Guest Artists and Activists contributing to ‘Chamada From Chico Mendes’

composition_plinthBagFLmuso_e_1200x800A really interesting range of artists, film-makers and activists have been selected from the open call worldwide for contributions of video, digital media, audio or poetry which would then be incorporated into the installation.  The idea is that the finished work allows the viewer to visit different voices en route, rather than it being simply a montage.  It is a plurality of expressions, an ‘exhibition within an installation’.

The visual and film artists, media producers and activists include Sarawut Chutiwongpeti (Thailand), Badrul Alam and Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Heiko Thiele and Zwischenzeit e.V. (Germany), Marcella Haddad (Brazil), Shaikh Mohir Uddin & Rural Visual Journalism Network at Drik  (Bangladesh), Fuyumi Labre Lopez (Uruguay/Spain), Milda Lembertaite / Amelia Prazak (Lithuania/Switzerland), Victor Steffensen and the Living Knowledge Place (Australia), Nigel Hulett (Zimbabwe), Ali Pretty and Kinetika (UK), Marian Osman (Somalia) with ‘Democracy Now!’ (USA).

Selected media from these contributors is watchable on extra screens in the exhibition; more details about these wonderful people from across the globe is given below.

Poetry selections include very focused and relevant work by the well established Maya Chowdhry (UK) and by the strongly emerging Julia Davenport (UK).

An audio track was contributed by Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramirez-Gaston (Peru/Spain).

The foundation soundtrack for the work is created from a series of percussion loops which were produced by 17 fantastic young musicians from across the UK during the Future Leaders national carnival arts training programme by Global Grooves in summer 2014.  They are: Oscar, Jordan, Joe L, Chris, Emma, Farheen, Sam, Ryan, Libby, Isis, Eve, Amina, Matthew, Keiran (pictured above right behind the Tesco carrier bag), Matthew, Dominic, Callum.

 

DETAILS OF KEY FILM-MAKERS, ARTISTS AND ACTIVISTS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PROJECT:

‘Your Climate Change Stories’ intro, by Victor Steffensen and Mulong, Australia  4mins
Victor Steffensen (Born – Mareeba, QLD 29th April 1973) is a passionate Indigenous film and music producer with a special gift of creating powerful works that support community and the environmental wellbeing. Being a part his people and country through his Mothers roots of the Tagalaka people of the Gulf of North Queensland , Victor has always dedicated himself to strengthening Indigenous communities in many ways through film, music, and the performing arts.

Victor now runs his own film and music studio called Mulong www.mulong.com.au in Cairns, North Queensland, where he wants to continue to develop his passion for evolving culture into the future. The latest creation through his years of work is the development of the Living Knowledge Place, a community owned education site showing casing living cultural and community knowledge for classrooms Australia wide.   www.livingknowledgeplace.com.au All of Victor’s work to date involves many communities and building a network that is an important part of maintaining a living culture and healthy environment for future generations.

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‘The Water Challenge: Climate Change in Zimbabwe’ by Nigel Hulett / Granadilla Films, 2011  20mins 50secs
www.granadillafilms.com
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Right to land and seed – Food sovereignty in times of climate change (2014) – TRAILER  9mins 52secs
A film by Jürgen Kraus and Heiko Thiele: Zwischenzeit e.V.

A documentary about the first Climate Caravan project by the Bangladesh Krishok Federation – the largest peasant movement in Bangladesh. The BKF are heavily involved in campaigning against climate change. They have organised a series of climate caravans across Bangladesh itself and other parts of Asia. A central part of that work is the promotion of food sovereignty as a sustainable alternative to agribusiness. The BKF were also involved in work around the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 when an eight-story commercial building collapsed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, leaving 1,129 dead (one of many events drawing attention to the appalling labour conditions which enable Western clothing companies to make large profits).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyV33cKbftU

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Bangladesh Krishok Federation  9mins 13secs
This video was sent personally by Badrul Alam the president of BKF. It is the only video they have made themselves about their work, using ‘unregistered software’. Bangladesh is one of the areas of the world most vulnerable to climate change, sea levels rising faster than the global rate. Badrul Alam, president of the largest peasant federation in Bangladesh, has served on the international leadership of La Via Campesina. He is also a leader of a political organisation in Bangladesh which is a permanent observer to the Fourth International.

http://www.krishok.org/

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“Bhuter beel (wetland)” by Shaikh Mohir Uddin (2011)  2mins 13secs
Drik and Rural Visual Journalism Network

Drik is a distinctive multimedia organisation in Bangladesh established in 1989. Its major areas of expertise are advocacy and awareness campaigns, production of communication material and training. Using the power of the visual medium, Drik is able to provide one-stop multimedia services.

The Rural Visual Journalism Network (RVJN) is an initiative of Drik supported by World Press Photo. The project is designed to give voice to the rural citizens of Bangladesh. RVJN was awarded the World Summit Award (WSA) 2013 and Manthan Award 2012 for this initiative.

http://drik.net/

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Democracy Now! Special edition on the Warsaw climate talks 2013 – selected excerpts  11mins 45secs
Including interview with young climate activist Marian Osman from Somalia who took specific interest in this project.

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S.

http://www.democracynow.org/
also check their youtube channel, and their full archived programmes on www.archive.org

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‘Yemanja’ by Kinetika and Ali Pretty (2004)  7mins
Kinetika is an outdoor arts movement with a 17 year track record of world class design and community engagement.

We work with local communities and a core team of artists from diverse technical and cultural backgrounds on projects that are connected to their place of origin, are ambitious in scale and leave a lasting legacy.

Our focus on training and professional development ensures that our art and our artists and our artforms are always evolving.

Kinetika Design Studio has produced work that has been on show at some of the biggest events in the world including the Paralympic Games 2012 closing ceremony, the London 2012 athletes’ parade and the FIFA World Cup ceremonies in 2009.

http://www.kinetikaonline.co.uk/

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‘Future Leaders’ by Kooj Chuhan and Global Grooves (2014)  10mins 47secs
A lively documentary profile of the inspiring national apprenticeship and training programme in carnival arts by Global Grooves.

http://www.globalgrooves.org/

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When Fake Moves Dunes, by Amelia Prazak and Milda Lembertaitė / Sisters From Another Mister (Lithuania/Switzerland) 2013  3mins
Amelia Prazak and Milda Lembertaitė create together since 2010 when they founded collective Sisters From Another Mister while studying Performance Design and Practice at Central Saint Martins and are now recent graduates from Chelsea College of Art with a MA in Fine Arts. Our practice lies between sculpture, performance, video work and installation. Our work occupies the boundaries between popular entertainment and intellectual enquiry and embodies contemporary codes of subject/object relations and self-expression through personal narratives that lie between fiction and reality.

http://www.sistersfromanothermister.co.uk/

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‘Untitled: Wishes Lies and Dreams’ video installation by Sarawut Chutiwongpeti, 2014  50secs
Sarawut Chutiwongpeti  is an artist who lives and works in various places around the world. My goal is to investigate the expressive possibilities of conceptual visual language and to develop Collaborative New Art as part of both Contemporary Art/Contemporary Global Structure and the Technological Civilization in which we live today. I am especially interested in finding out how contemporary art can enhance the distribution of information and foster a profound universality in the human nature and cross-cultural artistic and critical collaboration.

http://www.chutiwongpeti.info/

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‘H2O – project beginnings’ by Marcella Haddad (Brazil) 2014  3mins 30secs
A freelance photographer working in journalism and artistic practice, Marcella has also worked with carnival in the UK including a strong link with Kinetika. Her forthcoming H2O project is focused on water through both celebration such as her interest in the Yemanja festival, and environmental concern.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126304576@N04/

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‘Carnival – A Way Of Resistance’ by Fuyumi Labra Lopez (Uruguay) 2014  5mins 26secs
I was living in Peru the first time I visited the Amazonía,I was sixteen years old. Since that moment I decided to work for the jungle protection. I have studied Visual Anthropology in Spain. Amazonia and Carnival: I worked making comunitary videos in Amazonia (Colombia, Brasil and Perú) and Selva Lacandona (Mexico) with some people that are fighting against land-grabbing and protecting the environment. At this moment I am doing a research about Carnival as a way for people to express, and claim  their social problems.

www.retales.net

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Poetry: ‘Fossil’ a forthcoming set by Maya Chowdhry (excerpts) & Salve A Amazonia (Save the Amazon)’ by Julia Davenport (written specially for the project)  4mins 15secs

Maya is a writer and inTer-aCtive artist making site-specific installation focussing on immersive work, story-making exploring the juxtaposition of technology with the ‘natural world’, using text, film, animation, photography and Web.  http://interactiveartist.org/

Julia was born and lives in North Manchester, sees herself as a Citizen of the world, is particularly interested in poetry as protest to empower people to see the world from a different perspective, and stand up against injustice.

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Maya Chowdhry

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‘Lamento Ayacuchano’ by Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramirez-Gaston, Peru 2008 (Included as music soundtrack for the poetry above)
An audio that processes sounds of Peruvian Huaynos from Ayacucho in central mountains, its melancholic Huaynos represent sadness of the colonial times, one of the places that most suffered historically.Jose Ignacio Lopez Ramírez-Gastón (a.k.a. El Lazo Invisible) has been a sound artist and producer working in the border region San Diego/Tijuana since 1998 until 2010, and currently working in Lima-Peru. He is the founder of the record label Discos Invisibles, a collective working on the generation of public spaces for alternative sound arts. He did his Masters in Computer Music at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) were he is also a doctoral candidate, and is currently a Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP), teaching a wide range of courses including: Sound Arts, Musical Creativity, Musical Manifestations of Subsaharan Africa, History of Rock, etc . His research work involves the study of those cultural strategies unique to the Latin-American environment and the application of technology in a way that represents its users.
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