BANDJOUN STATION @GRAND PALAIS, PARIS

Barthélémy Toguo has created Bandjoun Station, an integrated artist residency and farm in his native Cameroon that links art and sustainable agriculture. Local youth and foreign guests came together to learn artistic, environmental, agricultural, and social practices that promote self-sufficiency and sustainable farming in view of the agricultural crisis and climate change.

ARTPORT_making waves presented a screening of the documentary “Bandjoun Station” by Thierry Spitzer and workshops by Toguo, where he talked about his project and created a collective artwork with students from the Lycée Maximilien Vox.

SYMBIOSES OF RESPONSIBILITY

Symbioses of Responsibility
George Steinmann, artist-researcher works at the intersection of the Arts and policy-making for Paris COP21, 2015.
George Steinmann, who often works at the intersection of art, science, and politics, explored this question at the COP21 UN Climate Change Conference, where he acted as the first ever official “artistic observer.” Steinmann produced sketches, mind maps, drawings, and photographs, which will be exhibited in an interdisciplinary exhibition in 2016 and 2017.

Symbioses of Responsibility is an exemplary expression of sustainable art; its aim is to broaden the scientific and political debate on climate change from an aesthetic perception and artistic point of view. Steinmann also participated in several panels and talks at Columbia Global Centers Europe, the Grand Palais as part of Solutions COP21, and other institutions in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland.

LITTLE SUN LIGHT IS LIFE CHAIN

Hundreds of Little Suns lit up Ecole Massillon in the heart of Paris at nightfall. Hundreds of school children together with Olafur Eliasson formed a human chain and carried the small, solar-powered lamps to make a statement about the importance of low-cost, grassroots solutions while politicians at the COP21 UN Climate Change Conference negotiated inter-governmental agreements.

The march ended at the chapel of the school as an introduction to the concert of the New Yorker “Quartet: This Side Up: Oceans eat Cities”.The site-specific, mobile installation illuminated by Little Suns was organized in collaboration with the École Massillon and other institutions.

Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen created Little Sun in 2012, a social business and global project addressing the need for sustainable power that benefits communities living off the grid.