An Open Forum on Art and Activism: Extractivism and the “Green Transition.”

8 June 2023, 4-6pm, Project Space, Phoenix Art Space, 10–14 Waterloo Place Brighton, BN2 9NB

Laboratorio de Artes Gráficas del Desierto de Atacama, an art project from the Atacama Desert, and Traces of Nitrate, an arts research collective that investigates the relationships of mining between Britain and Chile, invite you to an Open Forum on arts and extractivism,  supported by the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics.

The Forum will take place within Laboratorio de Artes Gráficas del Desierto de Atacama’s exhibition titled, DESIERTO HERIDO/SCORCHED EARTH. Desierto Herido/Scorched Earth is an exhibition comprised of two large textile canvases, which have been installed in the spaces of Atacama Desert, once colonised by nitrate mining and now exploited for its lithium and the London dockland landscapes where these minerals where imported and their values are traded. The textiles frame a video installation that examines the visual codes of the Atacama Desert, scarred by mines and occupied by global extracivism. Yet, Laboratorio de Artes Gráficas del Desierto de Atacama argue that a fundamental relationship exists between its inhabitants and the ‘las montañas, pampas y oasis’ which, through their art practice, they seek to defend. 

Forum Schedule:

4pm – 4.45pm
Art and Activism: Extractivism and the “Green Transition”
Welcome from the Centre for Environmental, Spatial and Cultural Politics, University of Brighton
Introduction from Traces of Nitrate: documenting extractivism and anti-extractivist collaboration (Ignacio Acosta, Louise Purbrick, Xavier Ribas)

Presentation from Laboratorio de Artes Gráficas del Desierto de Atacama
(Hernán Lira, Carla Sobrina, Gabriel Vilches)
Video art installation
Followed by Q and A

4.45pm- 5pm
Break and viewing, Watering (Rachel Cohen, 2018)

5pm – 6pm Global to Local/ Water and Soil: an artists’ panel
Rachel Cohen, Eliza Collin, Ainoa Burgos Gonzalez, Arabel Lebrusan

6pm to 6.30pm
Presentations from Extracting Us, Centre for Environmental, Spatial and Cultural Politics and representatives of the Yukpa Solidarity Network.

To book a place please email Louise Purbrick, Louise.purbrick@rac.ac.uk

Location – Project Space, Phoenix Art Space, 10–14 Waterloo Place Brighton, BN2 9NB

This forum is supported by the Royal College of Arts, the AHRC, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Gobernio de Chile, and the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics, University of Brighton.