutiae of everyday sonic. He is especially interested in interactive pieces that can generate a polyphonic textural ambient sound. This tension of a hybrid identity, recontextualizing sonic materials from their native tradition to a modernistic setting is at the core of his pieces and he tries to bring forth an immediate experience through which the audience reexamine their conception of music as well as their sonic environment. He has recently turned his focus towards the sound as art-object especially in sculptural pieces.

What role that art and culture can play in Africa ? This is a question that artist designer and curator Pierre Christophe Gam addresses in this podcast from his recent participation to an international symposium on creativity and economical growth in Abidjan, which also touched upon issues of cultural diplomacy and soft power.