Future Editions-The World Issue
ArtsAdmin Two Degrees Festival
Review by Dana Olarescu
Two Degrees Futures is a series of events organized by ArtsAdmin that tackle current Climate issues.
Future Editions-The World Issue is designed as a library session that brings together a mélange of specialists in green matters and artists involved in environmentally friendly projects. The public gathers together around a table reminiscent of a Gargantua and Pantagruel thematic feast to chat, discuss and plan.
Everything you wanted to know about the future of our planet in ten minutes is the event’s underlying trope. Shaped as a human library session, Future Editions takes ten specialists in environmental and climate issues that each participant converses with. Very similar to the speed-dating concept, Future Editions aimes to familiarizethe public with current environmental issues and find out information about the projects the experts are involved in.
The ever surprising Richard DeDominici is the host for the night (wearing an astronaut costume), in charge of pairing up the participant with an expert by extracting toy bingo balls with a number corresponding to the ‘living book.’
I had the pleasure to meet Heather Ring, the creative director and designer of the newly opened Urban Physic Garden in the borough of Southwark. She explained about the concept behind having a pop-up community garden shaped like a hospital which brings an array of healing herbs and medicinal plants. It is simultaneously a location open for screenings, performances and interventions and the proud owner of a former ambulance now a Rambling Restaurant serving home grown organic food. Ten minutes may not be enough to find out details about green issues, but it is definitely a good time to come in contact with experts’ opinions, concerns and their praxis.
The event excelled in its purpose: advertised as a project that is aimed for a one-on-one experience, becoming a night of curious encounters and future planning, paired with a series of fascinating films by six artists imagining the future. This is not only a living library, but an encyclopedia of ideas, activists, artists and potential projects that engage directly with environmental issues, both resources and solution- a series of snippets into a whole artistic and social landscape that is paving the way to a more environmentally aware and active community. There’s no better place for it than at ArtsAdmin.
Tagged: ArtsAdmin, Guest, Richard DeDomenici, Two Degrees