WHY A CALL TO ART? is a public facing Forum on unique capacities of artists to speak truth to power. It explores the importance of creative, factually informed work in addressing the Climate Emergency and associated critical social issues.
Led by Dr. Lara Stevens, Forum speakers include Professor Brian Martin, Professor Patricia Piccinini and Dr. Jen Rae. An opportunity to hear leaders in creative communications discuss their research, practice, and views on the power of Art, followed by the launch of Poster Project III: A CALL TO ART.
Dr. Lara Stevens will be convening the Forum. She is a researcher, educator, artist, public speaker, and arts consultant. Lara is an arts researcher at the University of Melbourne. Her research looks at how the performing arts are responding to the climate emergency. Lara’s work as an artist and advocate shows why women and girls are leading the world in climate action.
Professor Brian Martin is the Monash University's Art, Design and Architecture faculty’s inaugural Associate Dean, Indigenous. Brian is a descendant of Muruwari, Bundjalung, and Kamilaroi peoples. Brian is represented by William Mora Galleries. He has been a practising artist for twenty-seven years and has exhibited both nationally and internationally specifically in the media of painting and drawing. His research and practice focus on refiguring Australian art and culture from an Indigenous ideological perspective based on a reciprocal relationship to “Country”.
Professor Patricia Piccinini is an Australian artist who works in a variety of media, including painting, video, sound, installation, digital prints, and sculpture. Piccinini has spent close to three decades exploring humanity’s relationship to technology and the environment. Her work has been exhibited at major Australian and international institutions and events including the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and the Vancouver and Venice biennales. Her 'A Miracle Constantly Repeated' is currently showing in the mysterious rooms of the Flinders St Station through RISING.
Dr. Jen Rae is a Narrm (Melbourne)-based artist-researcher, facilitator, and educator of Canadian Red River Métis-Scottish descent from Treaty 6 Territory. Her practice-led research expertise is in the discursive field of contemporary environmental art and environmental communication. It is centered around cultural responses to climate change/everything change – specifically the role of artists and creative inquiry.
Poster Project III: A CALL TO ART and this Forum have been made possible by City of Melbourne’s Arts & Creative Investment Partnership. CLIMARTE is proud to partner with The Sustainable Living Festival to present this Forum.