Thursday, June 30, 2011

Arts Festival The Power of Local

THE POWER OF LOCAL, taking place over a period of four days, August 4th - 8th, across multiple venues in Ennistymon.  The festival will present art, live-performance, food, video, panel discussions, an open-air market, outdoor screenings, open studios and artist talks, exploring the rich complexities of the Local (and the trans-local). Invited contributors include the artist group Liquid (Estonia), Dr. Igor Calzada, Associate Researcher at the Center for Basque Studies-University of Nevada, Reno (USA), Outrider Artists (Ireland), Ground Up Artists Collective (Ireland), and The Trans-Local Condition, a screening of international artist films curated by Fiona Woods. 


General Program of the festival:

Thursday (4th Aug) in the evening, grand opening in the gallery and outdoor film screening in the Square.
Friday (5th Aug) Exhibitions/Film screening in the gallery and on location, in the gallery at 5pm an artist talk by Gareth Kennedy
Saturday (6th Aug) Exhibitions/Film screening in the gallery and on location, OPEN STUDIOS, Outdoor Market, Panel discussion on The Power of Local (afternoon)
Sunday (7th Aug)  Exhibitions/Film screening in the gallery and on location, OPEN STUDIOS, Outdoor Market. - closing of exhibitions.
Monday (8th Aug) Peer Critique for Studio Artists with Dougal McKenzie 



THE POWER OF LOCAL

The move towards a sustainable society is producing new forms of thinking and organising at local level all around the world, part of a dynamic of social and cultural change. These forms of organising recognise that community is something that is practiced; by forming ourselves into porous and active communities - artist collectives, transition town networks, farmer’s markets, discussion groups – we can begin to generate change through actions and events in local and trans-local situations that will make a difference to our world. Artists are making art increasingly in response to local situations where they are living. This is notable particularly in relation to rural situations where the interface between human society and the state of the land is so apparent, something that brings the relationship between art and ecology into focus. 

The Festival THE POWER OF LOCAL, is an event exploring the power of local by bringing together a range of thinkers and makers, producers and artists, organisations and businesses from local, national and international contexts to consider some of these questions. Taking place over a period of four days (August 4th – 8th), the Festival will happen across multiple venues in Ennistymon, Co. Clare presenting art, live-performance, food, video, panel discussion, an open-air market, outdoor screenings, open studios and artist talks. The Festival will include invited contributions from the artist group Liquid (Estonia), Dr. Igor Calzada, Ph.D.Lecturer &.Associate Researcher at the Center for Basque Studies-University of Nevada, Reno (USA).Outrider Artists (Ireland), Ground Up Artists Collective (Ireland), and The Trans-Local Condition, a screening of international artist films curated by Fiona Woods.   http://www.collectionofminds.net/ #4

Everyone is local to somewhere; this festival is an opportunity to engage with the rich possibilities of local, to consider local as a way of taking action, producing culture and encountering difference in association with others.  Everyone is included. 
The Festival THE POWER OF LOCAL is devised and directed by Trudi van der Elsen. 
                         
The topic for the panel discussion is The Power of Local.
Panel: Fiona Woods www.fionawoods.net
           Marge Laast, Liquid Group Estonia http://www.vedelik.edicypages.com/en
           Dr. Igor Calzada http://www.igorcalzada.com
           Transition Town, Roisin Garvey
           X-PO, Kilnaboy
          
Guests on Skype: Evelyn, MOKS, Estonia (tbc)

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