Precarious Nature

Breathe, 2012, Dryden Goodwin

Breathe, 2012
Medium Pencil on paper, HD video
Courtesy of the artist and Invisible Dust.

Dryden Goodwin’s Breathe is an animation of over 1,300 pencil drawings of his five year old son, inhaling and exhaling. The boy progresses through fluctuating breathing patterns, at some moments regular, and at others more laboured as he stares out from the frame.

Air is an object that permeates the human body, carrying with it a plethora of natural, synthetic and sometimes harmful residues. The act of breathing is an elemental poetry; an exchange of floating particles and fibres, sustaining the human body and connecting us with the world around us. Breathe is an evocation of this poetry. Through emphasising the physicality of the act of breathing it the work draws attention to the vulnerability of children, whose developing respiratory systems are is most at risk from pollution, and who will live with the long term physical and environmental effects of our current lifestyles. 

Breathe was first shown in the UK in 2012 as a large scale, night time, video projection from the roof of St Thomas’ Hospital, London, opposite the Houses of Parliament to highlight poor air quality. London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. 

This work has particular significance here in Ōtautahi Christchurch, as we have the worst air quality in New Zealand, with the majority of pollutants coming from domestic use of wood and coal burning for heating. Since the earthquakes, there has also been an increased risk, particularly for construction workers, from airborne dust containing compounds such as silica, asbestos and other toxic compounds. Official studies show that air pollution – mainly from traffic – causes more premature deaths than passive smoking and traffic accidents combined. Atmospheric pollution does not only affect humans, but the whole ecology on which we’re reliant; plants, animals and water quality are also impacted by airborne pollutants.

Breathe was commisiosned by Invisible Dust who work with leading artists and scientists to produce unique and exciting works of contemporary art and new scientific ideas exploring our environment and climate change.

Invisible Dust brought together artist Dryden Goodwin and eminent air pollution scientist Professor Frank Kelly (King’s College London), and was supported by the Wellcome Trust and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust with King’s College London Biomedical Research Centre. 

More information about the project can be found at http://invisibledust.com/project/dryden-goodwin-kings-college-and-st-thomas-london/

Rena Shipping Container Disaster, 2011 (ongoing), Alex Monteith

Rena Shipping Container Disaster, 2011- ongoing

Video intallation

courtesy of the artist

In October 2011, the shipping container vessel Rena ran aground on Astrolabe reef, Te Moana a Toi, off the Tauranga coast, Aotearoa in fair weather, creating a 5 kilometre oil slick,  threatening wildlife and the area's rich fishing waters.

Alex Monteith, whose practice has evolved from experimental documentary film, was one of many who went to help in the aftermath and footage and stills additional to what is seen here, were used by Greenpeace in their coverage. The resulting series of videos are comprised of long-take documentary shots, filmed at Papamoa in the week after the wreck occurred, and then at Waihi beach in 2012 when some of the containers from the still-stranded vessel washed ashore. 

The footage shows the dedicated clean up by the Defence Force and civilian volunteers.  Wide shots against a hazy horizon show hundreds of people painstakingly removing heavy-fuel contaminated sand by hand, dressed top to toe in matching safety gear. Orange diggers interrupt the framing, shifting bags of hazardous waste from the foreshore to somewhere else and army trucks move up and down the beach. Besides the vehicles, all is eerily quiet.

The scenes are surreally familiar. The Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico captured the world’s attention in 2010; we recognise the same oil slicked wildlife, desperately pathetic; the overwhelming impact of disaster on local communities, reliant on their ocean. Here in Aotearoa, in what as become one of the most costly salvage jobs in the world, we see localised consequences of our reliance on fossil fuels and a global economy built on shipping goods internationally.

The scale of the clean-up illustrates how unprepared we are for a disaster on a larger scale. Rena was merely one container vessel. With the environmental and economic impact of this event still fresh in our memories, should the government be so keen to welcome international oil giants to explore the coasts of our shaky, volcanic isles? Where do we draw our line in the sand?  

Bruissement, 2015; No Vertical Song, 2015, Anne Noble

No Vertical Song, 2015
The Dead Bee Portraits # 2, #7, #13,

Pigment print on Canson baryta paper
Courtesy of the artist and Two Rooms, Auckland

Bruissement
Bee Wing Photograms #10 #11
Pigment prints on Canson baryta paper
Courtesy of the artist, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch and Bartley and Company Art, Wellington.

Artist and beekeeper, Anne Noble, has developed a number of projects in recent years concerned with the global decline of the honey bee; a worrying trend that has been observed since the 1990’s. The ecosystems we are dependent on for food production rely on bees and other pollinating insects. These pollinators are being adversely affected by industrial agriculture, pesticides, parasites/pathogens and climate change, as well as the loss of biodiversity due to monoculture planting for mass food production. In her work Anne employs antique photographic and scientific imaging technologies and all that contemporary print technologies offer.  Her photographs of bees are made using found specimen slides, Anne’s own homemade microscope and an electronic scanning microscope. Noble sees the bees as both a living system under stress and a model for our own society. As she says, ‘what is happening to the bees, we are likely also to do to ourselves’. 

No Vertical Song

No Vertical Song is a series of portraits of dead bees, photographed as if they are items in the collection of an imaginary museum for the bee from a time in the future when the bee no longer exists.  Perhaps in a process even more alchemic than silver based photography, these bee portraits were made with a scanning electron microscope, an imaging process that employs an electron beam that is excited by the element gold.  The technology traces a strange surface without the translucency visible light would give - lending these bees an aged quality as if they have been covered with a layer of dust.  While they might forecast a future without bees they are intended as an elegiac reminder of the importance of our present relationship to the natural world.

Bruissement #10 #11 

Two photograms from a larger series of 15 works entitled Bruissement - a word that in french describes the sound of wings or the softest rustle of leaves.  They are the imprints of the detached wings of bees that Noble collected from beekeepers whose hives had died from a toxic mix of cold, starvation, pathogens and parasites.  Unfolding like long Chinese scrolls, the delicate traceries and looming shadows evoke both a ghostly and angelic presence but also point to the potential absence of a species.

Pictured: Anne Noble, Dead Bee Portrait #13, 2015

Drill (performance) 2016; Weight (installation) 2016, Melissa Macleod

Drill, 2016. 20 minute performance. South New Brighton School students and friends, life jackets, yellow duct tape  (pictured above, photo: Naomi Haussman)

Weight, 2016. New Brighton Sea Water, PVC tanks, pumps.

Courtesy of the artist

School children in bright yellow life jackets standing in formation. Melissa Macleod’s Performance, Drill, relocates a snapshot of what is practised at South New Brighton School; students completing an emergency tsunami drill. This is a necessary and basic response to the recent earthquakes and tsunami warnings. Through repositioning this ‘normal’ coastal activity inland this work aims to create an awareness of daily life in the East, unseen by other areas of Christchurch.

Sitting in tandem with Drill, the installation, Weight, explores a further layer in connection with the sea and coastal existence. Determined by capturing tidal water that overflows the gutters, Weight responds to the effects of lowered land (post earthquakes) and increasing sea levels. The water tanks in the Mair Gallery have been filled with the sea - an amount measured in relation to the King Tide that regularly covers the road on the street corner near Melissa’s house.

While the sea represents a vital part of life for some in Brighton, it is equally an unmeasurable force that demands respect, and increasingly the burden of excess water is becoming an issue that needs serious attention. With climate models predicting increasing temperatures and with them rising sea levels, it could be that New Brighton, like many coastal communities, becomes uninhabitable in the foreseeable future. Its residents who have remained since the quakes, despite the liquefaction and compromised infrastructure, may be forced to relocate to higher ground. Given the lower socio-economic status of the area, the population could become some of the first of Aotearoa’s climate refugees.

If the rate of sea level change continues as predicted, this will be within the lifetimes of today’s children. We are already seeing our neighbours in the Pacific inundated by rising tides. By perpetuating our current, carbon heavy lifestyle without thought, what future are we handing to the next generation? Can we continue only equipping them with temporary buoyancy aids for a future in which they’ll need to learn to swim through storms rougher than those we can currently imagine? Through the depositing of this physical and psychological load onto the CoCA floor, Weight aims to share the burden and bring focus to one of numerous current concerns circumventing coastal communities.

Artist note: 

Sometimes you cross paths with someone you don’t expect to learn anything from. That throws you. On Sunday I had 3 trips to the local garage to use the compressor. My car was packed with leaking inner tubes. Grey from tire dust, I had to explain myself. He might be 22.

I said - I am making this work        filling these 3 tanks      but having to displace water due to the bloody gallery floor loading. He said- helium is lighter than air.             I have to work within my means. I have the air easily accessible here. I have been running around like a nutter enough as it is.         He said true,          but kept thinking of helium.       The inclusion of these inflated tires is making me feel sick actually. I really hate not being truthful with the materials. But you will let people know?   Right now only you know.     But it is actually more interesting that the actual weight of the water is too heavy, that it would break the floor     that one flood is too much.         Out of limitation often comes the most interesting part you know.     You have to be honest with people.

He gave me cello tape for the leaks. It worked surprisingly well.

CoCA and Melissa Macleod would like to extend thanks to:

University of Canterbury Biology Department
South New Brighton School
New Brighton Fire Department
The Tire General (Blenheim Road)
South Shore Service Station (New Brighton)
All the performance participants

Practicool Planet; Dust Gatherings: Potential and Poison; Gang Patches; Lux & Plant Gang Chats, 2016, Liv Worsnop

Practicool Planet, 2016
Zine, limited edition $10 Koha or via donation of a plant to the CoCA office

Gang Patches, 2016
Handcrafted from recycled leather scraps

Also:

Dust Gatherings: Potential and Poison 
(pictured) Two types of hand made recycled papers.
Potential: Organic recycled materials and seeds. Poison: Contaminated recycled materials

Lux & Plant Gang Chats
Documentation of ongoing conversation with Lux Cafe on their sustainability standpoint.

Courtesy of the artist

Mention environmental art practice in Ōtautahi Christchurch, and anyone in the know will ask, ‘Have you talked to Liv?’ Indeed, her focus on sustainability and intriguing ways to engage with the world around have made her a key figure in this movement. Her guerilla gardening practice featured in the documentary The Art of Recovery, 2015; late night shots of her on a customised bicycle with a trailer,  relocating succulents recovered from the red-zone to infiltrating the concrete rubble left by the quakes. Her series on the uses of common weeds of the rebuild started as a street art project and has been made more permanent; sandblasted on the glass windows of Christchurch institution C1 Espresso.

Thus, when curating Precarious Nature, we extended an invitation to Liv, to create an intervention or new work, responding to CoCA or the exhibition. Her response is comprised of four parts. The zine - Practicool Planet, which contains a sassy, holistic guide to living for the earth, will be available as a limited edition for $10 or in exchange for a plant donation to the CoCA offices. It outlines cyclical systems of growth and decay which we need to tap into in order to thrive.

The Dust Gatherings, are stacks of home-made paper which will accumulate throughout the course of the exhibition.  Liv is producing these from waste materials collected from CoCA office and Lux cafe, and from Liv’s daily commutes to work and weekly commute to CoCA during Precarious Nature. The papers are separated into two types; Potential and Poison. The materials used in Potential, can be absorbed back into the earth and include non contaminated paper, food scraps, egg shells, plant materials, charcoal, seaweed, coffee grinds, banana skins, cardboard, hair and soil. The paper will all be mixed with seeds, and following the exhibition it will be ripped up and soaked and left to germinate. The materials used in Poison have contaminants, such as ink and plastic, that cannot be reabsorbed. The papers made from this will be reused in other projects following the exhibition.

Liv has also handmade Plant Gang Patches, as a call to arms to defend the environment. With slogans like ‘vote world, grow veges’ these draw on the rhetoric of activism campaigns.

Finally, Liv will conduct ongoing conversations with Lux Expresso and CoCA around their philosophical sustainability standpoints, engaging with the steps they are taking to care for the planet and exploring the challenges each face to become fully sustainable. These conversations with be documented by Liv through diagrams and text which present the organisations’ sustainability intentions and shortfalls; for example, outlining the difference between biodegradable and compostable coffee cups.

Glacial Creep - Haupapa Tasman Glacier, Tim Knowles

For Precarious Nature, Tim Knowles is creating a new work, traversing down the Haupapa - Tasman Glacier. Formed by layers of snow, which are compressed over thousands of years and driven downward under their own weight, Glaciers are an important component in the global ecosystem,  intrinsically linked with the water cycle.  Their behaviour influences ocean- atmosphere circulation, sea level, landscape, and climate. In recent years, these rivers of ice have become a key signifier for anthropogenic climate change; glaciers have been documented in rapid retreat worldwide.

Snow falling at the top of the Southern Alps around Aoraki Mt Cook takes around 900 years to traverse down the Haupapa-Tasman - the ice slowly flowing down hill at the same time as it’s retreating back up. The terminus is currently estimated to be retreating between 477 - 822 meters per year at the same time as steadily dropping in height. Tim, supported by Mount Cook Glacier Guiding, follows the the glacier’s path down the valley, with a customised pinhole digital camera strapped to his chest, capturing images continuously. The resulting slow shifting film documents the changing landscapes as he descends, moving from white expansive upper snow fields, through sculptural forms of the ice falls, over hard ice and onto the moon like moraine covered lower sections.

As in much of Tim’s practice, the work is dependent on drawing and chance; the camera capturing the trace of his movements, plots his path down the ice. The images, constantly cross dissolving, create an atmospheric journey through the landscape.  This blurred, out of focus aesthetic is reminiscent of moody Turneresque British landscape painting. It has been produced deliberately in stark contrast to contemporary tourist landscape photography, which uses high resolution technology to capture incredible detail and sharpness. The softness force us to look harder, hinting at the intangible relationship we have with nature and the catastrophic effects that are occurring within this magnificent landscape.  Perhaps reflecting the death of this and all glaciers, which could be gone from our world soon.

Mike Joy, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

Mike Joy BSc, MSc (1 st class hons), PhD in Ecology is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at the Ecology group-Institute of Agriculture and Environment Massey University Palmerston North.  He researches and teaches freshwater ecology, especially freshwater fish ecology and distribution, ecological modelling bioassessment and environmental science.  He has and continues to supervise many Masters and PhD students doing research into freshwater ecology, with topics from native fish ecology to farmers’ attitudes to sustainability.

Mike has published many papers in scientific journals, many international as well as articles and op-eds for newspapers and magazines. He has authored many reports for Regional Councils and ministry for the environment, and has developed a number of bioassessment tools and associated software used by many North Island Regional Councils.

Mike is an outspoken advocate for environmental protection in New Zealand and has received a number of awards including an Ecology in Action award from the NZ ecological Society, an Old Blue award from Forest and Bird, he was named 2009 Environmental New Zealander of the year by North and South magazine, Manawatu Evening Standard 2012 person of the year, in 2013 he received the Tertiary Education Union NZ Award of Excellence for Academic Freedom and contribution to Public Education, the 2013 Charles Fleming Award for environmental work from the Royal Society of New Zealand and in 2015 the Morgan Foundation inaugural River Voice Award.

https://waterqualitynz.info/2015/12/03/polluted-inheritance/

http://www.ecojustice.nz

Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust (TKoT) is a registered charity. It was established in 1998, and is the outcome of a Waitangi Tribunal settlement between The Crown and Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu. TKoT is administered by six trustees, and employs one fulltime General Manager. It is responsible for the restoration and ongoing management of approximately seven hundred hectares of native coastal wetland (including ten and a half kilometres of coastline). This land, otherwise known as Tūhaitara Coastal Park, runs from the mouth of the Waimakariri River to the settlement of Waikuku Beach, and includes the culturally significant Tūtaepatu Lagoon. Residents of the Kaiapoi Pā and, more recently, members of the Ngāi Tūahuriri Runanga have been closely connected to Tūtaepatu Lagoon and the land that surrounds it. Historically, the lagoon has been an important source of mahinga kai, and it contains a number of urupā. Tu Rakautahi, the founder of Kaiapoi Pā, is buried near Tūtaepatu Lagoon. The name Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara (the nest of Tūhaitara, a Ngāi Tūahuriri ancestress) acknowledges whakapapa or genealogical ties to the land. TKoT aims to retain and enhance indigenous biodiversity, and to preserve the values of Ngāi Tahu. TKoT provides a range of opportunities for recreation and environmental education for all people, and has a two hundred year vision for the future.

Habitat for Humanity, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

Worldwide 1.6 billion people live in poor housing conditions. As a result their health is poor, they struggle to pay bills, buy food or afford medical care. For many even the basics of shelter are out of reach. Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to give those people a hand up to fill their basic needs for housing. Every year, these houses make a real difference in the lives of those they shelter.

Offering them not just a roof over their heads, but the opportunity to work towards owning their house. A simple, decent home is the foundation for a better life. Every individual and family whose life is enhanced by improved housing helps build the foundation for a better New Zealand.

Generation Zero, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

Generation Zero is a nationwide movement of young New Zealanders working together to get our country on the path towards a zero carbon future. We campaign for smarter transport and urban planning, and independence from fossil fuels.

As a non-partisan advocacy and campaigning group, we are able to foster positive relationships across government, business and the non-profit sector. Our latest campaign - a Zero Carbon Act for New Zealand - will hold present and future governments responsible for acting towards a safe and thriving zero carbon future.

The Christchurch branch of Generation Zero was formed in late 2013, and since then we have done a large amount of work around local body elections (including publishing online voting guides and hosting a mayoral debate), collaborated with IceFest and FESTA, gathered public opinions during the Christchurch Long Term and District Plan consultations, and helped to generate enough support for priority bus lanes and a passenger waiting lounge in Riccarton.

We host regular public events to facilitate conversations about climate-related topics and continue to advocate for better public and active transport infrastructure in Christchurch. We are currently developing a sustainable transport pledge scheme - SHIFT - for Christchurch workplaces.

350 Christchurch, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

350 Christchurch is part of a worldwide grassroots movement of ordinary people wanting real, urgent action to tackle climate disruption.

Personal lifestyle changes are useful – but no longer enough. 350.org focuses on the wider social and economic changes we now urgently need to tackle climate disruption.

We invite people to change not just their light bulbs but their banks, if those banks won’t stop funding coal and oil operations. We work with students, staff and alumni to shift a university’s investments out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy. We lobby politicians for an effective carbon tax and a realistic climate plan for NZ. We ask Fonterra and Canterbury DHB to use wood waste, not coal, for their heating needs. We alert the public to the risk of deep sea oil drilling off Canterbury’s coastline and support our council to oppose it. We explore the links between climate disruption, deforestation, intensive animal farming and a hyper-consumerist lifestyle.

We work closely with like-minded organisations like Oil Free Otautahi, Greenpeace, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Gen Zero and Forest and Bird. We support the anti-TPPA campaign - if this ‘trade’ deal is passed, all our other campaigns will be far more difficult to win.

We aim to work with as many groups in the community as possible – churches, unions, grandparents, young people, creatives, business leaders, politicians..... The climate crisis will only be solved if EVERY citizen, every one of us, stands up to make change in our own part of the community.

Cause and Effect - Louise Bush Posters, Precarious Nature - Extended Network

Louise Bush is a young photographer and artist whose work strives to bring issues to the surface of the public’s view. Her risographed series, Cause and Effect is comprised of four posters. These each consider different ways in which humans effect our environment; overconsumption of meat, overconsumption of sugar, our extreme use of pesticides and fungicides, and the way in which all these things effect our water.

Louise is a strong believer that there is more we can do and that if we do not change now then it could soon be too late. She says:

"I’m not asking the world to become vegetarians or to stop eating sugar; we are not designed to eat only vegetables, and sugar is an important part of our diet. This work is more about making us more considerate about our effect (however involuntary) we are having on the world around us. Recycling is not enough anymore. Yes, it is beneficial, but we need to do so much more because we are still fuelling the beast that is global warming.

I’m 21 and yes I’ve been left this huge problem by the ones who came before me, but it is not something that only my generation needs to fix. The older generations need to take responsibility for their action and what they have forced upon their children and be a part of the solution.

We cannot change if only some of us are invested in it."