Carbon Generations was conceived as a personal, domestic and intimate journey through performance into the emotional landscape of oil. Its intention is to propose a new way of reaching people on issues of oil dependency and ultimately, climate change.

Through telling the story of one man's family and the role oil played in its life, the performance aims make an emotional relationship with the viewer on a subject which can seem dauntingly abstract and distant. The fact that the performer is a white upper middle class male, is also a major part of its powerful effect - the issues of racism, exploitation, and post-imperial legacies come through in this piece, as well as the fact that domestic family revelation is not usually expected from men of this background. Perhaps for these reasons, Carbon Generations has also has particular interventionist success in formal contexts such as conferences and symposia. Post-performance discussion is a key component of Carbon Generations as it raises a lot of issues. To date, Carbon Generations has been targeted at very specific audiences connected to business and environment - it was not conceived as a performance for the general public, but as a strategic tool.

"Traditionally when native communities face tough decision, it is the women who have advocated taking a long view. Among the Iroquoian People, a matriarcal society, it is believed that leaders must consider the impact of their decision on 7 generations."
Wilma P Mankiller, Iroquoian Chief.

"Climate change faces me with 'tough decisions'. I would like to think in 7 generations. The dictionary defines a generation as 30 years, thus 7 generations is 210 years. But I would like to consider that my actions have an effect not only upon myself and the unborn - those generations that come after us - but also upon the dead, the generations that preceded me. So 7 generations: that's my own generation, 3 before that, and 3 after. The period between 1870 and 2080, these are the 'Carbon Generations'."
extract from the performance Carbon Generations

Performances in 1997 - 2001:

• 'Sustainable Lifestyles' - 7th Environment Foundation Consultation, Windsor Castle, 2-4 June 1997, organised by New Economics Foundation and International Institute for Environment and Development
• 'Three Birds, One Stone' - Kensington Roof Gardens, London 7th July 1997, organised by SustainAbility and The Environment Foundation
• 'Artist in the 21st Century' - conference, 25th September 1997, Tate Gallery, organised by AN Publications
• 'Pure Profits, Fair Grounds' - 2-day event as part of Funding for a Change, North Shields, 9/10th November 1997
• 'Liberations, 1968 - 1998' - one-day forum at Chelsea College of Art, 3rd March 19986.
• 'Geo-Logic' - one-day symposium organised by Centre for Contemporary Art & the Natural World, at the Phoenix Theatre, Exeter, 8th April 2000

As a result of this work, James Marriott was awarded an honour from The Environment Foundation: the Travelling Fellowship for 1997/8, which also came with a cash prize.

Now and the Future: Carbon Generations Feast, Saturday 20th February 1999, at PLATFORM.
The most recent evolution of Carbon Generations was showcased in February 1999, involving live music, installation, a 4-course feast, and discussion. The Agitpod was used. This interdisciplinary model was used with an audience of oil activists, environmental campaigners, artists and economists. The second section of Carbon Generations was also premiered, which explored the interior landscape of an oil corporation, from chief executive to cleaner, here and elsewhere. The aim of this evolution was to use intimate strategies - in terms of visual and audio environment along with lovingly prepared food - to create a safe space where very difficult issues of personal responsibility and power could be discussed and shared. The feedback was very positive, and the discussion vigorous. Carbon Generations' work was a fundamental building block for the project Unravelling the Carbon Web, and is itself currently not in a production cycle.

Carbon Generations was funded by the Arts Council of England and the Environment Foundation.

Who's it for?

1. Do you have an interest in or are you working in the arts, community activism, campaigning, environmentalism, human rights, cultural work, policy making, or education?

2. Are you concerned about the state of world politics, its power imbalances and economics, and how to further social and ecological justice?

3. Do you want to learn more about interdisciplinary working?

Course Outline

Please note that this highlights the key subjects and practitioners that will be discussed – of course there are more that we haven’t mentioned here. The outline will adapt according to students’ needs and desires. Of course there are absences and holes: we can try to address these, according to expertise within the group.

1. Introductions to PLATFORM and each other; political and artistic “epiphanies”; people involved in politics and culture who have influenced our politics/values.

2. Inner Ear: listening to ourselves as a prerequisite for any act of creation; learning to trust ourselves; under what circumstances do we stop listening?

3. Outer Ear: what’s happening now in the world – who are we listening to? Listening to places and communities, invisibilities, “others”, “othering” and ourselves. Egs. The work of bell hooks, Ziauddin Sardar, and Paulo Freire; Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa

4. Tongue: the use of silence and the use of speech; articulation of language as political danger Egs. the documentary films of Claude Lanzmann and Patricio Guzman; writings of Osip and Natasha Mandelstam, and Susan Griffin.

5. Workshop 1: student-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions.

6. Frontal Cortex and Solar Plexus: the limitations of using facts alone to effect change; connecting information to experience, and going beyond the rational. Egs. Austrian group Wochenklausur, the power of music as an agent of change, PLATFORM’s project Gog & Magog.

7. Hand and Fingertips: co-operation and solidarity; how do we find each other - seeking collaborators; the huge challenges of working collectively and/or through consensus; overcoming conflicts/acknowledging differences; when to stop and when to push through. Egs. Helix Arts, PLATFORM

8. Benevolent Viruses: what can collaborative practices uniquely bring to this work; and the importance of networks: Egs. Littoral’s socially engaged arts gatherings, Black Environment Network, www.moveon.org.

9. Workshop 2: student-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions.
Feast, and mid-course review.

10. Sex: where is the drive to do this work? What is ‘activism’ feeding off? Is there an “ecstacy of protest”? Conversely, when do we feel inert or numb? What role does sensuality, touch, pain, silence, noise and pleasure play when working on difficult and distressing issues or in extreme situations? Egs. Women in Black, clown army CIRCA and more.

11. Legs: experiencing breakthrough through walking/exploring real space; land/cityscape and dialogue - through PLATFORM projects, and writings of Rebecca Solnit.

12. Workshop 3: student-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions
This session takes the form of a walk.

13. Knee & Heel: Facing the other direction, the path less travelled, courage in difference; invisible histories and untold stories; the acupuncturist’s needle and the rhinoceros’s hoof – Egs. the work of artist Joseph Beuys and writers WG Sebald and Ernst Neizvestny.

14. Lungs: endurance and stamina; how can you keep focused, evolving and working over time without burning out/becoming cynical; reflective practice. Egs. writers Suzi Gablik and John Berger, filmmaker Ken Loach, Argentinian artists Ala Plastica

15. Workshop 4: student-led session on issues or activity identified from previous sessions

16. REFLECTION: summing up and feeding back. What have we learnt?
And final Feast.

Assessment for this accredited course

1. Engagement: as well as in-class discussion, every week some reading or research will be set, or, students will be asked for a response to ideas that have come up, through writing, drawing, music, performance (whichever you choose). This work will be monitored and form part of the overall assessment of engagement with the course.

2. Formal assessment: 1 major or two smaller creative projects will be set, which will form the essential work for formal assessment. This work could be collaborative or done alone. Your proposals will be discussed with your tutors.

“It’s not an ego trip, it’s serious, it’s politics, it’s economics, it’s everything. And art in that instance becomes so meaningful both to the artist and to the consumers of that art”

Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, interviewed 1994; executed 1995