‘Tar Sands in Your Tank ’. A new report, published with Greenpeace, on how oil from tar sands is being used in Europe. Link to the Greenpeace site to download report. MORE>>
PLATFORM publishes "A Lake of Oil", revealing the danger of Congo's oil contracts on Lake Albert. MORE>>
Are you helping fund the tar sands?
PLATFORM in collaboration with Fair Pensions, Greenpeace, UNISON, ECCR, Rathbone Greenbank and many others are encouraging all who have pensions schemes - and those of you who don't - to encourage the institutional investors to vote for the shareholder resolutions that are going to the BP & Shell AGM's this April & May.Take Action Now ! MORE>>
New Report: Cashing in on Tar Sands: RBS, UK Banks and Canada's "Blood Oil"
PLATFORM releases new report highlighting UK bank funding for controversial tar sands. MORE>>
New book: Understanding Art Education, Engaging Reflexively with Practice
By Nicholas Addison, Lesley Burgess, John Steers, Jane Trowell (Routledge,
2010).
Final Chapter by Jane Trowell on the Tides and Tributes project (1995)
undertaken with primary school children at St Joseph's Primary School,
Wandsworth Town, London. Chapter title: "Collaborative liberatory
practices for global citizenship".
Government faces environmental legal challenge over RBS20th October - the High Court : Oral hearing for the application for a judicial review by PLATFORM, People & Planet and the World Development Movement over the Treasury's lack of adequate environmental and human rights considerations in the investment mandate set out for RBS. click on the link below to see the Guardian article 'Treasury taken to court for RBS loans to Vedanta Resources'. MORE>>
Art Not Oil's 2010 diary is now available! A full-colour celebration of climate justice-fuelled art and action
against oil industry sponsorship of UK culture. GET YOURS NOW!
Calling artists/designers: Redesign the Royal Bank of Scotland for Sustainability! Amelia's Magazine and PLATFORM announce a design competition, deadline 2nd November. Finalists to be exhibited as part of C Words season at Arnolfini, Bristol MORE>>
Contracts Curse: Uganda’s oil agreements place profit before people
PLATFORM releases new report with Ugandan partners. MORE>>
Towards a Royal Bank of Sustainability: protecting taxpayers' interests; cutting carbon risk: This report has been commissioned by People & Planet, World Development Movement, PLATFORM, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and BankTrack to investigate whether and how the Government should align its recent investment in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with social and environmental objectives, in particular to combat climate change. MORE>>
Shell on Trial in The Hague for Nigeria Spills: On 30 Dec a Dutch court in The Hague ruled that four Nigerian villagers can proceed with a lawsuit against Shell for oil spills and leaks in Nigeria. The case concerns a series of oil spills which devastated the land and fisheries of local villagers in the Niger Delta. MORE>>
Shifting Sands: How a changing economy could bury the tar sands industry. The second update of the Rising Risks report by PLATFORM, Greenpeace and Oil Change International on the Alberta tar sands. MORE>>
‘Earth Matters on Stage’. In collaboration with Ashden Trust - ‘What can be asked? What can be shown?’ British theatre & performance in a time of climate instability – for University of Oregon’s conference: ‘Earth Matters on Stage’– Dan Gretton participates. MORE>> and MORE>> link
Panel discussion: arts and ecology - Robert Butler, Michaela Crimmin and Jane Trowell in discussion. Panel discussion focusing on issues related to arts and ecology with Jane Trowell, Director of Platform, Michaela Crimmin, Head of Arts and Ecology at RSA and Robert Butler, writer for the Economist's Intelligent Life. MORE>>
The Remember Saro-Wiwa event: Press conference and event at Amnesty International 6th April '09. MORE>>
BP - Extracting Influence at the Heart of the EU - New Report 2 February 09: BP - Extracting Influence at the Heart of the EU: A new report from PLATFORM and Corporate Europe Observatory reveals how the company's lobbying at the heart of the EU has played a key role in influencing Europe's energy policy. MORE>>>
ENROL NOW for Body Politic Course: March to May 2009 Our course The Body Politic, Social and Ecological Justice, Art, Activism is taking place in a new format which includes weekends from March to May 2009 CLICK HERE to view and download the course outline and how to enrol. This course gets booked up, so act soon !
Kaaitheater's Burning Ice: Friday 23rd January 2009 PLATFORM will particpate in Kaaitheater's Burning Ice, a week-long gathering of artisits, scientists and cultural critics looking at climate change. “Art cannot of course change the world in this respect more than in any other. But as in many other fields, when it comes to climate issues art can make a contribution to the development of innovative ideas. Ideas that will gradually gain ground and perhaps give rise to new practices in research, education, economics and – who knows – political decision-making. Burning Ice is intended to be a forum for these ideas.” CLICK HERE
Carbon Web newsletter issue 10 30 Sept 08 : Special features on the Russian-Georgia conflict and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, alongside articles exploring BP & Shell's investments in Canadian 'tar sands', the role of RBS in bankrolling global coal, the historical development of the fossil fuel industry in the Hoo penisula, the ongoing struggle for control over Iraqi oil, and an analysis of BP's lobbying activities in Brussels and the EU's attempts to exert pressure on Russia. MORE>>>
PLATFORM participates in C.R.A.S.H, London: C.R.A.S.H. Conversation - on Art, Friday 5 June, 19.00 at Toynbee Studios, London, James Marriott in conversation with John Jordan; 15 - 21 June, Performance Skipping events by Mel Evans. MORE>>
PLATFORM presents at The Hay Festival 2009: 27 May, Hay-on-Wye. The Dark City. James Marriott presenting with John Kay (economist) and Nick Robins (sustainable investor), chaired by Andrew Simms (NEF) . MORE>>
PLATFORM presents at Futuresonic 2009: Festival of art, music & ideas, 13 - 16 May, Manchester. Keynote presentation by James Marriott on The Museum of the Corporation at Futuresonic Conference, The Social Technologies Summit and Ackroyd & Harvey in conversation with James Marriott, at the exhibition of 'The Beuys Acorns', Castlefield Gallery CLICK HERE
At 100 years old is BP going senile? With BP reaching 100 years old PLATFORM and Greenpeace question whether BP's investments in the Canadian Tar Sands is evidence of senility. MORE>>
Carbon Web newsletter issue 11 29 April 09 : Special features on the impact of falling oil prices on the Alberta Tar Sands development and how foreign oil companies are using the price fall to put pressure on the Iraqi government, plus features on the roles of RBS in the conflict in the Congo and their part in bankrolling oil exploration in the Artic. Alongside a photostory on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. MORE>>>
"Shell Guilty" campaign launched. As the date of the Wiwa v Shell trial is confirmed the "Shell Guilty" campaign is launched. MORE>>
Call for Proposals: Climate Justice, Live Art, PLATFORM. Deadline 11th May '09. PLATFORM and Live Art Development Agency are collaborating on 2 artist-activist projects for LADA's DIY6, focusing on Climate Justice. Apply NOW to run a project! For a link to Live Art CLICK HERE
Queen Mary UL, Arts Week Walk, 27th April 2009 11.30 - 1.30 "Loot! A Walk Around the East India Company"
Talk, 27th April, 3.45 April 2009 "Useful Discomfort; Direct Action, Art & the Urgency of Slowness" CLICK HERE for link to qmul website, via Dr David Pinder (Geography)
The Remember Saro-Wiwa event: Press conference and event at Amnesty International 6th April '09. MORE>>
And While London Burns PLATFORM launches new operatic sound walk - 'a soundtrack for the era of climate change'. Download it for FREE NOW !
The Body Politic: Social and Ecological
Justice, Art, Activism, January 2006
There are still some places available on this unique
12-week course, which starts on Weds 11th January, 6 - 9pm,
central London. This course is run in association with Birkbeck,
University of London. Birkbeck Course Code: FFAP011UACA (Accredited
course) Fee: £100 full, £50 concessions. To find
out more go here (link to 2006
page of our site) To enrol, phone Birkbeck enrolment direct
on 020 7631 6691, quoting course code as above.
Remember Saro-Wiwa
Season
21st Oct - 10 Nov 2005
A 10th anniversary season of public art, film, music,
theatre, poetry and debate in London.
A Season of 9 events commenced on 21st October, topped
and tailed by a reception at the Museum of London for
the shortlisted artists for London's Living Memorial
to writer and environmental campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa,
executed by the Nigerian government in 1995, and Commemoration
Ceremony on 10th November where the final artist's proposal
will be announced. See www.remembersarowiwa.com
for more.
Refining Memory Film
Screenings:
As part of the Living Memorial project, we commissioned
a short film from artist filmmakers Judy Price and Andrew
Conio to serve as an 'exhibition' of the 5 short listed
proposals for the Living Memorial. The film is called
Refining Memory.
Refining Memory will be screened
at a number of locations around London: The
Whitechapel Art Gallery, 80-82 Whitechapel
High Street, London E1, from 3 November to 10 November.
The film will run on a loop throughtout the gallery's
opening hours; The Curzon Soho twice
daily in the bar at 1pm and 3pm from Monday 7 November
to Thursday 10 November inclusive; The
2nd Floor Gallery at City Hall, Queens
Walk, London SE1, until 10 November. The film will run
on a loop throughtout the gallery's opening hours.
A special DVD and catalogue with extra archive footage
and stills can be picked up the DVD/catalogue at screenings
for only £5 or UK residents can send a cheque
for £6 to PLATFORM to receive a copy by post -
see address.
Live events include:
Friday 4 November - 7.30pm
The Living Memorial Artists Talk with Gary Younge
and Alfredo Jaar at the Museum of London
Monday 7 November
English PEN celebrates Ken Saro-Wiwa at Soho Theatre
and Writers' Centre
Tuesday 8 November - 7.30pm
Panel Discussion: The Niger Delta Ten Years On atAmnesty International Human Rights Action Centre
Wednesday 9 November - 7.45pm
Remember Saro-Wiwa at the South Bank Centre with Wole
Soyinka
Thursday 10 November - 8am-9am
Silent Vigil at Shell Centre
Thursday 10 November - 11am-12 Noon
Commemoration Ceremony and Living Memorial Announcement
at Bernie Spain Gardens, South Bank
Thursday 10 November - 7.30pm til late Dance the Guns to Silence: Poetry & Music for
Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Jamm Brixton - The
first half of the evening will feature poetry readings
from contributors to the new poetry anthology, Dance
the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa
See the Remember Saro Wiwa website or below for full
details of each event
10 November - Ceremony and Living Memorial
Announcement: 11am-12 Noon
Bernie Spain Gardens, South Bank, London SE1 (Next to
Oxo Tower) At 11am we will gather at Bernie Spain Gardens
for a special ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary
of the tragic events of 10 November 1995. There will
be readings and speeches by Ken Wiwa and others and
a minute silence at 11:30am. After this, we will announce
the winning design for the Living Memorial. This is
a free public event and all are welcome. We thank Coin
Street Community Builders for their co-operation in
using Bernie Spain Gardens.
Panel Discussion: The Future of the Niger
Delta, with Ken Wiwa, 8th November with film screening
Refining Memory, 25 min. by Judy Price and
Andrew Conio. 7.30pm
Panel Discussion with speakers: Sam Gbaydee Doe –
Founding director of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding;
James Marriott – Co-director of PLATFORM and co-author
of The Next Gulf: London,
Washington and Oil Conflict in Nigeria (2005);
Kathryn Nwajiaku – Department of Politics and
International Relations, Oxford University; John Robertson
MP – Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group
on the Niger Delta;
Patrick Smith – Director, Africa Confidential;
Ken Wiwa. Chair: Bronwen Manby, former researcher at
Humans Rights Watch and author of The Price of Oil:
Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations
in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities. Bronwen
is currently the Director of The Africa Governance,
Monitoring and Advocacy Project. www.afrimap.org
Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25
New Inn Yard, London EC2. Admission Free. Please email
lorne@remembersarowiwa.com to request a seat.
Remember Saro-Wiwa Artists'
Talk with Gary Younge & Alfredo Jaar, 4th Nov
With keynote speeches by Guardian Journalist Gary Younge
and international public artist/architect Alfredo Jaar,
this event investigates the environmental, racial, cultural
and artistic issues behind the Remember Saro-Wiwa Living
Memorial. The short film Refining Memory specially
commissioned from artist-filmmakers Judy Price and Andrew
Conio will be screened, followed by a panel discussion
with the shortlisted artists Sokari Douglas Camp, Siraj
Izhar, Emmanuel Jegede, Emily Johns and Frances Newman/Jeff
Jackson/Knott Architects. Chaired by project curator
David A Bailey. Friday 4th November, 7.30pm, Museum
of London Lecture Theatre. Places are filling so rsvp
to bookings@remembersarowiwa.com
Social & Environmental Justice
and Arts education in Schools event 21st Oct
As part of Remember Saro-Wiwa, this event at Museum
of London, 4.45 - 6.30pm, is led by Jane Trowell (PLATFORM)
and Dr Paul Dash (Goldsmiths, University of London).
See
here for details
2nd Edition of the Carbon Web newsletter
is available
now
Exhibition
and conference at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
opening 14th Oct
PLATFORM is contributing an installation "From Delta
to Delta" to a group exhibition called "Groundworks:
Environmental Collaboration in Contemporary Art", 14.10.05
- 11.12.05, at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. From Delta to Delta explores
the delta of the river Wandle in London in relation to the
situation in the Niger delta around the common theme of oil
and social justice. PLATFORM's USA-based colleague Diane Wittner
presents a paper to the
accompanying conference "Shifting the Paradigm: the Groundworks
Monongahela Conference", taking place on 15th/16th October.
Book "The Next Gulf" on oil
in Nigeria available NOW "The Next Gulf: London,
Washington & the Oil Conflict in Nigeria" is PLATFORM's
latest publication, by investigative journalist Andy Rowell,
and PLATFORM researchers James Marriott & Lorne Stockman.
Published by Constable & Robinson on 3 November 05. You
can pre- order now on Amazon. See
here for details.
James Marriott gave the keynote speech at the influential
conference "Desire
Lines", concerned with arts and ecology,
held by Dartington College of Arts, 8th to 10th September
2005 in collaboration with Schumacher College. The event marked
the launch of a pioneering MA in Arts and Ecology that will
commence at Dartington in
2006/7.
Arts Council England has awarded the
Remember Saro-Wiwa coalition a grant of £75,000 towards
the creation of a Living Memorial in London to Nigerian writer
and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed in 1995 by the then
military regime. It is highly unusual for ACE to
support memorial projects, a testament
to the unique vision and cultural change that this project
represents. The bid was hosted by Greenpeace on behalf of
the coalition. Remember
Saro-Wiwa is coordinated by PLATFORM.
The five shortlisted artists for the
Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa were announced on 9th August
2005. They are Sokari Douglas Camp, Siraj Izhar,
Emmanuel Jegede, Emily Johns, and collaboration George Knott/Frances
Newman/Jeff Jackson. See HERE
for details.
PLATFORM welcomes campaigner/researcher
Mika Minio-Paluello who joins us full-time from the
end of August, bringing the Unravelling the Carbon
Web team to five.
The AHRC have awarded 3-year funding
to James Marriott’s Carbon Web research project called
“Between Arts and Business - reinvention of social engagement”.
James’ research is in partnership with the
Sociologu Department of Goldsmiths College, University of
London. 17 out of 200 applications were successful this year
in this highly competitive scheme.
Refusing
to Accept the Absurdity of the World Picture Offered
Us is PLATFORM's
contribution to the John Berger season, Here
is where we meet 11th April – 18th May.
Using his texts, both published
and unpublished, as points of departure we will explore
the nature of contemporary capitalism - specifically
the transnational corporation - looking through the
lens of current PLATFORM projects (specifically The
Desk Killer, Gog & Magog and the Museum of the Corporation).
The piece will take place at 3 sites in the City of
London between Liverpool Street and Bank stations, and,
by using the spoken word, walks, video, poetry and still
images, we will look at these questions among others...
Why is there, in London, barely a trace of the most
powerful corporation the world has ever seen ?
What are the fables of Gog & Magog ?
How is it possible to kill from a desk, from a computer
terminal?
How does consciousness begin to change ?
Date: Friday 13th May
Start time and place: 7.30pm at a location
close to Liverpool Street Station - you will receive
a map and location with your tickets.
Tickets: £10/£7.50 concs.
Please send cheques payable to "PLATFORM: London"
to John Berger Event, PLATFORM, 7 Horselydown Lane,
Bermondsey, London SE1 2LN (Please note these revised
prices reflect the use of a new venue on the event)
IMPORTANT NOTE: WE PLAN
TO USE AN E-TICKET SYSTEM AND WILL SEND TICKETS IN AN
ELECTRONIC FORM (PDF) VIA EMAIL FOR YOU TO DOWNLOAD
AND BRING TO THE EVENT. FOR THOSE THAT PREFER A HARD
COPY TICKET THROUGH THE POST, PLEASE FORWARD YOUR ADDRESS
DETAILS EITHER BY EMAIL TO info@platformlondon.org
or PHONE 020 7403 3738 AND INDICATE HOW MANY TICKETS
YOU WOULD LIKE. NUMBERS ARE LIMITED 65.
March 2005: Remember
Saro-Wiwa launches Living Memorial campaign.See
here.
PLATFORM's co-director Dan Gretton has
been awarded a major grant from the Lannan Foundation to research
and write his book The Desk Killer, an examination
of corporate psychology. The Desk Killer
arose directly from the performance project killing
us softly, which took place between 1999 and 2003.
Ben Diss is working as part of CCA's
Risk Academy - a week-long hothouse for artists,
activists, social scientists and others. This event
is part of the Risk exhibition, opening March 25th
(see Museum of the Corporation, Glasgow, below)
Museum of the Corporation, Glasgow presents
Line of Fire - an art installation responding to
PLATFORM's work on BP's Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
This installation, created by James Marriott for MoTC,
is a model of a much larger Museum, to take place in 2006
on the BTC project. The Risk exhibition is a group show, curated
by Ele Carpenter for the Centre
for Contemporary Art, Glasgow.
The Social Sculpture Research Unit,
Oxford Brookes University, Director Shelley Sacks, is running
a series of four seminars around artist Joseph Beuys' concept
of Social Sculpture, Mondays 4th to 25th April. PLATFORM
is contributing to workshop on 18th April. £65, £45
concs for series of four. See here
for tickets.
As part of year-long AHRB/EPSCR-funded
project Spatial Imagination in Design, Jane Trowell
(PLATFORM), Jane Rendell (Bartlett) and Katja Grillner (KTH
Stockholm) are facilitating a two-day workshop on writing
and spatial imagination.
RSA and Arts Council England are co-hosting
a series of five symposia on Art and Ecology. PLATFORM
is participating in the opening seminar "Ecology and
Politics within Artistic Practice". Can arts make a difference?
See here.
POSTPONED: The
Body Politic; Art, Social Justice, Activism, Education.
Due to circumstances beyond our control relating to Birkbeck,
University of London, we have very regretfully taken the decision
to cancel this year's course. However, The Body Politic is
part of PLATFORM's ongoing core work and we are already planning
to resume next year. You can see the outline we proposed for
2005 here. See here
for details of last year's course.
Global Spin, 18th and 19th
November 2004
Organised by Public Interest Research Network (convened from
Strathclyde University, Glasgow) with the Centre for Risk
and Governance (Caledonian University, Glasgow) and the Scottish
Left Review, and
Spinwatch.
PLATFORM’s James Marriott and Greg Muttitt will contribute
to this event.
Guided Walk: Loot? Reckoning
with the East India Company, 6th November 2004,
10 - 1pm
Walk around the English EIC and its contemporary
legacy with Jane Trowell and Nick Robins, in London's Docklands.
Meet East India DLR stop at 10am. Booking essential - via Museum
in Docklands Box Office 0870
444 3855
Fair Exchanges? Talk at the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London, 24th October 2004, 4 - 5pm, Seminar
Room 3
As part of Encounters: The meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500
-1800,
Jane Trowell and Nick Robins address the ethics of English East
India
Company trade
and its contemporary
legacies. Booking advised.
V&A ticket office: 0870 906 3883
Museum of the Corporation,
Bath, presents Degrees of Capture, 15th Oct – 11th
November 2004, ICIA Gallery, University
of Bath Degrees of Capture is an installation
based on a report which asks: What constitutes an ethical
relationship between academic
research and a business sponsor or partner? How can such relationships
be justified if the motivation is to further development
of industries that fundamentally
damage the climate and environment, such as oil?
CarbonSense Conference Presentation,
9th September 2004
James Marriott will give a presentation on the Thames in relation
to fossil fuels during an evening boat trip during the two-day
conference. Organised by CarbonSense with
the Local Authority Support Programme and Energy Savings Trust.
Ashden Directory of Environment and
Drama relaunch, 8th September 2004
This pioneering
website has been upgraded and includes PLATFORM. enterchange: A new greenmuseum exhibition
This is launching in
August 2004, featuring the work of PLATFORM amongst many
others. A front-row
look
at performance and the environment, curated by Wallace Heim.
Loot! Walks around East India Company, June, Museum in Docklands
- SOLD OUT
Both the 23rd June evening walk around the East India Dock and
Museum in Docklands, and the 26th June afternoon walk around
the City and Whitehall were sold out within a month of the Museum
in Docklands brochure being published! There will be more walks
in the Autumn to coincide with the Victoria and Albert Museum's
"Encounters" exhibition. More information
London Architecture Biennale, and Fluid, 19th – 28th June 2004 Discovering the Fleet, London’s Lost Rivers.
PLATFORM has been invited by Fluid to contribute expertise to
the development of the semi-permanent open-air exhibition, held
on Vine Street Bridge, Clerkenwell. Our long-term campaign to
unbury the river will not be taken up as subject matter, perhaps
due to the event’s sponsorship by Thames Water, which
uses the Fleet and other buried rivers as sewers.
Talk on history of energy in Wandle Valley,
at Wandle
Valley Festival, 13th June2004
James Marriott, PLATFORM member and Founder- Trustee
of RENUE (Renewable Energy
in the Urban Environment) will present latest thinking about
the Wandle Valley and energy, focusing
on how attitudes have changed towards the river over the past
2000 years.
Artist as Stakeholder, Novethic,
held at UNESCO HQ, Paris, France, 8th June 2004
PLATFORM’s James Marriott will speak at this international
symposium on “sustainable development for artists, NGOs
and businesses”.
Café Diplo, French Institute, 5th June 2004 Oil in the Caucasus – sowing the seeds of
conflict
James Marriott and Greg Muttitt gave a talk on the effects
of the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, organised by Le Monde
Diplomatique.
PLATFORM - one of "London's Cultural Dissidents" in Time
Out, 2nd - 9th June
PLATFORM was selected by Gareth Evans of Time Out as one of
seven cultural dissidents for their feature "They beg
to differ" (p. 23). "The radical London collective
put the culture into a dazzling array of social, ecological
and anti-corporate campaigns. From mapping London's buried
rivers to charting the flow of oil through City boardrooms,
theirs is art with a purpose." Other "dissidents"
were Aphra Behn, William Blake, Ignatius Sancho, Joan Littlewood,
A John Bird and Brian
Haw.
Symposium at ICIA, University of Bath,
6th May 2004
PLATFORM member Jane Trowell was a panel member for the ICIA’s
Speculative Strategies Symposium III, “Mutuality
– Collaboration and interdisciplinary Arts Practice”,
hosted by the Institute
of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts, University of
Bath. Keynote speakers included writer Grant Kester, artists
Suzanne Lacy and Mike Pearson.
Museum of the Corporation at Black
Environment Network Annual Conference, Aston Univ.,
Birmingham, UK, 21/22 April 2004 PLATFORM will present ideas behind our new project Museum
of the Corporation, and will run a workshop on issues of
cultural representation of transnational corporate business and
industry, and how such representations can be re-imagined in the
light of a
social and ecological justice agenda. The Museum of the Corporation is in research
and development. This web pages on this site will be following in due course
under the “Freedom in The City” section.
Artists as Agents of Social Change,
1-day international event at Baltic,
Gateshead, UK, 6 April 2004
This event, co-hosted by Helix
Arts and Baltic, brings together three collaborative practices to present
and stimulate debate on themes of effectiveness, strategy and vision: Ala
Plastica (La Plata, Argentina), Serai (Delhi,
India), and PLATFORM, (London, England). There will be opportunities to share
ideas and discuss issues in smaller break- out groups. Admission Free. 11am -
5pm. Contact: emmat@balticmill.com or 0191 478 1810
No New Oil event, Sheffield,
UK, 27 March 2004
PLATFORM will be contributing to this coalition event. More
details soon.
Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial Campaign - proposal
In a meeting on 19th March 2004 involving Friends of the Earth,
Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Christian Aid, PEN, MEPs,
artists, and Greater London Assembly officers, PLATFORM proposed
that a campaign should be launched to remember Nigerian writer
and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, in the name of all
other communities and activists who have suffered and died
because of the effect of oil production. Along with eight
other Ogoni men, Ken was executed by the then military government
of Nigeria on 10th November 1995 for their protest against
Shell and Chevron. More on this initiative soon.
PLATFORM
speaks at European
Cultural Foundation international conference on Art and
Social Change Almost Real, Utrecht, 11-14 March 2004
The keynote speech to this major conference will be “the artist as producer
in times of crisis”, delivered by Nigerian art critic and curator Okwui
Enwezor on 12.3.04. Almost
Real “offers a combination of keynotes, examples of good practice,
thematic debate, artistic contributions and site visits”. For PLATFORM,
Dan Gretton and James Marriott
will make a presentation followed by discussion on 13.3.04.
Architecture
Foundation, UK, “Salon” on Public
Space: Why Bother?, 12 February 2004 Jane Trowell contributed
to this Salon, hosted as one of a series by the Architecture
Foundation at Victoria House, Southampton Row, London.
The Salon’s
participants were
invited by Dr Jane Rendell, Bartlett School of Architecture,
University College London and
the event was chaired by Marcus Fairs of icon
(magazine). Conversationalists
included
amongst others artist Kathrin Bohm (Public Works), geographer
Steve Pile (Open
University), Tiffany Jones (Institute of Ideas), critic and
architect Rowan Moore and public
art advocate Theresa Bergne (Canary Wharf Group). An article
about the debate will be
published in icon in April 2004.
Read an extensive
interview with PLATFORM by Terri
Cohn
California-based Art Historian Terri Cohn interviewed PLATFORM
members James Marriott, Dan Gretton and Jane Trowell during
a visit to London
in 2001, as part of a seminar "Re:Place" hosted by
artist Cameron
Cartiere, PhD researcher at Chelsea College of Art and Design.
Edits
from the interview have been used in various contexts, but this
is the
most substantial piece so far, and we're very happy it is on
this art
and cultural activist site.
PLATFORM and Bartlett School of Architecture research
students Building on our relationship with the Bartlett
School of Architecture, University College
London, PLATFORM have again been invited to run a workshop on
walking in The City
(London's financial district) with research students, with Dr
Jane Rendell. PLATFORM
were tutors on the Diploma dissertation programme between 2001
- 2003.
PLATFORM at Corporate Europe Observatory
- Brussels, 1 December 2003
The Unravelling the Carbon Web team have been asked
to host a workshop for CEO workers on 29th November on the effectiveness
of the "Q
Event" strategy. See here for
details.
PLATFORM speaking at Milieudefensie Film
Festival, Amsterdam, 30 November 2003 Friends of the Earth Netherlands have
asked the Unravelling the Carbon Web team to speak at their
film festival "Digging
for Treasure, Looking for oil, gas and valuable ore, Films and
discussion about the
consequences of World Bank Projects", taking place at
Felix Meritis,
Keizersgracht 324.
PLATFORM writing for New
Internationalist, October
2003 edition
pp 14 and 15. 2-page article on the BP-backed Baku-Ceyhan
oil pipelines system, authored by James Marriott and Greg
Muttitt. Includes "The Fable of the Men in Red"
and "The Fable of the Hive and the Hard Drive"
by James Marriott. See
Carbonweb for more on the Fables.
Russian and Azeri translations of PLATFORM's
book "Some
Common Concerns,
Imagining BP's Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey pipelines system"
Now available from the
Baku-Ceyhan
Campaign.
Presentation at Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, USA, 23 - 25th October 2003
Jane Trowell and Dan Gretton present to The Monongahela
Conference on post-
industrial community development. Art, ecology and planning
with people. Organised by
the Studio for Creative Inquiry, part of their 3 Rivers, 2nd
Nature project.
CONFERENCE: No New Oil, Oil,
war and climate change: dismantling the oil economy Sat 11th October,
10.30am - 6pm at London School of Economics, Clement House "D" Building,
Aldwych, London. Speakers, Videos, Workshops. PLATFORM contributes to event
organised by Rising
Tide and LSE People and Planet. Please register in advance. Entrance by
donation. Nearest tube - Holborn.
CONFERENCE: Watershed: Environmental
Art - Engendering a community of change Sat 11th October, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 80 Whitechapel High Street, Aldgate,
London. Entry £6, £4 concessions. Jane Trowell makes a presentation
to this conference, organised by Crossover
UK as part of their project Art and Water: A powerful combination for
social change? Conference focus: Can an artwork change attitudes, foster
widespread engagement from the community in their local environment and ultimately
engender consciousness and
care about the way we live?
PLATFORM performs Expro - a
walk around the oil-influenced landscape of Albertopolis at
the annual Royal Geographical Society Conference, South
Kensington, London, Friday 5th September 2003. Contact
us for more information
New report, February
2003 - Degrees of Capture
how Big Oil influences universities.
See
Carbonweb for the report
Also see news from:
Recent Publications
New books by Platform
The Next
Gulf: London, Washington & the Oil Conflict in Nigeria
is PLATFORM's latest publication, by investigative journalist
Andy Rowell, and PLATFORM researchers James Marriott &
Lorne Stockman. Published by Constable & Robinson on 3
November 05. You can pre- order now on Amazon. See
here for details.
New books featuring
PLATFORM
Groundwater Diaries,
by Tim Bradwell
Underground London, by Stephen Smith
New articles & reports by PLATFORM
Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq's
Oil Wealth
Control of Iraq's future oil wealth is being handed to multinational
oil companies through long-term contracts that will cost Iraq
hundreds of billions of dollars. This report reveals
that current Iraqi oil policy will allocate the development
of at least 64% of Iraq’s reserves to foreign oil companies.
Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves.See
here for details.
Pumping Poverty Published
by Platform Research, Friends of the Earth and Plan B, March
2005 See
here
Under the surface - Iraqi oil and Tony Blair's
absurd conspiracy theory, Red Pepper magazine,
February 2005
Production Sharing Agreements: oil privatisation
by another name?
Research paper presented to the General Union of Oil Employees'
conference on privatisation, Basra, May 2005
Resisting the economic war in Iraq
Interview with Hassan Juma'a Awad, head of the General Union
of Oil Employees (Basra), Corporate Watch,
April 2005
briefing papers on the Sakhalin II gas and
oil project, Published by BankTrack,
April 2005
Beyond Oil: The oil curse and solutions
for an oil-free future Published
by PLATFORM, Friends of the Earth and Rising Tide, October
2004
Shell misleads
investors again as it lines up for Iraq spoils in The
Guardian, 11th August 2004. Voices UK and PLATFORM
uncover oil company's secret Iraq move Groups urge halt to BP "environmental
timebomb", front page of The Independent,
26th June 2004
Whistleblowers expose Turkey pipeline failings.
Museums of…? byJane Trowell, in Engage 15
Principal Objections, Analysis of Sakhalin II Oil and Gas
Project’s compliance with Equator Principles
by Greg Muttitt.
New Practices/New Pedagogies, edited by Malcolm Miles,
"The Body Politic": reflections on a pilot course...by
Jane Trowell