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Recent News
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‘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 RBS 20th 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 !

 

 

 

2005 – celebrating 21 years of innovation, inspiration and impact. Download the birthday card in PDF format.

The Body Politic: Social and Ecological Justice, Art, Activism, January 2006
There ar
e 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 at Amnesty 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 June 2004
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…? by Jane 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

For a full list, see PLATFORM publications and Carbonweb publications




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