bird/chop at Chop Art Shop

I have a new work (pictured left) in progress for a Fresh Arts Inc. exhibition in Millthorpe, Central West NSW, due to open on 1 October 2009.

Titled bird/chop, the installation piece will be going into the cool room of an old butchers shop which is now an art gallery called the Chop Art Shop.

Incorporating sound in the work, bird/chop is a multi-media, site-specific installation that looks at the use of land to meet our need for a European-style diet centred on red meat consumption, and often produced using European farming practices. While delving into our farming history it questions the legacy we are creating for future generations.

Fresh Meat runs from 1 October - 1 November 2009, Chop Art Shop, 25 Victoria Street, Millthorpe. An artist celebration will be held on Sunday, 25 October at 11am. RSVP: Chop Art Shop (02) 6366 3905. Chop Art Shop is open Thurs/Fri 5pm - 9pm and Sat/Sun 10am - 5pm.

(C) Kim V. Goldsmith, 2009: cardboard, tape, sound system, clay, feathers, paint, handmade book

Places of work and home amongst most energy inefficient in the developed world

Australia is behind Mexico and Argentina in terms of its ability to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets, a report says.

The Climate Institute and European think-tank E3G released the report in the lead-up to next week's G20 meeting in the US.

Australia ranked 15th in an analysis of its capacity to generate business in a low-carbon economy, the lowest position of any industrialised country.

The report also found Australia was in the bottom of the pack when it came to its share of meeting the global greenhouse gas target of 450 parts per million by 2020.

Australia came 16th, with only Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia requiring a bigger turnaround to get back on track.

Climate Institute spokesman John Connor says the ranking is not surprising, considering Australia is a fossil fuel, carbon intensive economy.

"We need to improve that rate of productivity. The renewable energy target which has just been passed is very important, and that is 20 per cent of our energy by 2020. Of course we have got to get on with the rest of the 80 per cent," he said.

"We have got to get on across the industrial sector, our places of work and home are amongst the most energy inefficient in the developed world.

Source: ABC/AAP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/14/2684578.htm

Knowing what is best for people

In an interview with Pat Hoffie for the journal, Artlink, South African artist William Kentridge "talked about how colonialism still persists in describing itself to itself in terms of 'knowing what's best for people' and then applying those decisions by force...The monopoly of physical power and the assumption of wisdom, he pondered, are always catastrophic."

The full article is not yet available online on the Artlink website - but the link is http://www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=3283. (pp 46 -51, Volume 29 No 3)

It makes one wonder about the colonialists of the green movement. Are efforts to ensure individuals and local communities have global consideration for their actions shifting beyond a quiet groundswell to an attitude of "knowing what's best for people" and the an increasing willingness to apply decisions by force?